Corporations Can Buy Agricultural Land for Factory Sites

Policies that enable corporations to purchase agricultural land for their factory sites are being instituted. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-bum said in a state affair meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on June 1 in a report, “Following Examination Plans after Meeting with Economic Leaders.”

According to the plans, the ministry has accepted the 20 items, including agricultural land purchase under corporate names, among the suggestions made during the meeting between the government and the economic leaders on May 21 and May 25 and will start to work on them until late this year. The government has severely restricted agricultural land purchase under corporate names to prevent real estate speculation, but it will allow them only for cases in which the land will be used as factory sites.

In addition, it has decided to revise the fair trade law in a way to exempt the “Building-Ownership-Operation (BOO)” investment from the restriction on total amount of investment. In a BOO investment, a corporation builds SOC facilities such as roads, owns it for a certain period of time, and then hands it over to local self-governing entities. The ministry is also seeking solutions while discussing with other ministries about lowering interest rates for raw material purchase funds, relieving regulations in factory sites or the restriction policy on total investment amount, increasing taxation supports, and others.

Ki-Jeong Ko koh@donga.com