ID :
25826
Tue, 10/21/2008 - 18:54
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/25826
The shortlink copeid
Lee orders probe into all ineligible recipients of rice subsidy
(ATTN: UPDATES with appointment of new vice health minister at bottom)
By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday instructed his government to recoup all state rice farming subsidies paid to non-farming landowners and other ineligible recipients.
"The incumbent government is not directly responsible for the widespread abuses
in the rice subsidy payment program. But we have to thoroughly revamp the system
to give the subsidy benefits only to full-time rice farmers," Lee was quoted by
his spokesman as saying at a weekly Cabinet meeting.
"All illegally paid rice subsidies should be immediately retrieved from the
recipients, including government officials and politicians."
The rice subsidy program was created by the administration of Lee's predecessor,
Roh Moo-hyun, to compensate full-time rice farmers for the difference between the
government's target price and market price.
In 2006 alone, a total of 280,000 individuals pocketed 168.3 billion won (US$130
million) in state rice farming subsidies, representing a per-person average of
slightly over 600,000 won, government data showed. The bulk of the subsidy
recipients are believed to be urban-dwelling owners of farmlands, who hire tenant
farmers for rice farming. Under the law, the state subsidies are supposed to go
to the tenant farmers.
As the list of subsidy recipients was known to include about 40,000 non-farming
civil servants, the scandal has become a politically explosive issue, with angry
farmers staging protest rallies across the nation everyday to demand punishment
of the unethical officials.
On Monday, Lee Bong-hwa, one of President Lee's most trusted woman policy
advisers, offered to resign as vice minister of health, welfare and family
affairs, after allegations surfaced that she had applied for the rice farming
subsidy early this year after buying some farmland south of Seoul for unknown
purposes.
President Lee accepted her resignation on Tuesday and appointed Yoo Young-hak,
assistant minister of planning and coordination of the health ministry, as its
new vice minister. The 52-year-old Yoo has long served at key ministry posts
after graduating from Korea University in 1979.
President Lee's remarks came after the government announced its plan Monday to
launch a sweeping investigation into all recipients of the rice farming
subsidies.
ycm@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday instructed his government to recoup all state rice farming subsidies paid to non-farming landowners and other ineligible recipients.
"The incumbent government is not directly responsible for the widespread abuses
in the rice subsidy payment program. But we have to thoroughly revamp the system
to give the subsidy benefits only to full-time rice farmers," Lee was quoted by
his spokesman as saying at a weekly Cabinet meeting.
"All illegally paid rice subsidies should be immediately retrieved from the
recipients, including government officials and politicians."
The rice subsidy program was created by the administration of Lee's predecessor,
Roh Moo-hyun, to compensate full-time rice farmers for the difference between the
government's target price and market price.
In 2006 alone, a total of 280,000 individuals pocketed 168.3 billion won (US$130
million) in state rice farming subsidies, representing a per-person average of
slightly over 600,000 won, government data showed. The bulk of the subsidy
recipients are believed to be urban-dwelling owners of farmlands, who hire tenant
farmers for rice farming. Under the law, the state subsidies are supposed to go
to the tenant farmers.
As the list of subsidy recipients was known to include about 40,000 non-farming
civil servants, the scandal has become a politically explosive issue, with angry
farmers staging protest rallies across the nation everyday to demand punishment
of the unethical officials.
On Monday, Lee Bong-hwa, one of President Lee's most trusted woman policy
advisers, offered to resign as vice minister of health, welfare and family
affairs, after allegations surfaced that she had applied for the rice farming
subsidy early this year after buying some farmland south of Seoul for unknown
purposes.
President Lee accepted her resignation on Tuesday and appointed Yoo Young-hak,
assistant minister of planning and coordination of the health ministry, as its
new vice minister. The 52-year-old Yoo has long served at key ministry posts
after graduating from Korea University in 1979.
President Lee's remarks came after the government announced its plan Monday to
launch a sweeping investigation into all recipients of the rice farming
subsidies.
ycm@yna.co.kr
(END)
