The government plans to set a validity period of 2 to 3 years for the Special Act on Exclusion and Suspension of Disposition for Violation of Farmland Act

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hong Guk-ki = The government plans to set a special period of 2 to 3 years for excluding or suspending disposition under the Special Measures Act for violations of the Farmland Act that are not speculation or serious illegal conversion.

Yoon Won-seup, Director of Agricultural Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said at the 'Debate on Direction for Enactment of the Special Agricultural Land Measures Act' held at the National Assembly on the 6th, "We plan to take steps to make farmland more genderable if an application (report) is made within 2 to 3 years of the validity period of the Special Measures Act."

This is the first time that the government has specifically mentioned the special period of the Special Assistance Act.

Chae Gwang-seok, a researcher at the Korea Rural Economic Institute who was in charge of presenting at the debate on this day, also suggested that the effective period of the Special Measures Act needs to be set to at least 2 to 3 years, saying that it is necessary to take into account the fact that the target of this special measure is wide and complex nationwide and that the revision of the Farmland Act must be promoted during the relevant period.

In addition, Policy Director Yoon said, “We will push for ex officio changes in land use designation for farmland that is not actually used as farmland and is used for rivers, roads, etc., based on comprehensive survey information,” and added, “We will also change land use ex officio for farmland that has been converted to forestry or forest land being used as farmland.”

He also said, “We plan to ensure that lease relationships that are not permitted under the Farmland Act are within the legal framework as much as possible,” and “When farmland is leased, it is now mechanically given to young farmers and full-time farmers in order of priority, but we will reexamine it from the perspective of agricultural efficiency.”

Researcher Chae suggested, "During the period of special measures, it is necessary to revise the Farmland Act to redesign lease, fallow, ownership and use regulations to suit rural realities, and strengthen the farmland management system, including farmland banks, to ensure that farmland securitized through senior farming or inheritance is stably connected to actual farmers."

He also suggested, "There is a need to proactively secure and reorganize farmland on a regional basis, moving away from individual parcel management, and create a structure that can be stably used by young farmers, full-time farmers, and collective farming entities by concentrating and scaling through 'exchange and merger' (administrative disposition to exchange, divide, and merge rights such as ownership to improve land use) and lease."

As Nongshim was shaken by the government's first-ever farmland survey, the party and government announced a supplementary measure on the 21st of last month, stating that customary violations that occur in rural areas are not subject to uniform disposition and that they will provide an opportunity for normalization and cultivation for a sufficient period of time through the enactment of a special law.

The special assistance law is scheduled to be enacted within the year after a debate held today and a proposal to the National Assembly early next month.

In addition, the government plans to revise the Farmland Act within the first half of next year to reflect the reality of rural areas.

Researcher Chae emphasized, "Based on the reality confirmed through a complete survey of farmland, if problems accumulated in the past are temporarily resolved with a special law and the Farmland Act is revised for systems that do not match reality, this survey can be used as an opportunity to reform the farmland system."

He also emphasized, "If the Special Assistance Act is a temporary transition law that resolves problems accumulated in the past, the revision of the Farmland Act must be a reform of the farmland system that creates a new farmland use and management system to prevent the same problems from recurring in the future."

The debate on this day was co-hosted by nine members of the Democratic Party of Korea, including Rep. Yoon Jun-byeong of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryeong attended and delivered a congratulatory speech.

Participants in the discussion generally agreed with the direction of the Special Assistance Act.

However, while President Lee Jae-myung announced at the Cabinet meeting on this day that there is a need to actively review the use of solar power generation on farmland, there were also voices opposing the plan to convert vacant and idle farmland to solar power use at the current time when the ownership, use and management status of farmland is unclear.

An argument was also made to exclude speculation confirmed in this investigation from disposal.

Moon Geum-joo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "A full investigation is necessary, but it would be better to first overlook the results of this time, even if it was illegal dumping and diversion." He added, "We must send a clear message that this investigation will be used purely to build a database."