Land Reform

The government bought farmland above 3 jeongbo per household and sold it to tenant farmers, to be paid off in instalments.

The Farmland Reform Act of June 1949 (amended March 1950) took effect in 1950. On the principle that "land belongs to those who till it", it set a ceiling of 3 jeongbo per household; the government bought land above that and land not farmed by its owner, paying landlords in land bonds, while farmers who received land repaid 150% of a normal year’s harvest over five years.

Owner-farmers increased greatly and the landlord system collapsed. But the reform covered only farmland, some landlords sold their land beforehand, and the Korean War interrupted it in places.