Four categories of speculation and serious illegal conversion to face scrutiny

Routine violations to be regularized through special measures law

Village heads call for clear guidelines and sufficient grace period

Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryeong discusses the "2027 Young Farmer Support System Reform Direction" with participants at a youth farmer communication forum held Tuesday at Hansik Culture Space Eum in Jongno-gu, Seoul. [Provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Redistribution and DB prohibited]
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryeong discusses the "2027 Young Farmer Support System Reform Direction" with participants at a youth farmer communication forum held Tuesday at Hansik Culture Space Eum in Jongno-gu, Seoul. [Provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Redistribution and DB prohibited]

As concerns among farmers over a nationwide farmland survey continue to grow, the government has reaffirmed that it will not penalize violations that have occurred as common practice in rural communities. The survey will focus on identifying farmland acquired for speculative purposes or subject to serious illegal conversion, while routine violations will be given an opportunity for regularization through a special measures law.

Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Song Mi-ryeong held a meeting Wednesday with village heads at Namwon City Hall in North Jeolla Province to hear their concerns and suggestions regarding the ongoing farmland survey.

Song said the nationwide farmland survey was not intended to catch or penalize farmers, but rather to assess the actual state of farmland ownership and use in order to improve the farmland management system to better reflect reality.

She particularly reaffirmed the government's position, announced Sept. 21, that routine violations arising from the realities of rural life would be excluded from punitive action. The government plans to enact a special measures law that will provide sufficient time for normalization and regularization.

The government has identified four broad categories of conduct it considers speculation or serious illegal conversion. These include acquiring farmland in land transaction permit zones through false farming plans and then leaving it fallow without authorization or illegally leasing it, and agricultural corporations acquiring farmland and then operating real estate businesses.

Also included are cases where only a share of farmland is acquired through auction or similar means, followed by unauthorized fallowing or illegal leasing. Installing non-agricultural facilities restricted in agricultural promotion zones — such as campsites or open-air storage yards — or illegally converting land to uses prohibited under other laws are also treated as serious violations.

Song said farmers who do not fall under any of these four categories have no reason to be overly concerned about the farmland survey.

Village heads at the meeting asked the government to provide detailed guidance on the criteria for penalties and regularization so that farmers would not face confusion during the survey and follow-up process. They also called for a sufficient grace period to allow farming households that need to regularize their situations time to prepare.

"Village heads are the ones who know their communities best," Song said. "Based on the voices from the field shared with us today, we will carefully examine the difficulties farmers actually face and improve the farmland system to better reflect reality." She added that the government would use the survey results as a turning point to properly pass farmland on to future generations while building rural communities that people will return to.


adastra@heraldcorp.com