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South Korean protesters have punched, kicked and even flung animal manure to prevent cheap overseas food from entering the country, but that has not stopped consumers from snapping up imported beef and rice once they have hit store shelves.
Farm activists have successfully lobbied the government for years to keep protective measures in place that have made prices for certain foods in South Korea among the highest in the world.
But their power may be withering as Seoul has opened the door with trade deals on farm goods such as beef and rice. The public has responded by saying they care more about low prices than protecting local farmers.
Slowly the $41 billion food market is being opened up for the world's exporters, such as the US-giant Tyson Foods, which could also help ease bilateral trade tensions with the US and other developed countries.
Flood
South Korea put foreign rice on sale directly to consumers for the first time last year as part of a deal reached under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation.
Since then, all US rice imported to the country has been sold while imports from China, Thailand and Australia have also fared well.
The average price of a kilogram of US rice sold for 1,100 won, or $1.20, which compares to 1,900 won for South Korean rice.
Farm activists staged noisy protests at retailers in mid July on the first day US beef returned to store shelves in nearly four years, after it was banned due to an outbreak in the US of mad cow disease.
One group flung cow manure while others smashed glass cases. Despite the protests, US beef quickly sold out at places where the demonstrators did not gather.
The price of US fillet was 1,550 won per 100 grams, which is half the price of similar South Korean beef. "Pork will be the next to be directly hit if Seoul makes a trade deal with the European Union," said Kim Hyung-joo, analyst at LG Economic Research Institute.
The European Union, the second-largest trading partner of South Korea, has asked Seoul to quickly phase out a 25 per cent tariffs on pork and chicken.
Industry experts said a removal of barriers for cheaper foreign fruits such as oranges, grapes and apples will mean those products will sweep the Korean market by 2014 when tariffs are completely removed. "The attitude of consumers has changed. They do feel sympathy for farmers but they do not buy their food any more solely due to a sense of patriotism," said Seo Jin-kyo, research fellow at Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
A recent poll of 1,500 South Koreans by the Korea Rural Economic Institute showed that more than 60 percent of respondents place their top priorities on safety and price when making purchases over the origin of the food.
About half of respondents said in a poll they had no intention to share the burden resulting from free trade deals by paying taxes that subsidises farmers.
Softening the blow
Seoul promised Korean farmers huge sums of money to soften the blow ahead of eventual full liberalisation. Critics, however, have feared that taxpayers would pay the price of reforms, which include direct income subsidies of more than 100 trillion won, or $108.8 billion, for farmers over the next seven years.
The South Korean government already poured 70 trillion won into helping farmers after the Uruguay round of global trade talks, but farmers still worry about the collapse of agriculture. "Direct cash aid failed to give farmers motivation to survive in opened markets. The country should not repeat such a failure," said Kim at LG.
Some farmers are making efforts to produce high-quality products, which foreign products cannot compete with, while others are focusing on protest.
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