Democratic Party chief visits farm to ease anger over farmland probe

Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok visited a farm Thursday and tried his hand at harvesting rice in an effort to soothe public anger over the government's nationwide farmland survey. The government has also softened its stance, exploring ways to narrow the survey's scope, while the People Power Party escalated its attacks by targeting a proposal to convert idle farmland for solar energy use.

Speaking at a farmers' forum in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, Kim said he had come "to visit the fields where our basic food is produced," adding that there were "recent issues related to agriculture" — a reference to the farmland survey. He said he had met with heads of farmers' organizations on Wednesday and had come to Anseong both to see the harvest firsthand and to hear their concerns.

In a phone-in segment on the Democratic Party's YouTube channel "Minti 07," Kim said the survey was intended "to normalize the overall state of farmland and agricultural sites, except for addressing only the most extreme cases where speculation is genuinely a problem." He added that the issue had "been blown out of proportion lately, leading to misunderstandings and concerns."

Within the party, some members believe the farmland survey has contributed to a recent slide in approval ratings. A lawmaker on the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Committee said many people in regional cities own farmland through inheritance or relocation. "Speculative farmland ownership is concentrated in the greater Seoul area — is a nationwide survey really the right solution?" the lawmaker said.

A poll by Korea Information Research found that 49.9 percent of respondents said a comprehensive farmland survey was unnecessary, while 41.7 percent said it was necessary and 8.4 percent were unsure. The survey was conducted Monday and Tuesday among 1,003 adults aged 18 and older nationwide, using an automated wireless response method. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 4.3 percent. For more details, see the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.

The government softened its position Wednesday, with Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryeong indicating at a national audit session that she was open to replacing the full survey with one focused on uncultivated farmland and speculative holdings in the greater Seoul area. "I will look into that as you suggest," she said in response to a lawmaker's question. She also acknowledged that "the communication effort may not have been thorough enough," and said the primary goal was "to reform a 30-year-old farmland system that no longer reflects reality."

The opposition, meanwhile, continued to press for an immediate halt to the survey. The PPP particularly targeted President Lee Jae Myung's proposal to convert idle farmland for solar energy use, labeling it a "leftist Chinese solar cartel" scheme. PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok said at a supreme council meeting Thursday that the farmland survey was designed to "crash farmland prices and lay the groundwork for a leftist Chinese solar cartel to go on a farmland-buying spree," adding that "suspicions about why the farmland survey is being conducted keep growing."