Taken from the LA Times . Kimchi Crisis and Gov’t Policy From Dong-A Il Bo It was a bumper year for both vegetables and fruit in 2008 because of good weather. Consumers were happy because they could buy produce at bargain prices, but farmers, who saw the price of Chinese cabbage and white radish plummet, gave up harvesting them and plowed up the land. The farming of Chinese cabbage was good last year as well, so South Jeolla Province, the country’s largest supplier of Chinese cabbage for kimchi production, cut output, and promoted kimchi consumption. Farmers were not happy, however, because they could not get their desired price in a bumper year. Things have drastically changed this year, however, The price of Chinese cabbage has tripled or quadrupled this year from last year, and restaurants rarely serve kimchi to their customers. This is because of the Chinese cabbage shortage, which las fueled fears of a kimchi crisis. The government began a crackdown under the suspicion...