Ruling party and government announce follow-up measures to ease farmer anxiety
Special law to offer path to legalize routine, minor violations
Agriculture minister vows to 'fully examine circumstances'
Special law targeted for passage this year; farmland act revision by first half of next year
Farmland used without authorization for non-agricultural purposes may be legalized for the first time in 38 years, provided no speculation or serious violations are involved. Amid growing anxiety in farming communities over the country's first-ever comprehensive farmland survey, the ruling party and government said they plan to enact a special measures law by the end of this year to give holders of routine or minor violations a chance to regularize their status.
The Democratic Party of Korea and the government announced the follow-up measures Monday after holding a ruling party-government policy meeting at the National Assembly on the direction of the nationwide farmland survey.
At the meeting, the two sides doubled down on their principle of strictly punishing clear cases of speculative land acquisition through the survey while pursuing legalization of routine violations through guidance and regulatory reform. Officials noted that calls from the field for a special measures law have persisted because the current Farmland Act provides no legal basis for deferring or retroactively correcting disposals of land found to be in violation.
They also agreed to accelerate follow-up measures — including revisions to the Farmland Act and budget support — based on the survey's findings.
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryung said at the meeting that the government would "fully examine the circumstances and background of routine violations and open a path for normalization and legalization." She added that rather than moving straight to disposal orders, the government would "find a way for farmland to recover its proper character and return to normal use."
The government has been conducting the first comprehensive farmland survey since the country's founding, aimed at assessing the ownership and use of farmland in accordance with the constitutional principle that farmland belongs to those who till it. A basic survey was completed through July, and an in-depth field inspection phase began in August. Follow-up procedures — including confirming violations and issuing disposal obligation notices — are not expected to begin until 2027 at the earliest.
Concerns have spread among landowners that even routine lease arrangements or uncultivated plots could be subject to disposal orders. Officials acknowledge that it is not uncommon for the registered owner of farmland to differ from the person actually farming it — for instance, when parents continue to farm land they have transferred to a child who has moved to the city, or when elderly owners can no longer cultivate the land themselves.
The ruling party and government made clear that actual cultivation status alone would not determine whether land is subject to disposal. Authorities said they would weigh a range of factors: whether the owner had genuine farming intent when acquiring the land, whether any false or fraudulent conduct occurred during the farmland acquisition certificate process, and how the land has been used since acquisition.
Cases the government considers clear speculation include acquiring farmland in a land transaction permit zone by submitting a false farming plan and then leaving it fallow or illegally leasing it; agricultural corporations acquiring farmland and then operating real estate businesses; and acquiring shared ownership stakes in farmland through auctions before leaving the land fallow or illegally leasing it.
Illegally converting farmland in agricultural promotion zones into non-agricultural facilities such as open storage yards or campsites is also classified as a serious violation. The government said it will issue disposal orders for confirmed cases of speculation and impose restoration orders for serious illegal conversions within agricultural promotion zones.
Yoon Won-seup, director of agricultural policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said that "confirming fraudulent or improper acquisition is genuinely difficult without being able to look into a person's intentions," adding that the government would "issue administrative disposals based on a comprehensive review of all circumstances, and then make a final judgment based on the party's explanation during the local government's hearing process."
For routine rural violations that do not constitute speculation, the government will offer a path to regularization. Landowners will first be given a voluntary compliance period during which they can begin cultivating the land themselves or convert to a lawful lease arrangement. Those unable to comply immediately may normalize their lease arrangements through the farmland bank, deferring their disposal obligation.
Farmland acquired through inheritance or abandoned by those who have left farming will also be regularized through the farmland bank. Portions of such land exceeding 1 hectare may be entrusted to the farmland bank for lease. For land with unclear ownership due to unregistered inheritance, a representative such as the property tax payer may submit the entrustment, with the actual cultivator then leasing the land.
The special lease regularization period has been extended through Nov. 15. Landowners who entrust their land to the farmland bank during this period to normalize routine lease arrangements will be excluded from supplementary investigation. The government is also pursuing legalization of illegally converted farmland for the first time since 1988. For conversions that do not constitute serious violations — such as damage to agricultural promotion zones — retroactive applications will be accepted for facilities that could have been installed through normal conversion procedures.
The ruling party and government are aiming to pass the special measures law through the National Assembly before the end of this year, with plans to implement it in the first quarter of next year and begin detailed measures by violation type.
Alongside this, the government plans to introduce a Farmland Act revision bill targeting passage in the first half of next year, to close the gap between rural realities exposed by the survey and the current farmland regime. The revision will address provisions that no longer reflect rural conditions, including those related to inheritance, aging farm populations and routine lease practices.
The Democratic Party's agriculture, food, oceans and fisheries policy committee said the ruling party and government "share the concern that misinformation not grounded in fact is spreading through rural communities, potentially fueling unnecessary anxiety among farmers and the public." The committee said it would "actively communicate by transparently and promptly explaining accurate information about the farmland survey to farmers and the public."
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