[2026 National Assembly Audit] "Taking Farmers' Land?" Farmland Survey Under Fire; Song Miryung: "Only Speculative Cases Will Be Penalized"

Ruling and opposition parties criticize confusion on the ground

"We will look into it" after proposal for targeted survey instead of comprehensive survey

"No penalties for ordinary and customary violations... No plans to confiscate farmers'

Yonhap News Agency

The government’s planned comprehensive farmland survey was a major focus throughout the day on October 7 at the National Assembly’s audit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, conducted by the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee. The opposition criticized the government for pressing ahead with the survey without adequate preparation, saying it had heightened farmers’ anxiety. Members of the ruling party also said the government’s response to confusion on the ground had been inadequate. Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryung said she would go beyond the government’s existing position of not penalizing customary violations and consider adjusting the survey to focus on uncultivated farmland and land suspected of being held for speculation.

At the audit, Song said, “We do not plan to penalize most ordinary, customary violations found during the survey,” adding, “We have no plan or reason to confiscate land from farmers who are farming it.”

The government considers cases potentially involving speculation to be subject to penalties, including cases in which someone falsely acquired farmland in a land transaction permit zone and then left it uncultivated without authorization or leased it illegally, as well as cases in which an agricultural corporation engages in real estate business. Even in such cases, the government intends to provide a sufficient opportunity to present an explanation before imposing any penalties.

Both the ruling and opposition parties, however, took issue with the government’s response, saying it had heightened farmers’ anxiety during the survey. Lee Seong-gwon of the People Power Party said farmers feared that “the land they have worked all their lives will be seized.” Lee Gae-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea also criticized the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for failing to adequately explain the survey and respond on the ground as distorted information about it spread.

There were also calls to adjust the scope of the survey. When Lee proposed focusing on uncultivated farmland and farmland in the Seoul metropolitan area suspected of being held for speculative purposes, rather than surveying all farmland, Song replied, “We will look into it.” Song also said “there is merit to that argument” in response to People Power Party lawmaker Cho Seung-hwan’s call to suspend the comprehensive survey and first improve the legal framework, including by revising the Farmland Act or enacting a special measures act.

The comprehensive farmland survey gained momentum in February, when President Lee Jae-myung said farmland had become more expensive as it was turned into an object of speculation and instructed the government to consider a comprehensive survey. After conducting an initial survey of farmland acquired since the Farmland Act took effect, the government said that, of the total 1.36 million hectares, 300,000 hectares were suspected of involving violations of ownership restrictions, illegal leasing or conversion, or unauthorized periods of non-cultivation.

As claims spread that “the government is taking farmers’ land,” the government decided to enact a special measures act by the end of the year. The act would give farmers a period to voluntarily correct minor violations, such as oral lease arrangements unrelated to speculation and periods of non-cultivation by elderly farmers, so they can bring their farmland use into compliance.

Questions were also raised about whether adequate institutional measures were in place to accommodate farmers seeking to dispose of their farmland after the survey. Song acknowledged that, although next year’s budgets for the Farmland Bank and Farmland Pension had been increased, they would not be enough to meet demand. She said she would seek additional funding during the National Assembly’s budget deliberations.

Although the government is successively announcing supplementary measures, controversy over the survey is expected to continue for the time being. The National Assembly Research Service also said on October 6 that the comprehensive farmland survey had been pursued without adequate preparation or policy deliberation, heightening anxiety on the ground and causing social confusion. It noted that the controversy and social costs could have been reduced if institutional reforms to bring customary and minor violations into compliance had been pursued before the survey.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.