S. Korea to export rice to United States

Seoul -- South Korea will export tons of rice to the United States for the first time in more than 60 years, the agriculture ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry said it gave a local agricultural cooperative permission to export 53 tons, worth $136,000, provided the move does not change the nation's status as a rice-importing country.

It will be the country's first rice exports since its liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, the ministry said. From 1910 to 1945, Koreans were forced to ship rice to Japan during the Japanese colonial period.

More recently, South Korea -- which excluded rice from its April 2 free-trade agreement with Washington -- had refused to export rice to the United States out of fear Washington would pressure Seoul to open its domestic rice market further, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

"We have decided to authorize the rice exports because of changes in circumstances, such as the decline in rice consumption," the ministry said.

Last year, South Korea produced 6.05 million tons of rice, while consuming 4.98 million tons, the ministry said.

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Copyright 2007 by United Press International.