Suggested citations
AGLC4 | 토지법 1999 [Land Law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (1999)] [tr Daye Gang].
Bluebook | Tojibeob 1999 [Land Law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (1999)] translated in Law and North Korea by Daye Gang, https://www.lawandnorthkorea.com/.
Adopted on April 29, 1977, as Law No. 9 of the Supreme People’s Assembly
Amended on June 16, 1999, as Directive No. 803-1 of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly
CHAPTER I. THE LAND OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA IS THE NOBLE GAINS OF THE REVOLUTION
Article 1
Land in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the noble gains of the Revolution accomplished by the whole peasantry at the stage of the democratic revolution, according to the great land reform law enforced based on the principle that “land tilled shall be given to the peasant who tills the land” under the wise leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the people’s government.
Article 2
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, land reform and agricultural cooperation policy were thoroughly implemented so that feudalistic property ownership relationships and every exploitative relationship in farming areas disappeared forever and the socialist property ownership relationship was established in totality. The State shall consolidate and develop the results of the land reform and agricultural cooperation accomplished in the northern half of the Republic, and shall struggle for the completion of the nationwide agricultural revolution.
Article 3
In the land of the Democratic People’s Republic is infused the red blood of the revolutionary patriotic martyrs who laid down their noble lives for land reform, and is permeated the revolutionary spirit of the people who fought heroically to save the country from foreign imperialist aggression. The State shall struggle to defend land, which is the noble gains of the revolution, from violation by every enemy from inside and out.
Article 4
The State shall legally secure, and consolidate and develop, the results accomplished in land reform and the socialist property ownership relationship, protect and develop the land, the State and society shall use it jointly to ensure greater strength of the socialist material and technical foundations and shall deliberate on necessary measures to strongly press the socialist construction of the State.
Article 5
The State shall innovate the land through land protection, land construction work and other ways, and shall organize and conduct work to conquer nature following the overarching land construction plan so that it has good prospects.
Article 6
The State shall develop land in accordance with the foundations of the independent national economy arranged in our country, industrialize and modernize agriculture and improve the land in particular, strengthen scientific research work to increase its rate of usage and shall train technical experts necessary for this so that they have good prospects.
Article 7
The State shall split and manage agricultural land, residential district land, forest land, industrial land, land for water, and special land, to conform with using the land. The supervision and control of management and use of land shall be done in a standardized way by the land administration institution under the guidance of the Cabinet and the local political institutions.
Article 8
Land is the precious seed capital for life of our people and the wealth of the State for the prosperity of all generations of descendants. The State shall strengthen the socialist and patriotic education in all the people, agricultural workers and State institution workers so they protect and manage the land well and handle it frugally.
CHAPTER II. OWNERSHIP OF LAND
Article 9
Land in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the property of the State and of cooperative organizations. All land in the country is the joint property of the people, and no one may buy or sell it or make it his or her own.
Article 10
Land owned by the State is property of the whole people. There is no restriction on the scope of land owned by the State.
Article 11
Land owned by cooperative organizations is the collective property of the workers in the cooperative economy. The State shall protect land owned by cooperative organizations by law.
Article 12
The State shall consolidate and develop the socialist cooperative economy system, and may gradually transition land owned by cooperative organizations to the ownership of the whole people following the development of the agricultural economy system and the voluntary will of all members in the cooperative organization.
Article 13
Land of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea may only be ruled by the State and institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens, including cooperative farms, may use it in several directions for the interests and well-being of the people. The use of kitchen gardens of members of the cooperative farm shall be between 20 and 30 pyeong according to the cooperative farm bylaws.
CHAPTER III. OVERARCHING LAND CONSTRUCTION PLAN
Article 14
The overarching land construction plan shall develop and use, and clear and beautify, the land rationally in conformity with the development of the national economy and the promotion of well-being of the people, and is the standardized and comprehensive forecasting plan for land construction to manage the nation’s universal economy in a planned way so that it has good prospects. The State shall, staunchly and in a mobilizing way, adopt an overarching land construction plan to make the country rich and powerful and raise the people’s standards of life, and shall thoroughly realize it.
Article 15
The principles to be abided by in adopting an overarching land construction plan are the following:
1. It shall not intrude upon farmland in land construction and resource development and shall value and protect it to the utmost.
2. The scale of a city shall not be too large and there shall be many constructions in forms of small cities.
3. It shall consider the climate and natural characteristics of the zones of the country which are each different from each other
4. It shall be adopted scientifically and in conformity with the national economic development direction of the country, and the economic development prospects of areas which are each different from each other.
Article 16
The forecast period of the overarching land construction plan shall be between 30 and 50 years. The forecast period may be determined for a shorter period than this, as necessary.
Article 17
In the overarching land construction plan shall be included content as follows:
1. Measures to manage well and protect revolutionary battlefields and revolutionary historic sites
2. Measures and directions to clear, innovate and protect the land, get new land, and clear and use tideland
3. Directions to afforest, protect and use forests, and protect beneficial animals and plants
4. Measures for directions of construction and arrangement for rivers and streams, lakes, reservoirs, the placement of facilities to prevent floodwater damage, and the comprehensive use of water
5. The rational placement of transportation, electricity, communications networks and their facilities
6. The placement location and scale of development zones and industry for underground resources, and of agricultural enterprises
7. Measures of location and scale of cities, villages, vacation spots and recovery resorts, and for protection of scenic places, natural monuments and cultural sites and artefacts
8. Measures of the direction to comprehensively develop and use the coast and territorial waters, and to clear the coast so it is beautiful and protect marine resources
9. Measures to prevent in advance the phenomenon of pollution
Article 18
The nationwide overarching land construction plan and the overarching important complexes land construction plan shall be approved by the Supreme People’s Assembly or by the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and the overarching area land construction plan shall be approved by the Province People’s Assembly or the Province People’s Committee.
CHAPTER IV. LAND PROTECTION
Article 19
The State shall strongly open up land protection work by arranging the rivers and streams and afforesting the forest to prevent land loss, shall extend the material wealth of the country, and shall promote the well-being of the people. The land administration institution, agricultural guidance institution and land use institution must responsibly organise and conduct land protection work following the overarching land construction plan.
Article 20
The river and stream arrangement work is important work that protects the precious property of the country, including farmland, from floodwater damage, and changes the appearance of the land. The State shall conduct the construction of rivers and streams in conformity with the natural geographical conditions and nature of the zones concerned, and parallel with irrigation construction, and shall carry through the arrangement of large rivers and small- and medium-sized streams all together.
Article 21
The land administration institution and the agricultural guidance institution base river and stream arrangement work on designs, and must organize and conduct it in a planned way so that it has good prospects. The arrangement and management of large rivers and important rivers and streams shall be done by the land administration institution, and the arrangement of small- and medium- sized streams shall be done by the institution, enterprise, or cooperative farm concerned. The arrangement of rivers and streams must first be done intensively where floodwater damage is worst, in important industrial complexes, residential districts, and zones with a large agricultural protection area
Article 22
Relevant institutions, enterprises and cooperative farms, including the land administration institution and local political institutions, must investigate and register in detail every year in the period determined by the State the fluctuation, banks, state of the facilities, and other things of the rivers and streams they are responsible for, and must adopt relevant measures.
Article 23
The land administration institution must adopt a maintenance and management system in a standardized way for rivers and streams and raise the role of the rivers and streams maintenance and management specialist enterprise to specialize and scientize maintenance and management. The social safety institution must properly inspect the technical state of rivers and streams and their banks, and adopt relevant measures.
Article 24
The land administration institution and relevant institutions, enterprises and cooperative farms must qualitatively dig riverbeds, straighten river courses, and conduct riverbank construction, shore protection construction, retaining wall construction and sand-protection dams so that land is not lost even in heavy rains.
Article 25
The land administration institution shall determine protected areas in necessary places to protect rivers and streams, lakes, reservoirs, and facilities including banks. Within the protected areas, acts may not be done to spoil the banks of rivers and streams or their facilities, or cause interference in their protection and management.
Article 26
Dirty water, or poisonous materials may not be sent down without being purified, and garbage may not be thrown away, in rivers and streams, lakes, and reservoirs.
Article 27
The land administration institution, agricultural guidance institution and local political institutions must adopt comprehensive usage plans for rivers and streams, and must effectively use water in varied ways for the national economy sector and the culture and relaxation of the workers, such as for irrigation water, generation of hydroelectric power, water for industrial use, drinking water, river and stream transportation, freshwater fish farming, and rafting.
Article 28
Agricultural guidance institutions and relevant enterprises shall fully equip facilities to drain stagnant water in zones where farmland can be submerged in water, and must properly organize and conduct maintenance work for it.
Article 29
State-operated and cooperative farms shall plant willow or build stone walls at the end of the farmland on the riverbank so that land is not lost, and must make intercepting channels for farmland ending on mountain slopes.
Article 30
Forest construction work is wider nature remodelling work of eternal grand design to thoroughly protect land and for the development of wealth and power of the country and the prosperity of all generations of descendants. The State shall prevent land loss and shall organize and conduct forest construction work so that it has good prospects to increase the natural resources capable of generating wealth of the country.
Article 31
Land administration institutions and relevant institutions, enterprises and organizations shall afforest with paper production trees, trees for oil production, textile materials trees, mountainous fruiting trees, trees for firewood, and so on, in conformity with the natural and economic conditions of the relevant zone according to forest design, shall remodel the forest area, shall assign and plant densely fast-growing and useful species of trees, must raise accumulation per unit of the forest by making mixed forests with coniferous trees and broadleaf trees and so on. The forest design institution must make foresign design in conformity with this.
Article 32
The land administration institution shall establish a district system in institutions, enterprises, schools and organizations to organize and conduct afforestation and protection work using the whole masses. Institutions, enterprises, schools, organizations and citizens shall staunchly participate in planting trees in spring and autumn, and must protect and manage forest well so that mountains across the country become a green paradise.
Article 33
The State shall strongly manage lumber production bases and shall establish foresting industry forests and self-contained forests of institutions and enterprises to satisfy the demands of institutions and enterprises for lumber. The relevant institutions and enterprises must plant trees here in a planned way and manage them well to make a strong lumber production base.
Article 34
The State shall make dense the forest in the surrounds of the farming areas, and shall establish cooperative farm forests and firewood forests to satisfy the demands of cooperative farms for forest resources and trees for firewood. Cooperative farms shall plant many trees here and protect and manage them, and shall use them without cost.
Article 35
Institutions, enterprises and organizations including land administration institutions shall manage tree nurseries in conformity with the afforestation prospects plan and must prioritize seedling production. Tree nurseries must produce many seedlings that have high national economic significance and grow quickly.
Article 36
The forest must be used in conformity with the requirements of national economic development and people’s conditions and standard of living, according to prospects and in a planned way. When cutting down trees in the forest, permission must be received from the land administration institution and the relevant institution to first cut down old trees, mature trees, and trees with different kinds of damage, and must guarantee the lumbering of logs on a rotation basis. The area where trees have been cut down and the path they were dragged down must have trees planted in time.
Article 37
The State shall determine special protected forests to protect forests in areas where there are revolutionary battlefields or revolutionary historic sites. It may determine natural protected forest areas for academic research on forests. Trees may not be cut down in special protected forests and natural protected forest areas.
Article 38
Land administration institutions shall strengthen monitoring over forest fires and must organize and conduct work to protect forests from forest fires, such as by installing firebreaks in required areas or by making mobilization systems for people and equipment.
Article 39
Land administration institutions must organize and conduct necessary work to prevent the damage to forests such as by disinfecting pests, including pine caterpillars, in time, and by protecting and proliferating useful animals that prey on harmful insects.
Article 40
Relevant institutions and enterprises including land administration institutions and agricultural guidance institutions must afforest protective forests such as windbreaker forests, erosion control forests, greenbelts, and forests for conservation of water supply in conformity with the characteristics of the zone, shall install erosion control structures to protect the land from natural disaster, and shall make the scenic beauty of the country tasteful.
Article 41
Institutions, enterprises and organizations that develop underground resources must first construct waste treatment facilities and tailing ponds so that there is no damage to land, including farmland, and to resources in developing underground resources, and must ensure that the ground does not cave in when digging underground resources from under farmland or from under buildings and facilities.
Article 42
In coal mines and mines, places where coal waste and mining spoils have been thrown away, and places where underground resources have been dug up, must be cleared in time, and be used as farmland or forest land.
CHAPTER V: LAND CONSTRUCTION
Article 43
The State shall organize and conduct land construction work so that it has good prospects to foster the industrialization and modernization of agriculture, shall increase agricultural production, and shall change the appearance of the land. Relevant institutions, enterprises and organizations including the land administration institution and the agricultural guidance institution must conduct land construction work in a planned way according to the overarching land construction plan.
Article 44
The historic task of irrigation has been brightly realized in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The state shall consolidate and develop the rice paddy irrigation system and complete the field irrigation system.
Article 45
Relevant institutions, enterprises, organizations and cooperative farms including the land administration institution and the agricultural guidance institution must procure more water such as by building reservoirs according to the overarching land construction plan, reinforcing and fully equipping the reservoir banks even more, and adopting measures to use underground water, and must properly conduct maintenance construction for irrigation facilities to ensure that there is no loss of water during piping.
Article 46
Land clearing work is one of the important works to get lots of new land, increase grain production, and realize the comprehensive mechanization and chemical use of the agricultural economy. Institutions, enterprises and organizations including agricultural guidance institutions and State-operated and cooperative farms must conduct land clearing work according to the land clearing plan and land clearing designs for each year.
Article 47
In land clearing, institutions, enterprises and organizations including agricultural guidance institutions and State-operated and cooperative farms must effectively move buildings and facilities to the bases of mountains, shall eliminate unnecessary ridges between rice paddies and embankments around the ends of fields, shall make farmland large and effective, and must construct pipe channels, drains, and paddy roads to suit these.
Article 48
Improving farmland to make them fertile is one of the important guarantees to increase grain production. The institutions, enterprises and organizations that use land, including the County agricultural guidance institution and the State-operated and cooperative farms shall regularly conduct analysis work and agronomical survey work over the fertility of the land and each soil stratum, shall have for each lot a soil monolith, soil profile and land register, and must improve the land in conformity with scientific logic.
Article 49
Making terrace fields is one of the important ways of increasing the yield of crops. Cooperative farms and relevant institutions, enterprises and organizations shall make sloped fields into terrace fields, must absolutely erect irrigation systems and drainage systems, and must enable the active mechanization of load carrying.
Article 50
The State shall increase new cultivated areas and shall place great effort in tideland reclamation projects, which significantly change the appearance of the country. The agricultural guidance institution and relevant institutions, enterprises and organizations must first intensively clear tideland in zones where the natural geographical conditions are good and the clearing will be profitable. In cleared tideland must be actively introduced things such as subsurface irrigation systems or chemical methods to exchange the water to quickly remove the saltiness and plant crops.
Article 51
The agricultural guidance institution and relevant institutions, enterprises and organizations shall construct coast seawalls in conformity with the characteristics of the relevant zone so that things like farmland and salt fields are not damaged by seawater and must properly maintain and reinforce them.
Article 52
The State shall construct cities and villages in a modern and cultural way to arrange more excellent living conditions for the people. Relevant institutions, enterprises and organizations, including local political institutions and municipal administration institutions, shall rationally arrange things such as homes, cultural facilities and amenities, and roads in cities and villages in conformity with the requirements of socialist living culture, reduce the distinction between the city and farming areas, and must construct cities and villages to evenly develop the different dimensions of politics, the economy and culture in all areas of the country.
Article 53
Municipal administration institutions properly manage cultural and resting areas for the workers, including parks and amusement parks in different places, in cities and their surrounds, and must create excellent living environments for residents by planting many flowers and trees. The agricultural guidance institution and cooperative farms must beautifully manage villages by planting things like fruit trees and oil trees in the villages and their surrounds.
Article 54
Local political institutions must exercise control so that cities and villages are not disturbed or polluted. Institutions, enterprises and organizations that construct buildings and facilities must economically clean up the places they dig up following the completion of the construction or the gathering of construction materials.
Article 55
Roads are an important component sector of the national economic arteries, and are one of the important yardsticks to show the economic development levels of a country. The State shall smoothly guarantee the political, economic and cultural ties in all areas of the country, and shall construct and manage roads from the principle of serving to promote the well-being of the people.
Article 56
Roads shall be divided into highways, and from Grade 1 to Grade 6 according to its scale and objectives. Construction, protection and management of roads shall be done by the relevant institutions, enterprises or cooperative farms including the land administration institutions and the municipal administration institutions, according to the grade and objective of the road.
Article 57
All the roads in the country must be paved with cement, asphalt, rocks, and so on to increase the strength of the road surface, shall ceaselessly improve the technical state of the roads universally, and the safety and speed of transport and cultural character of roads must be guaranteed.
Article 58
The road administration institution must install several different kinds of markers with cultural character on both sides of the road, such as caution markers, instruction markers, warning markers, and distance markers, must plant useful trees, fruit trees and so on by the roadside that are hardy and grow quickly, must plant grass, and must manage flowerbeds and cultural and resting areas to always economically maintain the road.
Article 59
Land administration institutions, local political institutions and municipal administration institutions shall correctly investigate and command changes in volume of transport by season, road and section, shall adopt maintenance and servicing plans for structures and facilities including roads and bridges. Shall properly maintain and service them, and shall determine certain sections of road to institutions, enterprises and organizations to always responsibly protect and manage them.
Article 60
Institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens may not make roads and their structures or facilities unusable, or chop at trees on the roadside at will, and other things that may cause interference with road protection and management.
Article 61
The State shall develop and clear the coast and territorial waters, construct and expand new ports, pioneer waterways, and do other things to drive coastal and territorial waters construction to make the country powerful, shall develop waterborne transportation. Relevant institutions, enterprises, and organizations, including coastal and territorial waters management institutions, shall organize and conduct coastal and territorial waters construction according to the overarching land construction plan so that it has good prospects, shall properly maintain and service coastal and territorial waters facilities, and must beautifully manage the coastline.
Article 62
Coastal and territorial waters management institutions and the relevant enterprises, and organizations must organize and conduct work to protect and proliferate the marine resources in coastal and territorial waters in a planned way so that they have good prospects.
CHAPTER VI. LAND MANAGEMENT
Article 63
Strengthening land management work is one of the important requirements of staunchly protecting land, and for using agricultural land effectively in conformity with the requirements of Juche agricultural methods. All cooperative farms, institutions, enterprises, and organizations that use land must abide strictly by systems and order in land use.
Article 64
Only land able to be cultivated is included in agricultural land. The management of agricultural land shall be done by the agricultural guidance institution and by relevant cooperative farms, institutions, enterprises and organizations that use it.
Article 65
Farmland may not be left unused or be abandoned without authorization, and in times when farmland is to be left unused or abandoned and to be used for purposes other than for agricultural production, the consent of the relevant land administration institution must be received, then the consent of the central agricultural guidance institution or of Cabinet must be received, according to its scale and subject. In cases of the foregoing paragraph, securing an exchange of land may be interconnected with State planning.
Article 66
In cases where farmland is to be used for purposes other than agricultural production, surface area that can be used in that year must be calculated and a land use authorization must be received. In cases where institutions, enterprises and organizations that were using farmland for purposes other than agricultural production no longer need to use all that land, they must arrange it into farmland before the next sowing season and must hand it over to the relevant farm.
Article 67
In cases where institutions, enterprises, and organization intend to use it as land for sideline activities, the consent of the Cabinet must be received, and in cases where the classification is sought to be changed, the permission of the central agricultural guidance institution must be received.
Article 68
Cooperative farms may exchange and use farmland between themselves conveniently for cultivation. In this case, the permission of the relevant higher level agricultural guidance institution must be received.
Article 69
Residential district land includes cities, towns, and building lots and their attached land in labour complexes, public land and land for agricultural construction. The management of residential district land shall be done by the Central municipal administration institution and the local political institutions. Institutions, enterprises and organizations that seek to use residential district land must receive land use authorization from the Province People’s Committee or the Cabinet.
Article 70
Forest land includes afforested forest, fields and mountains scheduled to be afforested, and the different sites within them. The management of forest land shall be done by the land administration institution and the institutions, enterprises, and organizations that use it. Institutions, enterprises or organizations that seek to use forest land must receive land use authorization from the relevant land administration institution or the Cabinet.
Article 71
The land administration institution must supervise and control institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens so that there is no indiscriminate felling or slashing and burning of the forest.
Article 72
Industrial land includes the land occupied by industrial facilities and their attached land, such as factories, mines, coal mines, power production facilities and so on. The management of industrial land shall be done by the institutions or enterprises that use it.
Article 73
Institutions and enterprises that manage industrial land shall ensure that there is no abuse of land by factories, enterprises and industrial facilities holding plots of land more broadly than necessary, and must thoroughly do protection and management work over industrial land.
Article 74
Land for water includes land in constant areas occupied by coast, territorial waters, rivers and streams, lakes, reservoirs, irrigation waterways, and so on. The management of land for water shall be done by the land administration institution or the agricultural guidance institution according to the subject. Institutions, enterprises and organizations that seek to develop and use land for water, or install facilities there, must receive the permission of the Cabinet or the land administration institution according to the subject.
Article 75
Special land includes land used for special purposes, such as revolutionary battlefields, revolutionary historic sites, cultural and historic sites, protected areas, and land for military use. The management of special land shall be done by the relevant central institution, local political institutions, and the institutions, enterprises, and army corps that use it.
Article 76
Institutions that have permitted land use may cancel it in cases where new State requirements have been raised.
Article 77
The land administration institution shall command and register all land in the country in a standardized way, shall strictly abide by the instituted order in land management and use, and must exercise supervision and control over the land according to the overarching land construction plan and use it so that it has good prospects.
Article 78
The agricultural guidance institution shall register newly cultivated ground and ground obtained through arranging land in time, and the institutions, enterprises, and organizations using the land must inform fluctuations in the land to the authorities concerned at the right time.
Article 79
Relevant institutions, including agricultural guidance institutions and State-owned and cooperative farms, must hold title documents and must staunchly store and manage them.
Article 80
Valuing and loving the land is the sacred duty of all the people, agricultural workers, and State organs. All the people, agricultural workers, and State organ workers must participate in the work of protecting, constructing and managing land as if they are the owners. In cases where the order of protection, construction and management of land has been violated, the responsible institution, enterprise, organization or citizen shall bear legal responsibility depending on the gravity.
Last updated 24 July 2020