President Lee Jae-myung clarified on Sunday his directive on mandatory farmland sales, pushing back against critics who likened the policy to communism.
"The farmland sale order does not target inherited farmland or land inevitably left fallow due to old age," Lee wrote on X (formerly Twitter), elaborating on remarks he made at a Cabinet meeting the previous day.
At Saturday's meeting, Lee had ordered officials to "conduct a comprehensive survey and consider forced sales for farmland not being cultivated," citing speculation in agricultural land markets.
"Some people are invoking communism," Lee said, before explaining the policy's legal basis in detail.
The president clarified that the measure targets "farmland acquired by submitting farming plans claiming intent to cultivate directly for speculative purposes, but then left idle or leased out after purchase."
Lee emphasized that the policy aligns with the constitutional principle of "gyeongja yujeon"—that only those who farm should own farmland. "Under this constitutional principle and the Farmland Act that upholds it, only those who will cultivate the land themselves can acquire farmland. That's why buyers must submit farming plans detailing how they will farm directly. The law explicitly states that violators who fail to farm the land themselves are subject to sale orders through due process," he said.
"If someone deceives authorities by claiming they will farm, acquires the land, and then doesn't cultivate it, shouldn't they be required to dispose of it according to the law, in respect of the constitutional principle of gyeongja yujeon?" Lee asked.
Addressing his critics directly, Lee noted that "it was President Syngman Rhee who enshrined the gyeongja yujeon principle in the Constitution and forcibly acquired land from non-farming landlords to distribute to farmers."
"The Rhee government's farmland distribution based on the gyeongja yujeon principle became the foundation of the Republic of Korea's economic development," he added.
"This is why I highly regard his achievement of implementing farmland distribution, even though I cannot approve of him for various reasons including civilian massacres," Lee said. "President Syngman Rhee was not a red communist."