Korean Church: "Government should not bow to globalization"
The head of the bishops' commission for justice and peace wrote a message for the 11th Farmers' Sunday, urging society and the government to seek new agricultural policies. He thanked farmers, who contribute to highlighting the beauty of God's creation.
Seoul (AsiaNews/CBCK) The government and Korean society "should reform national agricultural policies that, bending to the logic of globalization, may cause our loved rural communities to despair".
This was the thrust of a message written by Mgr Boniface Choi Ki-san, president of the bishops' commission for justice and peace for the 11th Farmers' Sunday marked across the country.
"Globalization and neo-liberalism, which have penetrated most of our economy, have left South Korean agriculture and rural communities in a very vulnerable situation with Free Trade Agreements." He added: "The Catholic Church in concerned about farmers who are subjected to these economic agreements and burdened by insecurities and heavy debts. Better ways to support them must be found."
He continued: "The Church has repeatedly affirmed the importance of 'globalization without marginalization' as the only way to surmount the negative aspects of globalization, which subjects the market to the principle of the stronger. Therefore, it is necessary that the Korean government and society make efforts to reform agricultural policy and structural adjustment."
The bishop said he hoped the "Movement for life-agricultural communities" which the Catholic Church has contributed to since 1994 through the "Save Our Farms Community" campaign would press ahead with its work in its true meaning in God's love.
"I ask you all to carry out formation programs focusing on the values of the ecosystem and to seek mutual exchanges between urban and rural areas. I thank all farmers because through their work, they are contributing to revealing the beauty of God's creation."
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12/02/2016 15:14
19/07/2005
