Land dispute ends in compromise
Farmers, government agree on eco-village, ending years of legal conflict
Paldang farmland where a new eco-village will be built
- John Won and Stephen Hong, Seoul
- Korea
- August 17, 2012
Disputed farmland near Seoul will become an "ecology-education-experience village", after the government and farmers came to a mediated agreement this week.
The government wanted to turn the area in Paldang on the banks of the Hangang river, where four organic farmers made their living for 30 years, into a public park as part of a 22.2-trillion won (US$19.13 billion) project to dredge and dam the country’s four major waterways to prevent flooding and pollution.
During a mediation meeting on August 14, Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon of Suwon suggested that the government build an ecological village, to which the farmers and Shim Myung-pil, general director of the government’s Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, agreed.
“We wanted to fight to the end to save this farmland,” said John Yoo Yeong-hun, chairperson of the Paldang special committee that has led the fight to protect farmers’ rights. Yoo said they accepted the agreement because “it was a peaceful way to solve the prolonged dispute.”
“My daily life has been a fight” for the past four years, he said.
According to the agreement, the farmers will remove all their farming facilities for the new ecology village to be constructed and the government will aid the farmers' resettlement nearby. They had previously been renting the land from the government.
“The Bishop Ri-led agreement is a good example to peacefully solve social conflicts demanding big social costs,” said Lee Hang-jin, head of the Against Four Rivers project team of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.
Heo Yong, an official of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, called the agreement a “win-win.”
The government “will make the farmland a tourist attraction where people can have ecology experience by using other nature amusement parks around it,” Heo said.
Management of the ecology village will be entrusted to the farmers after completion, and a local government is considering financially supporting it.
The village will be similar to Ryton Gardens in England and CERES in Australia, organic gardens offering environmental and social programs.
For future development, a committee will be established through recommendation by the central government, the farmers and the local government.
Related reports
Court backs farmers over river scheme
Green group chalks up one year of protest
The government wanted to turn the area in Paldang on the banks of the Hangang river, where four organic farmers made their living for 30 years, into a public park as part of a 22.2-trillion won (US$19.13 billion) project to dredge and dam the country’s four major waterways to prevent flooding and pollution.
During a mediation meeting on August 14, Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon of Suwon suggested that the government build an ecological village, to which the farmers and Shim Myung-pil, general director of the government’s Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, agreed.
“We wanted to fight to the end to save this farmland,” said John Yoo Yeong-hun, chairperson of the Paldang special committee that has led the fight to protect farmers’ rights. Yoo said they accepted the agreement because “it was a peaceful way to solve the prolonged dispute.”
“My daily life has been a fight” for the past four years, he said.
According to the agreement, the farmers will remove all their farming facilities for the new ecology village to be constructed and the government will aid the farmers' resettlement nearby. They had previously been renting the land from the government.
“The Bishop Ri-led agreement is a good example to peacefully solve social conflicts demanding big social costs,” said Lee Hang-jin, head of the Against Four Rivers project team of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.
Heo Yong, an official of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, called the agreement a “win-win.”
The government “will make the farmland a tourist attraction where people can have ecology experience by using other nature amusement parks around it,” Heo said.
Management of the ecology village will be entrusted to the farmers after completion, and a local government is considering financially supporting it.
The village will be similar to Ryton Gardens in England and CERES in Australia, organic gardens offering environmental and social programs.
For future development, a committee will be established through recommendation by the central government, the farmers and the local government.
Related reports
Court backs farmers over river scheme
Green group chalks up one year of protest
