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Gov't to perform comprehensive survey of farmland ownership to curb property speculation

Published: 01 Apr. 2026, 13:51 Updated: 01 Apr. 2026, 14:10

Government officials and lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party hold a consultative meeting at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on April 1. [YONHAP]

The government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) confirmed on Wednesday their plans to launch the country's first comprehensive survey of farmland ownership in an effort to prevent farmland from being used as a speculative asset.

The decision was made during a meeting between DP lawmakers and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs officials at the National Assembly. They agreed on the need to verify whether owners are directly farming their property.

“We agreed to conduct a nationwide survey of farmland to curb speculative land that undermines the land-to-the-tiller principle as stipulated in the Constitution and to establish more systematic policies by checking actual ownership and use of rural land,” Rep. Yoon Joon-byeong told reporters.

Authorities will conduct in-depth surveys on farmland near major metropolitan areas and land transaction permission zones, he said.

In cases of speculative land ownership, authorities will take strict measures, including ordering the owners to sell the land.

The survey will be carried out in two phases, starting this year with farmland acquired since 1996, followed by a second phase next year targeting farmland acquired before 1996.

During the meeting, officials also discussed additional reform measures to overhaul the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, or NongHyup, the country's agricultural cooperative and banking group, following a series of corruption scandals.

Under the plan, the election system of the NongHyup chairman will be changed from an indirect voting system involving the heads of regional cooperatives to a direct voting system allowing all 1.87 million members to vote.

The move comes after a special audit of NongHyup revealed various irregularities within the group, including possible embezzlement of public funds, preferential loan agreements and accounting fraud.

Yonhap