Agriculture Minister: Additional Farmland Inspections Will Focus on Speculative Cases

Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryung stated today (October 13) that "additional farmland inspections should focus on types of land speculation."

Appearing on KBS1 Radio's "Jeon-guk Sisa," Minister Song noted, "The baseline survey was completed at the end of July, and on-site inspections are currently underway, which we expect to be largely wrapped up in October."


Minister Song reaffirmed the government's existing stance to push for the enactment of a special measure law so that general matters—excluding farmland speculation and serious illegal conversions—will not proceed with disposition procedures under the Farmland Act based on the results of this comprehensive investigation.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) plans to enact a special measure law regarding farmland inspections within this year, followed by pushing for amendments to the Farmland Act within the first half of next year.

Minister Song explained, "Because the Farmland Act is 30 years old, there are many parts that need to be fixed, and social consensus is required. Since we will be carrying out that process next year, leaving violations uncovered based on this farmland investigation would effectively mean condoning violations of the law. To resolve this issue, we are scheduling a plan to first use a special measure law to grant a grace period through special provisions to resolve current violation statuses, and then completely revise the Farmland Act next year."

Additionally, regarding the issue of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Minister Song emphasized, "Because the CPTPP has a high intensity of market opening, our agricultural sector feels considerable apprehension," adding, "We will sufficiently communicate and listen to the position of the agricultural sector."

She further stressed, "We will faithfully represent the opinions of the agricultural sector in the government's proposal."

(Photo: Captured from KBS Jeon-guk Sisa YouTube screen, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.