President Lee: "Calling Sale Orders on Farmland 'Communist'... It Was President Syngman Rhee Who Enshrined the Principle in the Constitution"

President Lee on social media message: "Farmland left idle for speculation is the target"
"President Syngman Rhee distributed landlords' uncultivated land to farmers"
"President Syngman Rhee is not a 'red' communist"

On the 25th, President Lee Jaemyung stated that the farmland subject to sale orders "does not include land that has been inherited or land that is inevitably left uncultivated due to old age," clarifying that the target is farmland acquired for speculative purposes by submitting a farming plan claiming "I will personally farm," and then leaving the land idle or leasing it out after purchase.

Yonhap News Agency

On this day, President Lee wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Under the constitutional principle of 'Gyeongja Yujeon' (those who cultivate the land should own it) and the Farmland Act that seeks to uphold it, only those who will personally cultivate the land may acquire farmland, and if this is violated, the law explicitly stipulates that a sale order shall be issued through due procedures," adding, "If someone acquires farmland by falsely claiming they will farm and then does not farm it, the land must be disposed of in accordance with the law."

President Lee also pushed back, saying, "There are people who do not understand the principle of Gyeongja Yujeon and go so far as to rant about communists over farmland policy," and he referred to the land reform of the Syngman Rhee administration, which enshrined the principle of Gyeongja Yujeon in the Constitution and pursued compulsory acquisition and distribution of farmland.

President Lee stressed, "It was President Syngman Rhee who inscribed the principle of Gyeongja Yujeon in the Constitution and forcibly acquired the land of landlords who did not cultivate it themselves and distributed it to farmers," adding, "The farmland distribution carried out by the Syngman Rhee government based on the principle of Gyeongja Yujeon became the foundation for South Korea's economic development."

He went on, "This is why, although I cannot recognize President Syngman Rhee for many reasons, including the massacres of civilians, I still highly value at least his achievement in implementing farmland distribution," and added, "President Syngman Rhee was not a 'red' communist."

The social media message posted this day is seen as an attempt to draw a clearer line by specifying in more detail who would be subject to a "sale order," after controversy erupted over remarks he made at a Cabinet meeting at the Blue House the previous day. At that Cabinet meeting, President Lee had said, "Farmland management is a mess, and even farmland has become a target for speculation," and ordered the relevant ministries to conduct a full-scale survey of farmland that is not being cultivated and to review measures such as sale orders (forced sales). Citing that even fields in remote mountain valleys are being talked about at 200,000 to 300,000 won per 3.3 square meters (one pyeong), he also said, "To lower the costs of returning to farming or rural areas, we fundamentally need to bring down land prices."

Article 121 of the current Constitution stipulates that "the State shall endeavor to achieve the principle of Gyeongja Yujeon with respect to farmland," while recognizing, within the scope prescribed by law, lease or entrusted management arrangements that arise from unavoidable circumstances. The Farmland Act also provides that, under certain conditions, such as when a person is deemed to own farmland after obtaining a farmland acquisition qualification certificate by false or fraudulent means, the mayor, county governor, or district head may issue a disposition order within six months.