Korea’s agriculture policy is based on the Framework Act on Agriculture, Rural Community and Food Industry, enacted in 1999. It requires the government to establish a national policy plan every five years that provides direction for national policies for sustainable development of agriculture and rural communities. In line with the Framework’s general aims, the National Plan to Develop Agriculture, Rural Communities and the Food Industry (2023-27) includes five policy objectives: 1) ensuring robust food security; 2) fostering the agri-food industry; 3) strengthening the safety net for farm households; 4) ensuring safe food; and 5) developing rural areas.
The public stockholding scheme for rice, known as the Public Storage Programme for Emergencies, was established in 2005. It addresses supply instability caused by grain shortages or emergencies such as natural disasters. During the harvest season rice and grain are purchased at market prices and stockpiled, with a target of maintaining reserves at least 17% to 18% (two to three months) of annual national consumption (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 2025[1]). To prevent quality deterioration a certain amount is replaced annually. The government has a similar public storage programme for soybeans.
The Direct Payment System aims to stabilise the incomes of small to medium-sized farms and to improve farm compliance with regulatory obligations in agriculture and rural communities. Farmers must comply with 16 rules covering environmental protection, food safety, and farmland management standards such as standards for pesticide application. There is also an annual direct payment designed to maintain the income of retiring farmers who sell their farmland to younger farmers.
Agricultural disaster insurance, revenue insurance and work safety insurance are provided by private companies with government subsidies covering 50% of the insurance premiums. The agricultural disaster insurance scheme, which covers 76 crops (such as apples, pears, grapes, onions, and garlic) and 16 livestock products, protects farmers against losses in crop yields and livestock. Agricultural revenue insurance covers 15 crops and protects farmers from income losses caused by reduced revenue from declines in market prices and events such as natural disasters. Work safety insurance covers injuries, illnesses and accidents, or deaths of farm workers that occur during on-farm work and contributes to stabilising farm income.
The Act on the Restructuring and Regeneration Support of Rural Areas establishes the legal foundation for managing rural spaces. The act aims to address unplanned development and rural depopulation by creating an integrated support system based on region-led, long-term rural spatial plans. Its objective is to restore the multifunctional role of rural areas as places for living, working and recreation by improving settlement conditions and revitalising local economies.
In addition, the Act on the Promotion of Community-based Economic and Social Services in Rural Areas, enacted in 2023, provides a legal framework for the systematic support of economic and social services in rural regions where service provision is limited. Under this act, the government conducts surveys on rural living conditions and formulates and implements a national master plan to strengthen community-based service delivery. The First Master Plan for Community-based Economic and Social Services in Rural Areas (2026‑28) sets out three strategic priorities: fostering resident-led service providers, improving rural service delivery systems, and establishing governance mechanisms for rural services. These measures aim to enhance access to basic living and welfare services in ageing and sparsely populated rural areas and to promote community-based service provision grounded in social and solidarity economy principles.
The enhanced update of the First Nationally Determined Contribution for achieving the Net-zero across all the sectors was announced in November 2021. This requires GHG emissions in agriculture and fisheries to decline 27.1% relative to 2018 levels by 2030 and 37.7% by 2050. Accordingly, the 2050 Agri-Food Carbon Neutrality Strategy was unveiled in December 2021. This sectoral strategy contained a detailed implementation plan for GHG emission reduction for food production, distribution, consumption and energy conversion. The National Framework Plan for Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth, established in April 2023, sets the agricultural sector’s greenhouse gas reduction target at 17.2 MtCO2eq in 2030. This is a 22.5% reduction compared to 2018 levels (22.2 MtCO2eq). The national framework plan includes the development and application of low-carbon practices and technologies such as paddy water management, fertiliser reduction, low-methane feeds and manure management. As a member of the Global Methane Pledge, Korea is working to reduce methane emissions in the agricultural sector by 20.6%.
Tariffs and tariff rate quotas (TRQs) are the main agriculture trade policy measures. A total of 63 agricultural products are subject to TRQs, including rice, corn and soybeans. In-quota tariff rates range from 0% to 50% with out-of-quota rates from 9% up to 887.4%. A TRQ volume of rice (408 700 tonnes, about 9% of annual rice consumption) has been maintained at a 5% tariff rate (the out-of-quota tariff is 513%).
Korea has 22 bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) in force as of late 2025. The network continues to expand, with negotiations for a bilateral FTA with Malaysia concluded in October 2025 and the Korea-UAE CEPA currently undergoing domestic ratification approval procedures. Some of these agreements include significant tariff reductions for livestock and fruit products, but rice is excluded from tariff concessions. Import tariffs on various meat products from major exporting countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada and the European Union are being progressively phased out over periods ranging between 10 and 15 years from the entry into force of the respective agreements.
