S Korean parliament approves rice bill
Afp, Seoul
South Korea's parliament on Wednesday approved a bill opening the domestic rice market wider to imports, triggering street protests across the country and scuffles inside the National Assembly. There were 139 votes in favour, 61 against and 23 abstentions in the 299-member chamber. The vote came some three weeks before crucial World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Hong Kong, where farm trade will be a major issue. Some 200 farmers chanting slogans and carrying banners condemning the opening of the rice market protested outside the National Assembly. Thousands of others were confronting police in some 100 cities and towns across the country to protest the vote, a farming union official told AFP. Angry farmers' leaders called for a massive protest rally on December 1 and threatened to resort to violence to block rice imports.
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