Assemblyman Shin Jeong-hoon: "Urgent Need to Improve the Ineffective Farmland Act"

Emergency National Assembly Forum on the 17th to Improve Farmland System

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] An emergency National Assembly forum to discuss measures to improve the farmland system will be held in relation to the speculative land transaction case involving some LH employees.

On the 17th at 2 p.m., Shin Jeong-hoon, member of the National Assembly (The Democratic Party of Korea, Jeonnam Naju·Hwasun), along with Kim Jeong-ho, Wi Seong-gon, Lee Won-taek, and Joo Cheol-hyun (all from The Democratic Party of Korea), the Presidential Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Special Affairs (Chairman Jeong Hyun-chan, hereafter Agrispecial Committee), and the Korea Rural Economic Institute (President Kim Hong-sang, hereafter KREI) will hold the ‘National Assembly Forum on Farmland System Improvement’ at the 2nd floor conference room of the Yeouido Forest Vision Center.

This forum was urgently organized to diagnose the institutional problems of farmland issues recently raised by the LH employee speculative land transaction case and to prepare improvement measures. Due to COVID-19 quarantine measures, it is difficult to hold the event inside the National Assembly, so it will be held at a nearby location and also broadcast live on YouTube (Agrispecial Committee channel).

At the forum, Park Seok-du, research fellow at GS&J, will present on ‘Problems of the Farmland System as Seen in the LH Incident,’ and Jo Byung-ok, subcommittee head for farmland system improvement at the Agrispecial Committee, will present on ‘Directions and Tasks for Farmland System Improvement.’

Following this, under the chairmanship of Kim Su-seok, honorary senior research fellow at KREI, a heated discussion is expected with participants including Kim Nam-geun, policy committee member of People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Lee Moo-jin, policy chairman of the National Farmers’ Federation, Song Jae-il, professor at Myongji University, Lee Ho-jung, head of the policy center of the Democratic Party’s National Agriculture and Fisheries Committee, and Kim Jeong-hee, director of the Agricultural Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Shin Jeong-hoon, the forum’s host, said, “Article 121 of our Constitution stipulates the principle of ‘Gyeongja Yujeon’ (only those who farm can own farmland), but due to exceptions, as seen in the LH employee case, it has become ineffective, so legal and institutional improvements are urgent.” He added, “For sustainable agriculture, it is necessary to strengthen farmland ownership centered on actual cultivators, tighten farmland ownership requirements for non-farmers, establish a dedicated farmland agency, and build an integrated farmland information management system.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.