The decrease in South Korea\'s rural population has slowed down sharply in the past five years as fewer people leave farms for cities and more urban dwellers opt to become farmers, government data showed Monday. The data by the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said the country\'s rural population stood at slightly over 8.75 million people last year, down 0.08 percent from around 8.76 million in 2005.