□ Why should rural areas be the starting point for realizing a basic society?

○ Rural areas/societies have played an integral role in mobilizing resources in the process of development and growth, but they are facing a crisis of local extinction as widening social and economic gaps have forced their residents to suffer disadvantages of farming and inconveniences in daily life. 

○ Rural areas must be maintained and protected, as they are crucial for balanced national development, sustainable social development, and residents’ fundamental rights. However, policymakers in charge currently prioritize maintaining the status quo through passive management systems on the grounds of financial constraints and policy efficiency, resulting in severe criticism. 

○ To effectively navigate the polycrisis characterized by high uncertainty and volatility, we propose viable policy measures to advance from a rural society to a basic society with a focus on agriculture and rural areas as sources of societal resilience. 

□ Three major local community-based strategic roadmaps and action plans to realize a rural basic society

○ The great transition toward a basic society—a society that combines basic income with basic services to relieve anxiety in life, eliminate inequalities, and promote freedom among its members—is the demand of the times.

○ Across industrial sectors, generations, social classes, and regions, the starting point of a basic society is considered rural areas/societies. These places served as the foundation of industrialization and economic growth, are most neglected in balanced development efforts, and are facing the so-called “local extinction crisis,” and their residents do not question their disadvantages. 

① Farmers cannot sustain life by farming alone → compensation and support for farmers who serve the public interest function of agriculture → strengthening the existing “agrarian basic income” scheme

- The multifunctionality of agriculture is produced in combination with agricultural products, resulting in no additional costs. However, supplying it through methods other than agricultural production is inefficient, prompting the need to compensate farmers for serving public functions. 

② Many residents inhabit rural areas → compensation and support for residents living in over-depopulated areas → introducing a new rural basic income scheme

- Rural residents function as “regional guardians” while navigating poor social and economic conditions. Thus, to maintain a certain population level and achieve community sustainability, all residents must be provided with universal income or living condition support. 

③ Daily rural life must be sustainable → nurturing providers of rural life support for residents living in poor living conditions → strengthening the existing rural life support

- Most rural residents urgently need rural life support, which is essential but difficult to secure on an individual level, requiring public assistance in the form of social welfare and additional rural life support policies. 

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