▲ Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryung appearing on SBS 'News Briefing'
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryung stated today (the 14th), "Even if violations are confirmed through the farmland survey, they do not immediately lead to disposition."
Appearing on SBS 'News Briefing' this afternoon, Minister Song made the remarks in response to the host's question addressing widespread concerns over the government's first-ever comprehensive nationwide farmland survey, saying, "We will thoroughly distinguish between illegal speculation and general violations inevitably committed by well-meaning farmers due to reasons such as illness or old age."
Minister Song emphasized that cases where farming could not be carried out due to unavoidable reasons will not be subject to uniform disposition.
She continued, "While we will take strict measures against major violations such as acquisitions for speculative purposes, this is about correcting and normalizing situations that frequently and unavoidably occur in rural areas by fully taking field conditions into account."
In addition, Minister Song noted, "When farmland must be disposed of, we intend to vitalize the acquisition and lease functions of the Farmland Bank," adding, "A revision of the law has also been made so that the Farmland Bank is obligated to purchase farmland within the budget range, provided there are no restrictions on its function as farmland or the exercise of rights."
The revised Farmland Act, which took effect on August 28, changed the farmland disposition order from a discretionary provision to a mandatory one.
Previously, mayors, county heads, and district office heads were stipulated as being able to order disposition, but the revised law made it mandatory by stating that they must order it.
Accordingly, the government notifies owners of farmland who do not farm without justifiable reasons or who illegally lease it of their disposition obligation, and upon receiving this notice, farmland owners must in principle dispose of the farmland within one year.
If the land is not sold during this period, a disposition order is issued, and it must be sold within the following six months.
If the owner still fails to sell the land thereafter, the government imposes a compliance penalty amounting to 25 percent of the land value every year.
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