Land Nationalized After Agricultural Reform... Supreme Court Rules "Must Return to Original Owners"

Court: "Ownership transfer registration invalid if deadline missed... Registration itself void from the start"

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The Supreme Court has ruled that land not distributed during the 1950s land reform, but registered as owned by the state or local governments after the legally mandated distribution deadline, is invalid.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeong-hwa) announced on the 4th that it upheld the lower court's ruling in favor of Foundation A in the ownership cancellation registration lawsuit filed against the Republic of Korea and Jeju Province.

Foundation A was the registered owner of approximately 80,000㎡ (24,200 pyeong) of fields, forests, miscellaneous land, and roads, recorded during the Japanese colonial period land survey. Under the Land Reform Act, about 4,200㎡ was excluded, and the remaining land was purchased by the government and distributed to farmers.

However, farmers either failed to complete payment for the purchased farmland or gave up their shares, so distribution was not completed by 1968, and ownership changes occurred only after 1970. The government first registered ownership preservation under Foundation A's name, then completed ownership transfer registration under the government's name, while the remaining 4,200㎡ was registered with ownership preservation. Jeju Province received ownership transfer registration for some land (about 1,500㎡) from the government.

In response, the foundation filed a lawsuit in 2019 claiming that the land ownership belongs to them, and that the registrations under the Republic of Korea and Jeju Province are invalid, requesting the execution of ownership cancellation registration.

The first and second trials ruled that Foundation A's ownership should be restored. The Special Measures Act on the Settlement of Land Reform Projects, enacted in March 1968 to promptly conclude land reform, set a deadline of one year from the enforcement date. Since the government registered the land after the one-year deadline had passed and the state purchase measures were lifted, the registration is invalid from the start.

The Supreme Court also agreed with the lower courts' judgment.

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