Will South Korea put apple farmers on the chopping block to seal Trump deal?
‘US apples are very cheap. We can’t compete with them,’ a grower says amid fears Seoul could sacrifice the sector to placate Trump
The apples grown in the South Korean county of Cheongsong in the country’s southeast are so renowned for their flavour that they are often given out in neatly-packaged gift boxes during national holidays.
But apple farmers, who account for about a third of the roughly 14,000 households in the sleepy rural area, worry that their way of life could be under threat from an influx of cheap US imports.
“US apples are very cheap. We can’t compete with them,” said Shim Chun-taek, a third-generation farmer who has been growing apples for two decades.
He now fears South Korean farmers risk being sacrificed to appease the US and support the country’s manufacturing sector.