Jung Jeom-sik, the floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized the government's recent supplementary measures regarding agricultural land laws as "Band-Aid solutions" and called for a complete halt to the nationwide land survey on September 22.
During a policy meeting at the National Assembly, Jung pointed out the confusion in rural areas caused by the land survey and demanded fundamental solutions. The previous day, the Democratic Party and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs held a meeting to discuss plans for enacting special measures to legalize illegally converted agricultural land and to pursue additional amendments to the agricultural land law.
Regarding the government's measures, Jung stated, "This is a 'fixing the barn after losing the cow' approach that has turned rural areas upside down. Agricultural land transactions have already ceased, and land prices have plummeted."
He identified the uniform application of a "speculation frame" to agricultural land as the core issue. Jung remarked, "The fundamental problem is the indiscriminate labeling of all agricultural land as speculative. In mountainous areas, cultivation and disposal have been difficult even before the survey, yet this issue was approached with a one-size-fits-all speculation frame."
He urged the government and ruling party to sincerely apologize to farmers before presenting immature measures and called for the development of fundamental solutions, including a complete halt to the land survey.
Meanwhile, Lim I-ja, chair of the Democratic Party's policy committee, criticized the launch of the party's constitutional amendment promotion team as a "tactical maneuver." Lim stated, "What is needed now is not a leisurely constitutional amendment team but measures to revive the economy and people's livelihoods." She added, "We will activate a task force under the 'Carrot Committee' for livelihood policies to implement tangible measures that the public can feel, such as expanding youth employment, stabilizing living costs, and revitalizing local businesses."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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