This is a field in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.
Even the roads are poorly maintained, making it difficult to access.
It is a single land parcel spanning about 2,300 square meters—roughly 700 pyeong—with more than 70 co-owners.
Most of them purchased shares in 2016 and 2017 from across the country, including Seoul and Busan, intending to use them as weekend experiential farms.
[Reporter Sungjin: However, as you can see, the land is not being farmed at all and is completely neglected, with weeds growing thick.]
[Nearby Farmer: It has been about 8 to 9 years. I don't think I've ever seen anyone farming here.]
The government suspects these purchases may be speculative acquisitions aimed at development gains or market margins.
Conducting the nation's first nationwide complete investigation into farmland, the government plans to take strict measures, such as issuing disposal orders, if farmland speculation is confirmed.
However, critics point out that judging solely on whether the owners themselves farm the land could criminalize conventional agricultural leasing practices in rural areas, harming tenant farmers who would lose their cultivated land.
[Lee Don-il / Farmer in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: Even if they want to farm, the owner insists on farming it themselves and planting trees... So I can't do it even if I want to.]
The government and the ruling party have stepped out to soothe farmers, stating that habitual violations will not be subject to disposal.
They decided to prevent damage by deferring disposal and giving priority lease rights to existing cultivators if practices such as swapping land to farm or having a single person gather and cultivate village farmland are entrusted to the Korea Rural Community Corporation's Farmland Bank.
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 this through this opportunity.]
The government plans to enact a special act containing grounds for disposal deferrals and push for revisions to the Farmland Act, which has gaps with rural realities.
Addressing Concerns Over Not Being Able to Farm Even When Willing... Disposal Deferral for Habitual Violations (September 21, 2026, 8 News)
Reported by Sungjin, Produced by Bae Junhwi, Video by Lee Soyoung, Design by Lee Gajin, VJ by Lee Jihwan, Produced by SBS Digital News
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