PPP: “Comprehensive farmland survey hits rural economy” ... calls for presidential apology and regulatory easing

[Financial News] The People Power Party on the 22nd called on President Lee Jae-myung to apologize and prepare measures to address the harm, saying the government’s comprehensive farmland survey was stifling farmland transactions and infringing on farmers’ property rights. It also called for amendments to the Farmland Act to significantly ease restrictions on farmland ownership, saying measures such as exempting inherited farmland and farmland owned by elderly farmers from disposal were not enough.
People Power Party lawmakers on the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee held a press conference that day at the National Assembly Communication Center and called for the government to “thoroughly assess the actual damage to the rural economy caused by the excessive comprehensive survey and prepare measures to address it.” They also called for a clear explanation of the future direction of the farmland survey and for officials responsible for agricultural policy to be replaced.
The People Power Party highlighted the difficulties facing the rural economy by citing figures on declining farmland transactions and financial distress. According to the party, the number of farmland transactions from February to August this year fell by 9,134 compared with the same period last year. The amount of farmland-secured loans in arrears rose by 163 billion won year on year, while losses from nonperforming farmland-secured loans at local agricultural and livestock cooperatives increased to 2.3 times the previous year’s level. 
The People Power Party said farmers who could not sell their farmland were struggling to repay their loans, and that if financial distress spread to Nonghyup, the burden could ultimately fall back on farmers. Speaking to reporters, lawmaker Kim Seon-gyo said the comprehensive survey had further worsened a situation in which transactions were already stalled by the aging rural population, and called for the survey to be halted.
Lawmaker Kang Seung-gyu stressed that farmers seeking to retire from agriculture had been left without an exit. “There is no one to buy farmland, and people like these, who need to sell their land to leave farming, have lost their way out,” he said. “This is serious.”
The People Power Party also said the government had announced that, following a suspension of penalties, inherited farmland and farmland owned by elderly farmers would be excluded from disposal, and criticized it for undermining the principles of agricultural policy. “This needs to be a proper solution, not just a patchwork fix,” Kang said, arguing that fundamental measures could be devised only if the president acknowledged the flaws in his original assessment of the issue.
The People Power Party says regulations governing farmland ownership and transactions need to be overhauled. Kang argued that the Farmland Act could be amended to ease ownership restrictions without revising the Constitution, and that the market would struggle to function normally if demand for farmland were blocked. He added that regulatory easing should go further than in the bill he had previously introduced.
Security concerns over the survey process were also raised. The People Power Party alleged that the overwhelming majority of survey drones used to photograph farmland were made in China, and raised the possibility that land information could be leaked overseas. It criticized the government’s response, saying it had stopped the photography only after the opposition raised concerns.
Lawmaker Lee Sang-hwi said it must be made clear who would be responsible for losses resulting from falling farmland values, and called on the government to explain the future direction of the survey. He also said questions should be asked of Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryeong, including whether there had been prior consultation before the president’s directive and whether problems had been reported after it was issued.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) was also raised. Lee called on the government to clearly state what direction it would take after its review. In a statement, the lawmakers said, “If the government and ruling party do not show a forward-looking change in attitude, the People Power Party will fight alongside farmers to the very end.”   


[email protected] Kim Hyeong-gu Reporter