The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) 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 DPK 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
