Letter ups the ante in garlic dispute

Garlic farmers in Lanling county, Shandong province, have urged South Korean President Park Geun-hye to intervene in a dispute between the Chinese sellers and South Korean importers.

The farmers posted an open letter to Park on Tuesday to demand fair treatment and to insist she resolves the ongoing legal dispute, which came to a head after a huge Chinese shipment of the crop was rejected by a government agency last month.

The state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp refused to approve the import of 2,200 metric tons of garlic shipped by exporters in Lanling in January because of what they called quality issues, resulting in a loss of more than 10 million yuan ($1.59 million) for the farmers.