The new government of the Republic of Korea first of all had to carry out agrarian reforms, at a time when more than 70 percent of the population were farmers, mostly landless sharecroppers or tenant farmers. Article 86 of the first Constitution stipulated, "Farmland shall be distributed to farmers."
The first republic's agrarian reforms have long been regarded as a failure. Many have thought it was ineffective because it was based on confiscation of land with compensation and paid distribution, in contrast to North Korea's reform, which was simple confiscation. But in recent days, a more positive evaluation of South Korea's reform has gained steam.
Even a left-leaning history book published in 2007 says, "As a result of the agrarian reform, the landed class, which had existed for thousands of years, vanished from Korean history forever, and political parties which had spoken for the landed class lost ground."
The agrarian reform process was never smooth. As soon as it was promulgated in June 1949, the Agrarian Reform Act came under discussion for a possible review due to some contradictory provisions in the law. But president Syngman Rhee put the brakes on a National Assembly revision bill that was aimed at strengthening the interests of the landed class.
Finally, a revised law on agrarian reform was promulgated in March 1950. From March to May that year, 70-80 percent of the farmland subject to distribution was distributed to sharecroppers on credit. The amount of tenant farmland decreased from 63 percent to 12 percent.
But farmers did not immediately become better off. Only a few months later, the Korean War broke out. In the occupied areas, North Korea carried out propaganda about a new land reform and class struggle. However, many farmers who already owned their farmland were not greatly impressed by this and remained committed to the republic. If the farmland distribution had been delayed, the situation would have turned out quite different.
North Korea's land distribution was not a distribution of ownership, as in South Korea, but only a distribution of rights to work the land. Afterwards, North Korean rural areas turned into collective farms and became impoverished. By contrast, the South Korean farmers grew as self-reliant economic entities. As one school textbook published recently says, the agrarian reforms "laid the groundwork for the market economy to develop and free democracy to mature."
