[Editorial] Regrettable Court Decision on School Meal Regulations

On Friday the Supreme Court declared invalidate North Jeolla Province's school meal regulations, which stipulate that only Korean farm products may be used in school meals. It said the regulations violate the World Trade Association (WTO) agreement, which prohibits discrimination against foreign products, and in doing so sided with the national government in its opposition to them.

The idea behind the campaign to use Korean agricultural products was to provide students with safe meals and increase the use of Korean foods. Other regional governments have enacted similar ordinances, including South Gyeongsang, Gyeonggi, and North Chungbuk provinces and Seoul. Similar legislation is also awaiting attention at the National Assembly. The Supreme Court is surely aware of that situation, and its judgment is excessively rigid.

Korea is not the only country with a campaign to have school meals use domestic food products. The United States federal law on school meals has something known as "buy America," in which American products are to be used to the greatest extent possible. Also, there is one view which holds that trade friction could be avoided if a private entity with government support purchases the foods and that is seen as government procurement and indeed, there is a WTO precedent which could be used as the basis for such an interpretation. The US and the European Union have withdrawn school meal procurement from government procurement negotiations, so there is even less possibility for friction.

There's no way to predict how the WTO would judge the matter if trade friction really did break out over the matter. The government's attitude is clearly wrong, since it is giving up even though there is room to develop a logical argument. That is why organizations campaigning for these regulations say the problem is the government's determination, not WTO regulations. It's still not too late for the government to devote more effort to finding ways to supply quality Korean agricultural products to our children.

The Hankyoreh, 10 September 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]