한국전쟁 이후 ‘收復地區’에서의 농지개혁법 적용 과정과 그 의미

The Process and Meaning of Application of the Farmland Reform Act to the Restored Area

After being liberated from the Japanese colonization, the Korean Peninsula experienced four land (farmland) reforms overall: North Korea s land reform in March 1946, South Korea s farmland reform in May 1950, North Korea s land reform from July to August 1950 during its occupation of South Korea, and South Korea s farmland reform in April 1958 in the restored area across the north of the 38th Parallel. The first two ones occurred before or after the establishment of South and North Korean governments while the last two ones happened during the Korean War and the postwar period when two Koreas were occupied by the other. These four land (farmland) reforms reflected respective systems of South and North Korea and features of the Korean War. This study focuses on farmland reforms surrounding the restored area across the north of the 38th Parallel from the perspective of occupation and implantation of system. Located across the north of the 38th Parallel and the south of the Military Demarcation Line, the restored area went through land reform under the control of North Korea before the Korean War (1946). This land reform resulted in the launch of landed farmer system together with abolition of landlord-tenant system. As a result of the Korean War, however, the restored area was incorporated into South Korea beyond the rule of North Korea. At the same time, this area s land ownership structure returned to the original state prior to the above land reform. In other words, the landlord-tenant system was restored in this area. Accordingly, the South Korean government embarked on farmland reform to resolve the issue of land ownership surrounding the restored area (1958). Its primary goal was to repeal the landlord-tenant system, but it gave priority to application of the Farmland Reform Act (1949) to the north of the 38th Parallel. This was premised on the perception that South Korea assumed control over the north of the 38th Parallel. It illustrated that the South Korean system based on onerous purchase and onerous distribution was newly implanted into the North Korean area where the landed farmer system had already been operated in terms of gratuitous seizure and gratuitous distribution.