Moon Dae-rim: Jeju kiwi declared scrapped found in market, 135-ton gap in disposal records

Allegations have emerged that Jeju-grown kiwi declared unsalable and scrapped — with farmers notified accordingly — was in practice sold on the market. About 135 tons of waste disposal records filed by the agricultural corporation involved do not match data held by the Korea Environment Corporation.

According to documents the Korea Environment Corporation submitted to Moon Dae-rim, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Committee, KKMC — an agricultural corporation that sorts and packages Jeju-grown kiwi — recorded a total of 558.36 tons of waste disposal on handwritten slips in the Allbaro waste-management system between October last year and the end of February this year. Of that total, 135.01 tons could not be verified against the Korea Environment Corporation's weighing records.

The allegations began with tip-offs from kiwi farmers. Those who came forward said the share of substandard fruit — typically 4 to 5 percent of total shipments — reached as high as 14.6 percent at some farms that delivered to KKMC last year. They also alleged that some of the kiwi classified as substandard and reported as scrapped had been sold on the market through middlemen.

Gaps in oversight also emerged in the waste transport and intake process. The GPS units on vehicles hauling waste from KKMC had not been registered in the Korea Environment Corporation's system, and on some disposal dates, weighing records and closed-circuit television footage of waste arriving at the disposal facility could not be confirmed due to system errors.

A subsequent on-site inspection by the Korea Environment Corporation found that the weighing facility at the disposal site, along with CCTV cameras at the entrance and on the weighbridge, were all functioning normally.

At the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' national audit, Moon pressed Minister Song Mi-ryeong on the matter. "The weighing records do not match, and it is difficult to verify even the transport routes and intake footage," he said. "Can we really conclude that the volume in question was properly disposed of based on handwritten slips alone?"

"We must find out where the kiwi that farmers spent a year growing actually went, and whether the proceeds were properly settled," Moon said. "The distribution structure must be made transparent so that Jeju kiwi farmers can directly verify sorting results, sales records and disposal details."

Minister Song said she would confirm the facts and take immediate action.