he body of Chung Yong-pum, a 38-year-old farmer in Damyang of South Cholla Province, about 350 kilometres south of Seoul, was found at his local town hall Saturday morning. Police said they found an empty bottle of herbicide near Chung's body, along with what appears to be a suicide note. "I wish this country will become a society where hard working people are respected," the note reads, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The government must come up with realistic policies for the rice market and the farming industry to allow farmers to live comfortably." Police suspect Chung committed suicide on Friday morning, Farmers' Day in South Korea and the eve of the opening of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Pusan. Chung was a member of the Korean Advanced Farmers Federation, a group of farming activists, and had actively participated in anti-liberalization campaigns, according to his neighbours and the police. They added he even entered a local college last year so as to learn more about agricultural trade problems.
