South Korean Cultural Ecology - 1905 to 1990
Part 3: The Plight of the Farmers - Page 21

F. Rural Farmland Reform

U.S. insistence to access to Korean agriculture markets, combined with the Korean acquiescence, has finally convinced the farmers that they are slated for elimination to allow the export-driven economy and the chaebols to flourish and continue. Between 1955 and 1960 Korea's land reform installed a mass of smallholders as the dominant force in the countryside. The number of tenant farmers dropped from 86.2% to 26.4%. However over 40% of the land slated for redistribution did not occur because owners were able to disguise themselves as tillers or register the land to sons or other relatives. Also, the ban on tenant farming was later weakened, and the tenant arrangement made a come back in the 1970s and 1980s.