A researcher has proposed granting a grace period of at least two to three years for farmland law violations uncovered in a nationwide survey, excluding cases involving speculation or serious illegal conversion of farmland.
Chae Kwang-seok, a research fellow at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, made the proposal on the 6th as a presenter at a forum on the drafting of a special farmland measures act, held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul. "The scope of this special measure is nationwide and the types of violations are complex, and we also need to consider that an amendment to the Farmland Act must be pursued during the same period," he said. Chae said the two-to-three-year span was set with reference to other temporary legislation.
He also outlined specific ways to normalize customary farmland leases. Under his proposal, a working farmer could re-lease the land through the Farmland Bank, or sign a written contract with the owner and register it in the official farmland ledger. The proposal would also allow land held for less than three years after acquisition, or held for weekend and hobby farming, to be entrusted to the Farmland Bank during the grace period if a working farmer is cultivating it. He further suggested extending the minimum lease term for ordinary farmland to about five years from the current three.
Participants at the forum also called for stronger protection of working farmers. Kim Ki-hyun, chief executive of Farmcubator, proposed allowing the person farming the land to directly request the normalization of a customary lease, and requiring mediation by administrative authorities or a recommendation of Farmland Bank entrustment if the owner does not comply. Kim also raised the idea of barring the eviction of existing tenants while such requests are being processed.
Others suggested using the survey results as the foundation for continuous farmland management. Nam Jae-jak, chief executive of Food and Climate, proposed building an integrated website linking cultivation data with Farmland Bank lease records. Participants also discussed separating the Farmland Bank's functions to strengthen its role in regional-level trusteeship and the reallocation of farming plots.
The forum was co-hosted by nine Democratic Party of Korea members of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee. The government plans to review the proposals and push for enactment of the special measures act within this year, while pursuing follow-up institutional changes, including an amendment to the Farmland Act, by the first half of next year. With farmers unsettled by the nationwide farmland survey, the government and the ruling party on the 21st of last month announced supplementary measures pledging not to penalize customary violations uniformly but to offer opportunities for normalization and legalization through the special act.
