The Republic of Korea (ROK) is facing a cabbage crisis, with the price of the vegetable reaching a historic high of more than 10,000 won (nearly $9) a piece.

Kimchi crisis  [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

To overcome the crisis, the ROK government lifted its tariff on cabbage imports temporarily on Oct 14 and decided to import the vegetable from China. Soon ROK businesspeople flooded the vegetable fields in Shandong and Liaoning provinces, and Tianjin municipality to buy cabbages.

The apparent reason for the cabbage crisis in the ROK is natural disasters. Cabbage production fell dramatically in the ROK because it was battered by typhoon and torrential rain.

But the real reason could be the trade protectionism measures that the ROK imposed on agricultural products for a year.

In today's globalized world, no country or region can solve all its economic and agricultural problems on its own. That's why economic globalization, regional integration and free trade areas (FTAs) have been thriving in the 21st century.

The agricultural acreage of the ROK is less than 1.85 million hectares, and falling. The trend among people in the ROK is to take up jobs or go in for business, especially small-scale business. This, combined with the country's aging population, has caused the agriculture population to fall. So, the ROK has to rely on imports for a large amount of agricultural products.

But to get the support (and votes) of farmers, the ROK imposed high import tariffs on agricultural products to limit their import. The import tariffs on cabbage and white turnip were 27 and 30 percent, which made it difficult for imported products, even from neighboring countries, to enter its market. And that is the root of the "cabbage crisis".

If the ROK had agreed to set up an FTA with China, the two sides could have facilitated trade by reducing tariffs and eliminating non-tariff barriers, and ensured that the ROK didn't face a cabbage crisis.