Many Korean dishes are loaded with chili peppers, also known here as "cheongyang" peppers, but not many know that every time they buy a pepper, Korean consumers are paying royalties overseas.
Its seed was developed by a local company, but it lost its rights when the business crumbled during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.
Since then, many local firms have had to give up their seed ownership to multinational companies.
Currently, Korea is paying royalties for about 30 percent of its agricultural products.
Over the last five years, Korea has shelled out nearly 54-million U.S. dollars in royalties, with mushrooms accounting for the most at 19-million dollars, followed by roses at 14-million dollars and kiwi at 8.6-million dollars.
About 70 percent of the global seed market is owned by multinational companies, which puts Korean companies trying to increase their presence in the world market in a tough spot.
"Many multinational companies are dominating the global seed market, using intellectual property rights as a weapon. So, it is hard for mid-sized local companies to compete with them."
Korea is seeking to develop different kinds of plant breeding, while protecting seed rights with a systematic set of patents to prevent them from being sold overseas.
"We plan to support the seed research by developing patents and protecting the intellectual property that could eventually result in more profits for the country."
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