NongHyup said on Jan. 21 it had formally launched a "NongHyup Reform Committee" involving external experts from academia, farmer organisations, consumer groups and the legal community. It said the committee was launched after holding its first meeting on Jan. 20 at the NongHyup Federation headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul.

The committee consists of 14 members, including 11 external members and three internal members. It elected Lee Kwang-beom (이광범) as chair at the meeting.

The committee will serve as an official forum for discussions aimed at structural reform and organisational improvement. It will reflect not only internal views but also opinions from external experts and matters discussed by the government and the National Assembly.

NongHyup said it aims to accelerate its internal reform through the committee. Meetings will be held regularly each month, and the second meeting is scheduled for next month on Feb. 24.

The committee will focus discussions on improving governance at the federation and its affiliates, strengthening democratic operations of cooperatives, enhancing management transparency, and boosting organisational and business competitiveness. It also plans to comprehensively review the results of an interim audit by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, proposed revisions to the NongHyup Act and key innovation tasks across the wider NongHyup group, and draw up specific reform tasks to be carried out by working-level departments.

A NongHyup official said the goal is to fundamentally review NongHyup from an outside perspective and prepare execution-focused reform measures. The official said the reform will help NongHyup faithfully carry out its inherent role for agriculture and rural communities and be reborn as a NongHyup that earns public trust.