[Anchor]
As the government conducts a nationwide comprehensive inspection of farmland, concerns are growing among farmers. Amid voices raising worries that even realistic farming practices in rural areas might be indiscriminately cracked down upon, President Lee Jae-myung directly stepped in to defuse the situation, explaining that the measure is aimed at sorting out speculative farmland.
Reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the story.
[Reporter]
Lee Gwan-ho has been farming in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, for over 40 years.
Seventy percent of the land he farms is rented, but he recently received a call from a landowner asking for the land back because the owner intends to farm it directly.
[Lee Gwan-ho / Farmer, Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: (The farmland owner) said he would come and do it himself, so I just gave back about 1,200 pyeong of it. I had no choice but to lose the farmland....]
In February, President Lee Jae-myung pointed out that farmland was also becoming a target for speculation, prompting the government to launch its first-ever comprehensive inspection of farmland.
Among the roughly 10 million farmland parcels surveyed this year, illegal leasing was suspected in one out of every five locations.
If violations of the Farmland Act are finally confirmed after in-depth investigations, disposition orders may be issued, and compliance penalty fines will be imposed for non-compliance.
However, both landowners who rented out some of their land because it is difficult to farm everything on their own, and tenant farmers who suddenly became subjects of the investigation, are pushing back, calling it an inspection out of touch with reality.
[Lee Ho-geun / Farmer, Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: Because of (the landowner's) capital gains tax, out of the 8,000 pyeong or so that I farm, I only have written lease contracts for 4,000 pyeong.]
Anxiety has also escalated as farmland with complex ownership relationships, such as inherited land or property owned by clan lineages, has been included in the inspection targets.
[Lee Gwan-ho / Farmer, Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: How can we get seals stamped by about 60 people (who own clan land) and farm it all?]
There are also claims that farmland transactions have shrunk following the investigation, causing land prices to drop.
[Song / Farmer, Sejong City: Transactions have dried up, so even if we want to sell our land, it won't sell, and some real estate agencies have even closed down.]
The government stepped in to clarify that it will distinguish between clear speculative acts and customary violations in rural areas, and President Lee Jae-myung also rebutted concerns, stating that worries have grown due to propaganda by speculative forces.
[President Lee Jae-myung: What we are doing is targeting properties that were bought with permission but are not actually being farmed and are being used for other purposes. This is to clearly sort out such real estate speculation.]
The Democratic Party plans to hold a party-government consultative meeting with the government on September 21 to discuss supplementary measures for the comprehensive farmland inspection.
(Photo courtesy of Seol Chi-hwan | Video Editing: Jang Hyun-ki | Graphics: Lee Ga-jin)
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