The puppet Ministry of Agriculture and Food set up on July 15 held the first meeting on the theme of a workshop on food policy and agreed to discuss the issue of importing grain with peasants at the second meeting in the following month. But it unexpectedly announced a plan to import 30 000 tons of grain from the U.S.

Infuriated at this, peasants at a press conference accused the ministry and "government" of killing the south Korean peasants to help the American exporters and demanded them step down.

They declared that they would stage various forms of actions against the authorities' import of grain across south Korea with a sit-in strike in the front of the ministry as a curtain-raiser.

They kicked off the strike.