미군정기 귀속농지 처리와 중앙토지행정처

Abstract

The U. S. Army Military Government in Korea(USAMGIK) carried out the sale of vested farmland as the first step in land reform in South Korea. In the process of discussing this, they emphasized the role of the administrative organization that would take charge of not only farmland distribution but also ‘follow-up measures’ such as credit services and management guidance. They believed that this administrative organization should perform these functions in order to prevent farmers from becoming tenant again, even before the agricultural credit and rural extension system was established. The ‘Bunce Plan’ of 1946 included the idea that the Federation of Financial Associations(FFA) would take charge of the management and supervision of the sold farmland as an administering agency. In 1947, when the South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly(SKILA) discussed land reform, the US side tried to carry out their plan to create an land administrative organization through the Korea-US Liaison Committee. They thought that an independent administrative organization that would provide credit services and management guidance during the repayment period should take charge of the land reform program. But, the SKILA committee took the position that it was not necessary to grant these functions to the land administrative organization. They also had a plan to separately enact legislation for agricultural cooperatives. The land reform bill submitted to the plenary session of the SKILA was the result of a compromise between these two positions. However, this bill was eventually aborted, and the USAMGIK promulgated Ordinance No. 173, which reflects their original intentions, established the National Land Administration(NLA) and carried out the sale of vested farmland. The NLA was modeled after the US Farm Security Administration(FSA). The FSA was a New Deal agency created in 1937 and operated the tenant purchase program. It was characteristic of this program to combine farm purchase loans with guidance and supervision of government agent. The USAMGIK was planning to convert the New Korea Company(NKC) to create the NLA, and to perform these functions not only in the sale of vested farmland but also in land reform after the establishment of the Korean government. The NKC, the successor of the Oriental Development Company, took part in this plan and prepared a way to maintain its existence.