WTO as a brutal killer? -a story of Korean farmer-

Kyung-Hae Lee on the protest against globalization  during the WTO conference in Cancun Mexico

Do you know this Korean guy? His name is Kyung-Hae Lee, a farmer from South Korea later became an anti-globalization activist against World Trade Organization.

Lee was born in Jangsu, Jeollabuk-do in united Korea in 1947. After graduated from Seoul Agricultural College in 1974, he decided to pursue farming as a carrier. In 1979, he became a president of the Jangsu Lovestock Breeders Association and worked to improve the situation of farmers nationwide. Starting from that, he had been actively involved with several farmers association in South Korea and his action received the  attention from The Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN and he received the award for Farmer of the Year in 1989. 

He started to protest WTO because he thought the WTO's trade policies destroyed South Korean farmers and made them in poverty or worse. He carried out a hunger strike in 1994 because the WTO put pressure on South Korean to open its markets to foreign agricultural products. The situation of the Korean farmers were getting worse and worse. WTO asked to opened the rice market in Korean government which led the fatal damages to the Korean farmers since rice has been the major farmer product in South Korea.

Lee killed himself by a knife during the protest against WTO during WTO conference in Cancun Mexico to show the global struggle for the survival of a millenarian culture now threatened by free trade policies.

This is one of five monopolies that Amin proposed in his book, Financial Control  of Worldwide Financial Markets which is an unprecedented efficacy thanks to the liberalization of the rules governing their establishment. Worldwide financial institutions have been taken over the world economy. (Amin)


Also WTO is one of the trannational corporations (institutions) in the world that helps other underdeveloped region in the world to open up their economy.


I am wondering  if the worldwide economical institution like WTO is good for those local fishermen and farmers in the periphery class countries? I think they are not helping establishing those countries which they really need helps from the international institutions and states financially.