Overview
- President Lee Jae-myung told a Dec. 9 cabinet meeting to consider raising rice shipments to Japan and to open talks with Japanese counterparts.
- Lee cited persistently high retail rice prices in Japan and said South Korea currently has surplus supply.
- Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock Food Minister Song Mi-rin was tasked with the examination, and no new measures or agreements have been announced.
- South Korean rice is short-grain Japonica similar to Japanese varieties, and Jan–Oct 2025 exports to Japan were about 570 tons, far above the prior full-year peak of about 16 tons in 2012.
- The reports appeared as brief, paywalled items in regional Japanese outlets, and no response from Japan’s government was included.