President Lee Jae Myung rebuked those who have called his order for the sale of noncultivated farmland “communist,” saying such remarks show a misunderstanding of the Constitution’s land-to-the-tiller principle.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Lee said that land left idle due to owners’ aging or other unavoidable circumstances is not subject to sale orders and that his crackdown targets farmland acquired for speculative purposes.
At a Cabinet meeting the day before, Lee had ordered an investigation into speculative farmland holdings and, where necessary, compulsory sales.
The president said the law allows only those who directly farm to own agricultural land and requires them to follow through on their submitted plans, adding that violations can lead to the issuance of sale orders after due process.
He stressed that those who obtain farmland under false pretenses and fail to cultivate it must dispose of it in accordance with the Constitution’s “land to the tiller” principle.
The president criticized claims that his directive was “communist,” saying they reflect a misunderstanding of the constitutional principle, and cited former President Rhee Syngman’s land reform as a historical example.