A Choson Ilbo article is again pointing out that South Korea is unprepared for the worldwide grain shortage, especially when compared to Japan. Japan has gone out and obtained swaths of cropland bigger than Japan itself to help it withstand any grain shortage. Korea has very little in stores, way less than the FAO recommends. The big rice exporters are putting restrictions on imports while South Korea itself resists lowering tariffs on imports. A handful of Korean companies have gone out and purchased land outside Korea for cultivation (Siberia?). The government set up a task force to combat the food shortage this past December. So far, like many government and business procedures in Korea, changes have only been cosmetic.