Farmers Upset Over Nationwide Farmland Inspection; President Lee Steps In

[Anchor]

Farmers are growing increasingly concerned over the nationwide farmland inspection currently being conducted by the government. As voices grow that the crackdown may indiscriminately penalize realistic farming practices in rural areas, President Lee Jae-myung has stepped in directly to clarify that the measure is intended to weed out speculative farmland.

Reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the story.

[Reporter]

Lee Kwan-ho has been farming in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, for over 40 years.

About 70 percent of the land he farms is rented, but he recently received a call from the landowner asking for the land back because the owner intends to farm it directly.

[Lee Kwan-ho / Farmer in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: (The landowner) said they would come and farm it themselves, so I just handed over about 1,200 pyeong. I had no choice but to lose the farmland...]&br;
After President Lee Jae-myung pointed out in February that farmland was becoming a target of speculation, the government launched its first-ever nationwide comprehensive farmland inspection.

Among the approximately 10 million plots of farmland inspected this year, about one in five showed signs of suspected illegal leasing.

If a violation of the Farmland Act is finally confirmed after an in-depth investigation, a disposal order may be issued, and compulsory compliance fines will be imposed for non-compliance.

However, both landowners who rented out some of their land because they could not farm the entire area on their own and tenant farmers who suddenly became subject to the investigation are protesting, calling it an inspection disconnected from reality.

[Lee Ho-geun / Farmer in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: Due to (landowners') capital gains tax, out of the roughly 8,000 pyeong I farm, I only have lease contracts written for 4,000 pyeong.]

Anxiety has also grown as farmland with complex ownership relations, such as inherited land or clan-owned property, has been included in the investigation.

[Lee Kwan-ho / Farmer in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: How can we possibly get stamps from about 60 people (for clan-owned land) and farm it like that?]

Claims are also emerging that farmland transactions have contracted following the investigation, causing land prices to drop.

[Song (surname) / Farmer in Sejong City: Transactions have completely stopped, so even if we want to sell our land, it won't sell, and some real estate agencies have even closed down.]

The government moved to calm the situation by stating it would distinguish between clear speculative acts and customary violations in rural areas, and President Lee Jae-myung also pushed back, stating that concerns have been inflated by the propaganda of speculative forces.

[Lee Jae-myung / President: What we are doing is targeting cases where people buy land with permission but do not actually farm it and use it for other purposes. It is to clearly weed out such blatant real estate speculation.]

The Democratic Party plans to hold a government-party consultation meeting on September 21 to discuss supplementary measures for the nationwide farmland inspection.

(Video reporting: Seol Chi-hwan, Video editing: Jang Hyun-ki, Design: Lee Ga-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.