Government Unveils Another 'Late' Countermeasure Amid Growing Farmland Survey Controversy

[Anchor]

As controversies persist surrounding the complete census of farmlands, the government has unveiled yet another follow-up countermeasure. While clarifying that no orders to dispose of land will be issued unless clear speculation is involved and announcing plans to enact a special act within the year, criticism is mounting that the government is once again reacting after the fact.

Reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the story.

[Reporter]

When the government announced in July that one in four locations was suspected of violating the Farmland Act following the basic survey results of the nationwide farmland census, complaints erupted among farmers.

[Lee Kwan-ho / Farmer in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: (The landowners are elderly and) cannot farm, so we are farming it instead. We think it is wrong to impose forced compliance fines or tell us to sell it.]

The government, the ruling party, and even the president stepped forward to calm the situation, stating that the measure was meant to distinguish clear speculative activities, and announced last month that they would pursue a special act to defer disposal for habitual violations.

However, as farmers' complaints continued, the government released another set of measures today (October 8), drawing a firm line by stating that farmlands will "not be disposed of" unless they involve speculation.

[Song Miryung / Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: There might be a misunderstanding that disposal will simply be carried out again after a certain grace period, so we are making this crystal clear. No disposals will be made based on the results of this survey.]

The government outlined three major types of speculative activities—such as acquiring farmland using false farming plans and leaving it neglected without authorization—while stating that five other categories, including controversial inherited farmland and habitual leasing by elderly farmers, will be excluded from disposal.

The government also took a step back from its previous policy, which required deferring disposal through consignment to the Farmland Bank.

[Song Miryung / Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: Consigning to the Farmland Bank is not a mandatory requirement to avoid disposal. We do not demand Farmland Bank consignment from those who wish to maintain their current status.]

The government plans to enact the special act within this year and revise the Farmland Act in the first half of next year.

However, because experts had pointed out the need for measures regarding rural practices even before the nationwide census began, criticism that these are belated countermeasures seems inevitable.

[Shin Jang-shik / Rebuilding Korea Party Lawmaker (Yesterday, Parliamentary Audit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs): Four months ago, the National Assembly Research Service said, 'You need to prepare these measures before conducting the nationwide farmland census.' Why didn't you prepare them?]

Meanwhile, the government announced that it has temporarily suspended the use of Chinese-made drones for farmland photography, which had raised security concerns.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video Reported by Lee Jae-young | Video Edited by Yu Mi-ra | Design by Kang Yun-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.