S. Korea ministries to share drone, AI data for nationwide farmland, state property surveys

By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's finance and agriculture ministries said Tuesday they will share drone footage, artificial intelligence (AI) analysis technologies and survey data to carry out nationwide surveys of farmland and state-owned property.

The agreement came as the agriculture ministry plans to survey a combined 1.36 million hectares of farmland nationwide that has been acquired since the Farmland Act took effect in 1996 to determine the actual ownership and use of the land.

"The project aims to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the farmland survey. The two ministries will share drone footage, AI analysis technologies and survey data to enhance the management systems for farmland and state-owned property," the finance ministry said.

For example, the finance ministry will provide AI-based data generated by comparing aerial images of farmland taken between 2023 and 2025 during surveys of state-owned properties.

The agriculture ministry will use the data to determine whether farmland has been left fallow, illegally converted to other uses or contains suspected illegal structures.

In return, the agriculture ministry will provide drone footage taken by the Korea Rural Community Corp. that includes state-owned land, helping the finance ministry identify and address unauthorized occupation of such property.

"We will share the AI technologies, drone footage and survey expertise accumulated through inspections of state-owned property to support the agriculture ministry's farmland survey," a finance ministry official said.