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Confidential data submitted to authorities for marketing approval of pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals are prohibited from public disclosure unless the authorities see a public interest need (i.e. health, safety, or environmental protection), particularly with respect to pesticides and their ingredients (Agrochemicals Control Act and the Pharmaceuticals Affairs Act). Penalties are up to three years' imprisonment or fines of up to ₩30 million for pharmaceuticals and ₩15 million for agri-chemicals. Unfair commercial use of such data is also prohibited.

Korea remains a world leading fish producer and consumer. Fish production is not expected to increase due mainly to reductions in fish resources in adjacent waters and constraints in its bilateral and multilateral fishing accords. Border protection measures mainly take the form of tariffs and adjustment tariffs, while domestic support for fishing has been falling. The Government introduced more severe sanctions in 2014 and 2015 to fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The energy sector has not seen any significant reform since 2012. Korea is an energy intensive country, with per capita energy consumption three times the world average. Industry remains the largest consumer of energy. Korea relies heavily on imported energy, and energy imports accounted for one third of the import bill. To reduce energy intensity, Korea's energy policy was targeted at energy efficiency, security, and being environmental friendly. To achieve these objectives, various measures including financial and technical support, as well as tax credits, are applied. (...)

The five-year Plan emphasized adding value to agricultural products in an innovative way, and creating jobs by converging agriculture with other industries such as manufacturing, processing, and information and communication technology. Further, in January 2016, MAFRA (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) presented "Measures to boost rural economy and export by transferring agriculture into the 6th industry", to link agricultural manufacturing, distribution, and export, with tourism. Measures proposed include: expanding smart farms [5] (...)

[5] Smart farm is an automated farm facility where communication devices and environmental management software are installed, so that the farm can be controlled remotely.

Direct payment programmes have been implemented with different objectives, including early retirement payment, rice income compensation (Section 4.2.3), promotion of environmentally friendly agriculture, maintaining agriculture in less-favoured areas, and rural landscape conservation. (...)

In 2011, Green Box support amounted to ₩7.7 trillion (up from ₩6.8 trillion in 2010); 48% of this was spent on general services (mostly on infrastructural services), 24% for relief from natural disasters, 12.5% for decoupled income support, 6.7% for environmental programmes, 5% for structural adjustment assistance through investment aids, 2.4% for public stockholding for food security purposes, and less than 1% for producer retirement programmes and regional assistance programmes. (...)

In Korea, only a limited number of food products are made from biotech ingredients, while the bulk of livestock feed is made from biotech and soybean meal. Korea does not commercially produce any biotech crops, and does not export any. Korea imports biotech crops and products for food, feed and processing (Table 4.7); importation is regulated under the Living Modified Organism (LMO) Act, revised in 2012.

Biotech crops must undergo a food safety assessment and environmental risk assessment (Section 3.2.9.2.1). Several agencies are involved in the assessment process. The Rural Development Administration (RDA) conducts environmental risk assessment, in consultation with the National Institute for Ecology (NIE), the National Fisheries Research & Development Institute (NFRDI), and the Korea Centres for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC). The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) conducts a safety assessment for food grains containing biotech ingredients.

The development of biotech crops is being led by various government agencies, universities and private entities. Research is mainly focused on second- and third-generation traits, such as drought and disease resistance, nutrient enrichment, transformation techniques, and gene expression. In May 2015, the RDA (Rural Development Administration) released the results of the first phase for the Next Generation Bio-Green 21 Project: with a total investment of ₩271.4 billion (approximately US$236 million), the RDA decoded genomes for nine items including pepper and ginseng, and developed anthracnose resistant pepper and other products between 2011 and 2014. The RDA is to invest another ₩300 billion (US$260 million) by 2020 to commercialize the technology developed by it.

MAFRA (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) also announced in 2015 its second comprehensive plan to foster agriculture, food industry and science technology, with a focus on developing smart farms, creating high value added food products, responding to climate change, and commercializing agro-biological resources. In 2014, MAFRA planned to invest a total of US$893 million for R&D, up by 5.9% from 2013, to improve competitiveness and create a new future economic growth engine. To achieve these targets, MAFRA and the RDA continued to carry out: inter alia, the development of technology for the agro-biological resource industry, a golden seed project, genome research, and the development of new bio materials. MAFRA and the RDA are also financing a research project to obtain a stable supply of food grains with improved productivity and quality, and are developing biotechnology.