Minister Song Mi-ryeong meets farmers, reiterates probe is not aimed at penalizing routine violations

Speculators and serious offenders to face strict action; others to get chance to regularize holdings

Special measures law and farmland act revision to reflect rural realities

Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryeong (first from left) inspects accommodation and experience facilities at a rural tourism village in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday ahead of the Chuseok holiday and autumn travel season. [Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs]
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryeong (first from left) inspects accommodation and experience facilities at a rural tourism village in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday ahead of the Chuseok holiday and autumn travel season. [Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs]

With Chuseok approaching, the government has moved to calm farmers' anxieties over a nationwide farmland survey. Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryeong visited rural communities in person to reiterate that the comprehensive survey is not intended to catch and penalize farmers. The government's position is that routine violations arising from the realities of rural life — unlike speculation or serious illegal conversions — will be met with opportunities to regularize holdings rather than punitive action.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Song held a field forum Tuesday in Hongdong-myeon, Hongseong-gun, South Chungcheong Province, listening to the concerns of elderly farmers, tenant farmers and young farmers about the ongoing farmland survey.

At the forum, participants raised issues including the burden of farmland management on elderly farmers, the need for stable farming conditions for tenants, and difficulties young farmers face in securing land. Concerns were also voiced that any problems uncovered by the survey would immediately require farmers to dispose of their land.

Song said the survey's purpose is not to detect and punish farmers, but to accurately assess the state of farmland ownership and use and to improve the farmland management system to better reflect reality.

Under follow-up measures announced Monday, the government said it would distinguish between speculative or seriously illegal conduct and routine violations that occur in ordinary rural settings.

Cases subject to punitive action include acquiring farmland in land transaction permit zones by submitting false farming plans and then leaving the land fallow without authorization or leasing it illegally. Also targeted are those who set up agricultural corporations to acquire farmland and then operate real estate businesses, or those who acquire only a share of farmland through auctions and leave it fallow or lease it illegally.

Strict measures will also apply to cases where facilities prohibited in agricultural promotion zones — such as campgrounds or open storage yards — are installed, or where land is illegally converted to uses banned under other laws.

By contrast, routine violations that fall outside these categories and stem from the realities of rural life will not be subject to punitive action. The government plans to enact a special measures law that gives farmers sufficient time to bring their land back into proper use or to legalize unauthorized conversions.

Earlier, the government proposed allowing farmers who can no longer work their land directly due to old age, inheritance or migration away from rural areas to manage it properly through the farmland bank trust system. It also plans to revise related regulations so that customary lease arrangements can be brought within the legal framework if certain conditions are met.

"The realities of farmland cannot be fully understood from behind a desk," Song said. "Having directly confirmed the difficulties farmers face and the realities of farmland use during this field visit, we will firmly push ahead with necessary institutional reforms — including enacting the special measures law and revising the Farmland Act — and overhaul the farmland system to reflect reality."

"Going forward, I will listen more, fix things properly, and do my utmost to address every question and concern of each and every farmer," she added. "Based on the results of the farmland survey, we will make this a turning point — one that properly passes farmland on to future generations while building a rural community that people return to."


adastra@heraldcorp.com