[Anchor]

As farmers raised continuous concerns over the comprehensive farmland investigation, the government and the ruling party have unveiled complementary measures. While vowing strict punishment for clear speculative purposes, they have decided to first grant an opportunity for voluntary reorganization in cases of customary lease violations.

Reporter Jeong Seong-jin reports.

[Reporter]

This is a field in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.

Even the roads are poorly maintained, making it difficult to access.

It is a single land plot measuring approximately 2,300 square meters, or about 700 pyeong, with more than 70 owners.

Most of them purchased shares in 2016 and 2017 from all over the country, including Seoul and Busan, under the pretext of operating weekend experience farms.

However, as you can see, farming is currently not taking place at all, leaving the land completely neglected with overgrown weeds.

[Nearby Farmer: It has been about 8 or 9 years for me. I don't think I have ever seen anyone farming here.]

The government suspects whether these were speculative acquisitions aimed at development gains or market margins.

Conducting the nation's first comprehensive farmland investigation, the government plans to take strict measures, such as disposal orders, if farmland speculation is confirmed.

However, it has been pointed out that judging solely by whether the owner engages in farming could criminalize customary agricultural leasing practices in rural areas and cause damage, such as tenant farmers losing their cultivated land.

[Lee Don-il / Farmer in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province: Even what is being cultivated, the owner says they will farm it themselves and plant trees in the field. I wouldn't be able to do it even if I wanted to.]

The government and the ruling party moved to soothe farm sentiment, stating that customary violations will not be subject to disposal.

Practices such as exchanging land with each other to farm or having one person consolidate and cultivate village farmland will be granted a suspension of disposal if entrusted to the Korea Rural Community Corporation's Farmland Bank, with priority leasing given to existing cultivators to prevent damage.

Farmland Act violations caused by old age or inheritance will also be excluded from disposal targets to support normalization.

[Song Miryung / Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: There is a significant gap between the system and reality in rural areas. We will pave the way to normalize and legalize them through this opportunity.]

The government plans to enact a special measure act containing the basis for suspension of disposal and also push for revisions to the Farmland Act, which has a disconnect with rural realities.

(Video Editing: Lee So-young, Design: Lee Ga-jin, VJ: Lee Ji-huan)