[Anchor]
As farmers expressed growing concerns over the comprehensive farmland inspection, the government and the ruling party have unveiled complementary measures. The focus is on strictly punishing clear speculative purposes while giving opportunities to normalize conventional lease violations.
Here is reporter Jeong Seong-jin with the details.
[Reporter]
This is a field in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.
Even the paths are poorly maintained, making it difficult to access.
It is a single plot of land spanning about 2,300 square meters, or roughly 700 pyeong, but it has more than 70 owners.
Most of them purchased shares in 2016 and 2017, coming from all over the country including Seoul and Busan under the pretext of operating weekend experience farms.
However, as you can see, weeds are overgrown, and the land is currently left completely abandoned without being farmed.
[Nearby Farmer: It has been about eight or nine years for me. I don't think I have ever seen anyone farming here.]
The government is suspecting whether these were speculative acquisitions aimed at development gains or market margins.
Conducting the nation's first comprehensive farmland inspection, the government plans to take strict measures such as disposal orders if farmland speculation is confirmed.
However, criticisms have been raised that judging solely on whether the owner is farming could criminalize conventional lease practices in rural areas, leading to tenant farmers losing their cultivated lands and suffering damages.
[Lee Don-il / Farmer in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: The landowner says they will farm it themselves and plants trees in the field. Even if I want to farm, I can't.]
The government and the ruling party have stepped in to soothe rural sentiment, stating that conventional violations will not be subject to disposal.
Practices such as exchanging plots with others to farm, or a single person consolidating and cultivating village farmland, will be granted a deferral of disposal if entrusted to the Korea Rural Community Corporation's farmland bank, and will be preferentially leased to existing cultivators to prevent damage.
Farmland Act violations caused by aging or inheritance will also be excluded from disposal targets to support normalization.
[Song Miryung / Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: There is a considerable gap between the system and reality in rural areas. We will pave the way to normalize and legalize them through this opportunity.]
The government plans to enact a special measures act containing the basis for disposal deferrals and push for revisions to the Farmland Act, which diverges from rural realities.
(Video Editing: Lee So-young, Design: Lee Ga-jin, VJ: Lee Ji-hwan)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.