President Lee: "Converting Farmland to Solar Power Yields Multiple Times More Income... Now Is the Chance"

"South Korea must become an electrified nation anyway, and renewable energy is the key. Among them, solar power cannot help but be at the center," President Lee Jae-myung said today (October 6), expressing the view that the government needs to actively review ways to utilize idle farmland for solar power generation.

President Lee remarked, "Now seems to be the opportunity," after receiving a briefing on a comprehensive survey of farmland during a Cabinet meeting on this day.

"If farmland is converted for solar power projects, the returns seem to be quite high. It means earning several times more income than from conventional farming," President Lee said.

He continued, "Yet, why is this not working well? There are quite a few people (appealing) that they 'try to obtain permits and licensing, but are rejected.'"

President Lee explained, "Whether through funds, investments, or taking out business loans, facility issues can be resolved. It is just a matter of distributing a set share of profits (to farmland owners as well)." He added, "The government must build a solid foundation so people can return to rural and fishing communities, and create a system that provides one-stop support for permits and licensing or facility financing," calling for these measures to be examined.

Meanwhile, President Lee received a briefing from Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young on measures to eradicate ticket scalping and the status of enforcement, emphasizing proactive policy implementation by stating, "Some might wonder why we go this far (over a small matter), but when such issues accumulate, they become deep-seated evils."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.