Assembly farm ministry audit stalls as parties clash over farmland survey and solar
Version 2: New coverage adds the president’s State Council remarks that solar farming can earn several times more than ordinary farming, Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung’s statement that she will look into narrowing the survey to non-cultivated and capital-region speculative farmland, and Democratic members’ criticism that the government should apologise to farmers.
In short
A National Assembly audit of the agriculture ministry was adjourned on Oct 7 after opposition lawmakers displayed pickets reading “농민 몰아내서 결국 태양광이냐” and ruling-party members objected. The session resumed once the pickets were removed. The dispute centred on the government’s full survey of farmland and on agrivoltaics, which President Lee Jae-myung had addressed at a State Council meeting the previous day, according to Yonhap and Hankook Ilbo.
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The National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee opened its audit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Oct 7, but the session was adjourned before substantive questioning began after opposition lawmakers displayed pickets and ruling-party members objected, Yonhap, CBS NoCut News, Hankook Ilbo and Asia Economy reported. The audit resumed after the pickets were removed, the outlets said. Accounts of the interruption differ: Chosun Ilbo said the audit stopped 40 minutes after it started, Yonhap said the meeting was adjourned for about 30 minutes, and Hankook Ilbo said it was adjourned for about 20 minutes. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 ]
People Power Party members attached pickets reading “농민 몰아내서 결국 태양광이냐” — “Driving farmers out, and in the end, solar?” — to laptops at their seats, Yonhap, CBS NoCut News, Hankook Ilbo and Asia Economy reported. Yonhap said the message targeted President Lee Jae-myung’s recent remarks that converting farmland for solar projects can earn several times more income than farming. Hankook Ilbo and Asia Economy reported the president made such remarks at a State Council meeting the previous day, Hankook Ilbo quoting him as saying solar farming has several times the income of ordinary farming on old farmland. [ 3 , 6 , 8 ]
Ruling Democratic Party members rejected the picket message. Yoon Jun-byeong said the full survey is intended to protect farmers and to use farmland for agricultural purposes, and that describing it as driving farmers out is wrong, according to Yonhap and CBS NoCut News. Lim Mi-ae said the agrivoltaics law was drawn up and passed with cross-party agreement to raise farm income, and that denying the previous committee’s work was wrong; Lee Gae-ho, a former agriculture minister, said he could not proceed with the audit. People Power Party member Kim Seon-gyo countered that the government tells farmers to farm and is conducting the survey while the president repeatedly mentions farmland solar, calling the picket a legitimate message asking what the government’s principle is; Lee Yang-su said farmers fear the measures to follow the survey and that farmland prices have fallen and transactions stopped, and Lee Seong-gwon called the president the source of the alarm, Hankook Ilbo reported. [ 3 , 4 , 6 , 8 ]
Committee chairman Seo Sam-seok recommended removing the pickets after saying the opposition’s argument had been conveyed, and the session was adjourned before resuming, CBS NoCut News reported. Maeil Business reported that the audit could begin in earnest only after the pickets were taken down. [ 4 , 5 ]
After the audit resumed, Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung said in her opening remarks that concern had spread in the field contrary to the survey’s intent, and that its purpose was to accurately grasp farmland ownership and use nationwide so that a 30-year-old farmland system could be overhauled for an ageing rural environment, CBS NoCut News reported. She said most ordinary and customary violations identified in the survey would not be penalised, that a special law would be enacted to legalise them, and that rules that do not match reality would be rationally reorganised, according to CBS NoCut News, Hankook Ilbo and Asia Economy. Hankook Ilbo reported she said she would look into narrowing the survey to non-cultivated farmland and speculative farmland in the capital region. [ 4 , 6 , 8 ]
Democratic members also criticised the government’s handling. Lee Gae-ho said the ministry had done too little to explain the survey and rebut what he called false rumours, and Lim Mi-ae said the government should at least apologise to farmers over the confusion, Hankook Ilbo reported. Moon Dae-rim said agrivoltaics had already been pursued under the previous Yoon Suk-yeol government through temporary use permits, according to Asia Economy. Yonhap reported that both parties criticised the farmland survey as pushed ahead without preparation. [ 6 , 8 , 9 ]
Why it matters
The standoff again delayed the ministry’s audit before substantive questioning, showing how the farmland survey and agrivoltaics have become a partisan flashpoint inside the parliament’s agriculture committee. Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung used the hearing to restate that most ordinary violations found in the survey will not be penalised and to say the government will review narrowing the survey’s scope, a sign it is trying to contain rural concern while keeping the survey on track.
Key facts
- The National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee held an audit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Oct 7. [ 3 , 4 , 6 , 8 ]
- People Power Party lawmakers attached pickets reading “농민 몰아내서 결국 태양광이냐” to laptops at their seats. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 8 ]
- Ruling Democratic Party members objected and demanded the pickets be removed; committee chairman Seo Sam-seok recommended removal. [ 3 , 4 ]
- The audit was adjourned and resumed after the pickets were taken down. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 ]
- President Lee Jae-myung said at a State Council meeting the previous day that converting farmland for solar can earn several times more income than farming, according to Hankook Ilbo and Asia Economy. [ 6 , 8 ]
- Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung said most ordinary, customary violations found in the farmland survey will not be penalised and that a special law will be used to legalise them. [ 4 , 6 , 8 ]
- Song said she would look into reviewing the survey to focus on non-cultivated farmland and speculative farmland in the capital region. [ 6 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- The agriculture ministry audit on Oct 7 was adjourned after opposition lawmakers displayed pickets and ruling-party members objected, and it resumed after the pickets were removed. [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 ]
- The pickets read “농민 몰아내서 결국 태양광이냐” and were attached to laptops at the lawmakers’ seats. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 8 ]
- The confrontation concerned the government’s full survey of farmland and agrivoltaics policy. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 8 ]
- Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung said most ordinary and customary violations identified in the survey would not be penalised. [ 4 , 6 , 8 ]
- President Lee Jae-myung said at a State Council meeting the previous day that solar farming on converted farmland can earn several times more income than ordinary farming. [ 6 , 8 ]
Still unclear
- How long the audit was suspended. Chosun Ilbo says the audit stopped 40 minutes after it began, Yonhap says the meeting was adjourned for about 30 minutes, and Hankook Ilbo says it was adjourned for about 20 minutes; the documents give no single agreed figure.
- Whether the agriculture ministry will submit the undisclosed guidelines an opposition lawmaker demanded. Kang Seung-gyu demanded the submission of undisclosed guidelines, but the documents do not say whether the ministry agreed.
- Whether the survey will be narrowed to non-cultivated farmland and speculative farmland in the capital region. Hankook Ilbo reports Song said she would “look into” the idea; no decision is reported.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Chosun Ilbo reports the agriculture ministry audit was halted 40 minutes after it began as People Power Party lawmakers staged a picket protest. [ 2 ]
- Yonhap reports the committee session was adjourned for about 30 minutes over the pickets and that the audit resumed after their removal. [ 3 ]
- CBS NoCut News reports the adjournment and Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung’s remarks that most ordinary violations found in the farmland survey will not be penalised. [ 4 ]
- Maeil Business publishes a photo report of the pickets and the adjournment. [ 5 ]
- Hankook Ilbo reports the audit was adjourned for about 20 minutes, and carries Song’s remarks on reviewing the survey’s scope and Democratic members’ calls for an apology to farmers. [ 6 ]
- Asia Economy reports the ruling and opposition parties argued over the solar project mentioned by President Lee, with the audit briefly halted in the morning. [ 8 ]
- Yonhap reports that both sides criticised the government’s farmland survey as pushed ahead without preparation. [ 9 ]