About 20% of South Korean lawmakers own farmland...Citizens' group raises issue that this is a violation of the ”farmer owns the land” principle

It has come to light that one in five members of the 22nd National Assembly in South Korea owns farmland. Civic groups are calling for stronger farmland management based on the principle that "the farmer owns the land."
The Citizens Coalition for Economic Justice (CCIJ) held a press conference at its office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 16th to analyze the property inventories of 300 members of the 22nd National Assembly.
As a result, it was revealed that 67 people (including spouses), or 22.3% of the total, own farmland such as rice paddies, fields, or orchards.
The total area of farmland owned by these lawmakers comes to 259,394 square meters.
The top three lawmakers in terms of farmland area are Rep. Park Deok-heum of the People Power Party (affiliated with the Agriculture, Forestry, Food, Livestock, Marine and Fisheries Committee);
The largest was 1.69 hectares, followed by 1.43 hectares by Im Ho-seon (a member of the same committee) of the Democratic Party of Korea, and 1.53 hectares by Song Jae-bong (Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources, Small and Medium-sized Ventures).
In terms of farmland ownership by political party, the Democratic Party of Korea had the most with 14.97 hectares (45,371 tsubo), followed by the People's Power Party with 10.58 hectares.
The top three lawmakers based on assessed value are Rep. Jeong Dong-man of the People Power Party, Rep. Jeong Dong-man of the National Assembly, and Rep. Jeong Dong-man of the National Assembly.
Rep. Lee Byung-jin of the Democratic Party of Korea (affiliated with the Agriculture, Forestry, Food, Marine and Fisheries Committee) donated 1.16 billion won, while Rep. Lee Byung-jin of the Democratic Party of Korea (affiliated with the Agriculture, Forestry, Food, Marine and Fisheries Committee) donated 1.095 billion won.
1,000,000 won, and Ahn Do-geol (Planning and Finance Committee member) 1,021,000,000 won. The current Article 7 of the Farmland Act (farmland ownership limit) states that if a person acquires farmland through inheritance and
The law stipulates that non-agricultural workers can only own a total of one hectare (10,000 square meters, approximately 3,000 tsubo) of inherited farmland.
The Federation of Economic Councilors took issue with the fact that seven of the 22nd deputies own farmland of more than one hectare.
In addition, 12 other lawmakers, including Rep. Yeom Tae Yeon of the Democratic Party of Korea and Rep. Seo Cheon-ho of the People Power Party, have been arrested.
He added that the assessed value of the farmland he owns exceeds 500,000 won per pyeong, raising the possibility that the purpose of the investment may be speculation.
The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations also serves as the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, which is responsible for land development and utilization, and the
The committee also pointed out that there are concerns about conflicts of interest regarding the ownership of farmland by 18 members of the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, Marine and Fisheries Committee, which is involved in the conservation and use of farmland.
He also mentioned that the government has proposed a bill that would ease regulations, and called for a thorough review. Kim Seon-dal, secretary-general of the Korean Federation of Economic and Social Affairs, said, "How can busy lawmakers afford to spend so much money on farming on such a large area of land?
"The public is bound to have doubts about whether they are cultivating the land themselves," he said. He also revealed that "some lawmakers did not respond to requests for explanations even when we directly asked them to do so."
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