“We Oppose the Full Opening of the Rice Market that Pushes Farm Workers to the Edge of a Cliff”   Church prayer gathering of the Korean Christian Rural Ministers Association held  to focus on food sovereignty and food security   In July, South Korea declared an end to the moratorium on the tariffs of rice imports; in September they notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of their 513% tariff rates on imported rice; and from January 1st 2015 the rice markets are expected to be completely opened.  In addition, on November 10th, President Park Geun Hye while attending the APEC summit, declared the conclusion of the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) at the summit of President Xi Jinping. Therefore, voices calling for protection of “food sovereignty” and “food safety” are rising as this perspective appears; that the ensuing hit to Korean farmers will be very significant.   Thus the Korean Christian Rural Ministers Association (KCRMA) on November 20th at 1pm in front of the Seoul Finance Building held an ecumenical prayer gathering opposing the opening of the rice market and rejecting the Korea-China FTA. This is the second prayer service that following the first ecumenical prayer gathering in September and was organized by the “Christian Conference on Food Sovereignty and Food Safety” including Christian organizations such as the NCCK Life & Ethics Committee and the Korea Christian Action Organization.   At the prayer gathering, Rev. Kim Jung Un, chair of the KCRMA gave a sermon asking, “could we not invest the money from IT and exported cars into farming villages?” and offering the critique, “Whenever we conclude the FTA Agreement, only farming villages receive great damage and only sacrifice is emphasized.” He also asked, “In a situation where we don’t know when food shortages might arise, we should not encroach on farmland and drive famers to the brink.” He also requested that, “we realize that agriculture is essential to all things, so please offer prayers and solidarity with the farmers.”   Gang Da Bok, chair of the Korean National Rural Women’s Federation, attending in solidarity, said, “Because of the Korea-China FTA and the opening of the rice market we will be deprived of all stocks of rice, and the falling farming villages will collapse.” She also pointed out that, “Rice is an issue as much as anything else that must be protected.”   The “Christian Conference on Food Sovereignty and Food Safety” offered their critique in a resolution stating, “We should start up a happy feast, but this Thanksgiving has only been depressing. With the news that the rice market is opening and the fall of agricultural goods prices including rice and even more so the news of the Korea-China FTA settlement is ensuring the death of farmers.” The resolution also warned that, “Even now the damage that is flooding China’s agriculture is spreading, and in this situation the news of the Korea-China FTA settlement is the actual last word in giving up on Korean agriculture,” and that, “to urban consumers and citizens and in the end the fate of the nation there are going to be profound lingering effects.”   Also they critiqued the government because, “even though the food crisis is not something that will end after one go around, and while the government will not even raise the minimum safe-guards, they are also seeking to make more FTA agreements with each and every country day after day.” Thus, “passing on the sale of rice to foreign grain companies will pass on our souls to Satan; it is like bowing down to an idol,” they claimed. Here also for citizens they appealed to the wise judgment: “we should know that we are standing at the crossroads as to whether we worship idols and mammon out of baseless illusionism or go the way of food security and life keeping in mind the future of the country and the perspective of farming villages.”   After Rev. Park Deuk Hun of Onmam Church gave the benediction, the pastors and church members attending the “Prayer Gathering against the Opening of the Rice Market” finished up the prayer gathering with a march to the City Hall Square in order to attend the National Farmers Convention held on same day 2pm.