Abstract
This paper examines the impacts of Korea's Rice Direct Payment Program, which was introduced in 2005 to reimburse the rice farms for the income loss incurred by the rice trade liberalization. The analysis shows that this direct payment program has been contributing to farm income stabilization to some extent. However, at the same time, it is also a case that some very important structural problems facing the agriculture of Korea for a long time still remains unsolved under this direct payment program. These include: (1) this direct payment program conflicts with the agricultural structure reform policies of Korea in many respects; (2) the concerns over the food security in Korea are growing considering the drastic decrease in the food self sufficiency rate; and (3) the sustainability of this direct payment program is questioned under the inflating budget burden and AMS limit of WTO.
