Ruling party, gov′t confirm comprehensive survey of farmland ownership to curb property speculation

▲ Government officials and lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party hold a consultative meeting at the National Assembly on April 1, 2026. (Yonhap)

ruling party-govt-farmland

Ruling party, gov't confirm comprehensive survey of farmland ownership to curb property speculation

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, April 1 (Yonhap) -- The government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Wednesday confirmed their plans to launch the country's first-ever comprehensive survey of farmland ownership, in an effort to prevent farmland from being used as a speculative asset.

The decision came during a meeting between DP lawmakers and agricultural ministry officials at the National Assembly as 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 particularly in farmland near major metropolitan areas and land transaction permission zones, he said.

If speculative land ownership is confirmed, 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, the officials also discussed additional reform measures to overhaul 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, or the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, revealed various irregularities within the group, including possible embezzlement of public funds, preferential loan agreements and accounting fraud.

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