South Korean government agencies are discussing whether or not to give up the country's developing nation status under the World Trade Organization(WTO).

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo spoke about the situation Friday during a parliamentary inspection of his ministry.

While raising questions with the minister, ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Wi Seong-gon said that giving up the developing nation status would be abandoning Korea's agriculture sector. 

In response, Sung said related government agencies were directly consulting with farmers’ associations. He added that they will take into account national interest, the state of the economy and economic impacts in making any related decisions.

Sung’s comments come as U.S. President Donald Trump has been calling for WTO reform, raising issue with the trade body's rules that  allow relatively advanced countries to receive certain favorable treatment by identifying as a developing nation.

In a memo issued on July 26th, Trump ordered the U.S. Trade Representative to end benefits to “self-declared developing countries" for the purpose of WTO membership if “substantial progress” toward reform had not been made within 90 days.

That deadlines expires next Wednesday.