There was a call for introducing a "one-strike out" system under which a cooperative head would be immediately ousted upon a single violation, citing that cash-for-votes elections by cooperative heads hinder rural development.
Lawmaker Cho Kyung-tae of the People Power Party said at the National Assembly's Agriculture. Food. Rural Affairs. Oceans. and Fisheries Committee audit on the 28th, "One reason rural areas cannot shed their backwardness is the morality problem of NongHyup cooperative heads," adding, "A cooperative head involved in a cash-for-votes election should be ousted for even a single violation."
Cho said, "Who in the world serves as a cooperative head eleven times?" adding, "These local tyrant cooperative heads are blocking regional development. Elections must be clean, and only a person who is transparent and not swayed by influence should become a cooperative head for rural areas to develop."
Cho went on to say, "Korea must no longer remain a rural area in the mold of an agricultural backwater," adding, "To become an agricultural powerhouse and an exporting country, we need to build infrastructure that enables young people to voluntarily settle in rural areas rather than rely on benevolent support." In response, Minister Song Mi-ryung of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, "I agree."