President Lee: "Serious Concerns from Agricultural and Fisheries Sectors over CPTPP... Restart Discussions from Scratch"

Lee: "Do Not Rush Toward a Predetermined Conclusion"

President Lee Jae-myung on October 6 instructed officials regarding the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), saying, "Do not rush to a pre-determined conclusion, but instead restart discussions from square one."

Kang Yoo-jung, Chief Presidential Spokesperson, announced that President Lee delivered these instructions during a closed-door Cabinet meeting on this day.

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the Cabinet meeting held at the Blue House on October 6, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

President Lee stated, "There are opinions that the strategic value of the CPTPP is important given the dramatic changes in the international trade order, but at the same time, there are also significant concerns among those in the agriculture and fisheries sectors." He emphasized, "Pursuing policy must be based on the trust and consensus of farmers and fishers, and should place the national interest as the top priority."

Regarding this, Chief Spokesperson Kang received a question asking whether "starting from square one" means a complete policy review or simply collecting more feedback from those in agriculture. Kang responded, "We do not intend to set a conclusion regarding accession at all. Instead, we will start new conversations with the stakeholders from the very beginning."

At a prior public Cabinet meeting, President Lee said, "When certain sectors benefit from government policy, there will inevitably be others that suffer losses. Balancing these divergent interests is a core function of the government." He added, "I will do my best to minimize situations where anyone has to make sacrifices or suffers losses for the greater good."

He also promised to expand the Rural Community Cooperation Fund, which has been accumulated to around 325.5 billion won, to 1 trillion won, and to push for innovation in distribution systems and the expansion of essential services in rural and fishing communities.

According to the government and national policy research institutes, if Korea joins the CPTPP, the country’s GDP would rise by 0.38 percentage points after 10 years of implementation. With market opening, the manufacturing base’s annual production ripple effect is expected to increase by as much as 6.7 trillion won per year. On the other hand, production in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries is projected to decrease by more than 850 billion won annually.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.