The amount recovered from young farmers’ farming settlement support exceeded 2.9 billion won over 8 years.

Yangsoo Lee “We must take responsibility for everything from long-term non-payment to final non-collection.”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeonghyun Lee = Among the farming settlement support funds paid to young farmers, the amount subject to recovery due to non-compliance with obligations has been found to exceed 2.9 billion won over the past eight years.

According to data submitted by Rep. Lee Yang-soo (People Power Party) of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the 24th, the total number of cases subject to redemption of farming settlement subsidies for young farmers from 2018 to last year was 711, and the amount recovered was 2.9183 billion won.

The fully paid amount was 1,995.25 million won, and the unpaid amount was 923.06 million won, which is 31.6% of the total refunded amount.

Looking at the status by reason for non-payment, 'difficulty making a living' was the largest in terms of amount at 212 million won (34 cases). 'Payment scheduled' was 166 million won (44 cases), 'administrative procedures in progress' was 137 million won (29 cases), and 'other' was 136 million won (29 cases). Non-payment due to ‘disappearance and loss of contact’ was 133 million won (19 cases), and ‘personal bankruptcy’ was 73 million won (5 cases).

The amount of long-term non-payment was also considerable. Non-payment for 2 to 3 years was the largest at 579 million won (108 cases), and non-payment for 4 to 5 years was 170 million won (36 cases). The number of cases where payment was not made for more than 6 years amounted to 107 million won (16 cases).

Rep. Lee pointed out that for each case of long-term non-payment, there is a need to systematically identify and manage whether the statute of limitations has been suspended, whether the statute of limitations has been completed, and whether the claim is recoverable.

Rep. Lee said, “It is difficult to immediately determine the final scale of non-recovery at the national level just based on the data submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs,” and urged, “We must provide strong support, but responsibly manage the entire process from long-term non-payment to final non-recovery together with local governments.”