Korea-based 2026 rules, checked 2026-11-01.
This review prepares a consultation with the local authority; it does not grant a permit, accept a report, complete an EIA consultation or issue a charge notice.
Sort the permit, report and assessment routes before moving soil
Bringing soil onto a rice field or cutting a forest slope for a country house, warehouse or solar site looks like one job, but Korean law attaches three separate procedures to it.
The National Land Planning and Utilization Act (Planning Act) development-activity permit, the Farmland Act farmland-improvement fill/cut report and the Environmental Impact Assessment Act small-scale EIA each use different numerical thresholds.
The same 1,200 m² paddy may need no permit at all when soil is added for farming, or both a permit and an assessment when it becomes a building site.
This calculator applies the Korea-based 2026 rules verified through the National Law Information OPEN API on 2026-11-01 and separates four routes on one screen.
A few centimetres of fill or a few square metres of area can change the result, so the route should be checked before truck quotes or civil design to reduce restoration, penalty and work-stoppage risk.
The result is a preliminary review and does not replace permit or report acceptance or an EIA consultation.
The four results this calculator gives
First, it labels the development-permit route as permit required, farming land-form change (not a development activity), minor activity or public project by the state or a local government.
Second, it sorts the farmland fill/cut report route into report required, exempt because a permit was obtained, exempt public project, exempt minor activity or not applicable.
Third, it shows whether a small-scale EIA is required, which area threshold applied and whether adjacent areas were combined.
Fourth, when an EIA is required and the development area is 30,000 m² or more, it estimates the ecosystem conservation charge and instalment options.
The room bars below the result show how far each value is from cumulative fill of 50 cm and 2 m, the 660 m² parcel test, the permit scale cap, the farmland 1,000 m² and last-year 50 cm tests, the EIA threshold and the 30,000 m² charge line.
Answers left as Unknown are never treated as exemptions and stay pending.
Check the land-use plan certificate and local ordinance, then update the inputs to turn a pending result into a firm route.
Key thresholds at a glance
- 50 cm
- Cumulative fill or cut for a minor activity (Planning Decree Article 53)
- 2 m
- Cumulative cut or fill that turns farming work into a permit case (Article 51(2))
- 660 m²
- Parcel total for a minor activity outside urban areas (Article 53, item 3(b))
- 1,000 m²
- Parcel exempt from the farmland fill/cut report (Farmland Decree Article 59-2)
- 50 cm / year
- Last-year fill total exempt from the farmland report (work from 2025-01-03)
- 10,000 m²
- Small-scale EIA in planned management zones (Annex 4)
- 30,000 m²
- Management/agriculture zone permit cap and ecosystem charge line
- KRW 300
- Ecosystem conservation charge per m² (Nature Conservation Decree Article 38)
The biggest difference is that Planning Act figures are all-time cumulative while Farmland Act figures are last-year totals.
The same 50 cm compares different periods, so record the two heights separately.
Farming land-form changes are not development activities
Planning Act Article 56(1), item 2 treats land-form changes as development activities but excludes changes for farming prescribed by Presidential Decree.
Enforcement Decree Article 51(2) defines that scope as soil dressing, soil replacement or levelling on finished farmland for crop cultivation, soil fertility or productivity, or for installing or maintaining irrigation and drainage facilities.
Adding soil to an existing field for farming therefore does not, in principle, need a development permit.
The exclusion is lost if any one of four conditions applies: the work affects irrigation, drainage or farm work on neighbouring land; fill uses soil that may cause water or soil pollution, such as recycled aggregate, waste soil from business sites or inorganic sludge; the work changes the land category (field↔paddy changes excluded); or it installs a retaining wall or involves cut or fill of 2 m or more.
The 2 m height is counted cumulatively across repeated works, and a local planning ordinance may set its own figure within 2 m.
The calculator shows not a development activity when all four answers are No, a permit review when any is Yes, and pending when any is Unknown.
Building a house site while describing the work as farming does not qualify, so choose the real project purpose.
Minor activities: cumulative 50 cm, 660 m² and prepared sites
Decree Article 53, item 3 lists minor land-form changes that need no permit.
Sub-item (a) covers cut, fill or levelling within 50 cm in height or depth, counted cumulatively when done in several rounds, excluding paving.
Outside residential, commercial and industrial zones it must not change the land category.
Sub-item (b) covers cut, fill, levelling or paving without a land-category change on land of 660 m² or less outside urban areas, nature conservation zones and district-unit plan areas.
The area is the total area of the parcel where the change happens, not just the part being worked.
Filling 300 m² of a 1,000 m² parcel still compares 1,000 m² with the 660 m² test.
Sub-item (c) covers land-form changes on an already prepared building site to install a building or structure, including excavation and backfill for underground structures but excluding other cut and fill.
Sub-item (d) covers projects carried out directly by the state or a local government for the public interest.
The proviso to Article 53 allows ordinances to set their own scope, so compare the minor-activity clause of the local city or county planning ordinance.
The permit scale cap and disaster impact assessment
Even when a permit is required, the area must be below the Decree Article 55(1) scale cap for a development permit.
Residential, commercial, natural green and production green zones are below 10,000 m², industrial zones below 30,000 m², conservation green zones below 5,000 m², management and agriculture-forestry zones below 30,000 m², and nature conservation zones below 5,000 m².
Because the rule says below, a management-zone change of exactly 30,000 m² is not within the cap.
Projects above the cap need a district-unit plan or one of the exceptions in Article 55(3), and projects straddling two zones follow Article 55(2).
Natural Disaster Countermeasures Act Enforcement Decree Annex 1 lists development permits above the scale cap with a site of 5,000 m² or more for disaster impact assessment consultation, so the calculator shows a separate warning in that case.
Farmland fill and cut reports started on 2025-01-03
Farmland Act Article 41-3 requires anyone improving farmland by fill or cut to report to the mayor, county head or district head.
Added by Act number 19877, the article took effect one year after promulgation, on 2025-01-03.
The most common misunderstanding is that soil dressing exempt from a development permit because it is farming can still require a farmland report.
Farmland Act Enforcement Decree Article 59-2 exempts as minor activities fill or cut on farmland whose total parcel area is 1,000 m² or less, and fill whose last-year total height is within 50 cm, with the same depth rule for cut.
The one-year total counts only work after the effective date, so fill before 2025-01-03 is not added.
Local ordinances may also set their own scope within these limits.
Four report exemptions and the link to the development permit
The proviso to Article 41-3(1) exempts work under an obtained development permit, projects carried out directly by the state or a local government for the public interest, emergency measures for disaster recovery and minor activities prescribed by decree.
The calculator shows exempt because a permit was obtained when one has been granted, and exempt once the permit is obtained when the project still needs one.
This avoids preparing two procedures for the same work.
Conversely, when farming work is found not to be a development activity and exceeds both 1,000 m² and 50 cm, a farmland report is required.
Levelling or paving that is not fill or cut is shown as not applicable on the farmland-report route while the development-permit result is kept.
Emergency disaster work needs after-the-fact confirmation, so it is not an input and appears only as a note.
Small-scale EIA area thresholds
Environmental Impact Assessment Act Article 43 and Enforcement Decree Article 59, Annex 4 require an assessment for small developments in areas that need conservation.
The project plan area threshold is 10,000 m² or more in planned management zones, 7,500 m² or more in production management and agriculture-forestry zones, and 5,000 m² or more in conservation management and nature conservation zones.
In urban areas only listed projects such as sports facilities, aggregate extraction, fishing ports, infrastructure and district-unit plans are covered, at 60,000 m² or more (10,000 m² or more in green zones).
The assessment report must be submitted and consultation completed before project approval, and Article 44 requires the approving authority to keep that order.
Annex 4 note 9 treats a project across two or more zones as covered when the sum of each zone area divided by that zone minimum threshold is 1 or more.
The calculator uses one representative zone, so check the ratio sum yourself for a straddling project.
Overlapping protected areas, forest land and excluded projects
Under Annex 4 note 2, when a project lies in another listed area such as a development restriction zone, ecological landscape conservation area, natural park, wetland protection area or water-supply, river or groundwater area, that area threshold replaces the row 1 zone threshold.
Development restriction zones and ecological landscape core zones use 5,000 m², buffer zones 7,500 m² and transition zones 10,000 m², so overlapping areas are often stricter.
Forest land uses 10,000 m² for public-interest forest and 30,000 m² for other forest, but note 8 limits this to projects carried out only with a forest conversion permit or similar forest permits.
A country-house estate that also needs a building permit uses the zone threshold instead.
The calculator keeps this pending while the answer is Unknown and, when Yes, conservatively uses the smaller of the two thresholds.
Note 4 excludes soil improvement and farmland-improvement projects under the Farmland Act, erosion-control projects and some forestry projects.
Note 4, sub-item (h) excludes storage yards and warehouses, sports grounds and gyms, parking facilities and simple solar installations on idle land below 30,000 m² on land classified as bare land on the land-cover map in planned management zones, so choosing one of these purposes adds a bare-land question.
Splitting a project is caught by the adjacency rule
Annex 4 note 11 adds the areas together when a developer seeks further approval within 50 m in a straight line of an area approved below the small-scale EIA threshold within the past 10 years.
If the total reaches the minimum threshold and the added area is at least 30% of that threshold, the project becomes subject to assessment.
It applies to the same person, the same project on the same parcel and the same project on a parcel split within 3 years.
For example, adding 4,000 m² to 6,000 m² already approved in a planned management zone gives 10,000 m² with the addition at 40% of the threshold, so an assessment is required.
Adding 2,500 m² for a total of 8,500 m² does not trigger it, but the next addition is combined again.
Areas separated by national or local rivers, roads with two or more lanes each way or railways are excluded, so check the site layout as well.
How the ecosystem conservation charge is calculated
Natural Environment Conservation Act Article 46(2), item 4 imposes the ecosystem conservation charge on small-scale EIA developments with a development area of 30,000 m² or more.
Under Article 46(3) the amount is damaged ecosystem area × unit charge × regional coefficient, and Enforcement Decree Article 38(1) sets the unit charge at KRW 300 per m².
Under Decree Article 37(2), exclude areas whose land category is already developed, such as building sites, factory sites, school sites, roads and railways.
Under Decree Annex 2-5, the regional coefficient is the average of the land-use coefficient and the ecological-nature grade coefficient.
Residential, commercial, industrial and planned management zones use 1 when the land category is field, paddy, forest, salt farm, river, reservoir or park and 0 otherwise; green zones use 2, production management 2.5, agriculture-forestry 3, conservation management 3.5 and nature conservation 4.
Ecological-nature grade 1 areas use 4, grade 2 areas 3, grade 3 areas 2 and separately managed areas 5.
When the charge is imposed, a one-month payment period is set and written notice is given at least 5 days before payment starts.
Decree Article 38(4) allows instalments within 3 years, not exceeding the project period, when the charge exceeds KRW 10 million and lump-sum payment is difficult because of disaster, a business crisis, illness or similar reasons, or when the payer is a small or medium enterprise.
Reductions for projects listed in Annex 2-6 are not included, so apply that rate separately if relevant.
Step-by-step use
Step 1: open the land-use plan certificate, check the zone, district-unit plan area, development restriction zone and protected-area entries, and enter them in the land and activity section.
Step 2: say whether the land is farmland and whether the work is farming on finished farmland, then answer the four exception questions with Yes or No.
Step 3: enter the total parcel area, the land-form change area, the all-time cumulative height and the last-year total height in centimetres.
Step 4: enter the project plan area, any overlapping protected area or forest land, and any area approved within 10 years and 50 m.
Step 5: if an assessment is likely, add the damaged area, excluded area, ecological-nature grade and SME status to estimate the charge.
Finally, for farmland, enter the official land price to see the enforcement-fine reference, then save the review as TXT or print it for the local city or county office.
Scenarios: farmland fill and forest development
The farmland example adds 80 cm of soil for farming to a 1,200 m² paddy in a planned management zone.
All four exceptions are No, so no development permit is needed, but the parcel exceeds 1,000 m² and the last-year total exceeds 50 cm, so a farmland fill report is required.
With an official land price of KRW 50,000 per m², the reference enforcement fine if a restoration order is ignored is 1,200 m² × KRW 50,000 × 25% = KRW 15,000,000, and it can recur every year.
As farmland improvement it is excluded from the small-scale EIA.
The forest example builds a country-house estate on 35,000 m² of other forest land in a planned management zone with a building permit.
A land-category change and retaining walls make it a development permit case, and because it exceeds the 30,000 m² management-zone cap, other routes such as a district-unit plan and a disaster impact assessment consultation must be checked.
Note 8 applies the 10,000 m² planned management threshold instead of the forest threshold, so a small-scale EIA is required; with a forest land-category coefficient of 1 and a grade 3 coefficient of 2, the average 1.5 gives 35,000 m² × KRW 300 × 1.5 = KRW 15,750,000.
Reducing the same project to 29,000 m² brings it within the permit scale cap and below the 30,000 m² charge line, but it remains above 10,000 m² so the assessment is still required.
Comparing which thresholds move together as the design area changes is the main purpose of this calculator.
What happens if work starts without a permit or report
Planning Act Article 140 provides imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine of up to KRW 30 million for development activities without a permit, and Article 133 is the basis for revoking permits, stopping work and ordering restoration.
When unpermitted land-form changes surface during a later building permit application, approvals often stall until the land is restored.
Under the Farmland Act, fill or cut without a report is subject to a restoration order under Article 42.
If the order and a further deadline are both ignored, Article 63(1), item 2 imposes an enforcement fine of 25% of the higher of the appraised value and the official land price, and Article 63(4) allows it once a year until restoration.
There is no criminal penalty or administrative fine for the missing report itself, so the calculator shows the amount as a reference, not an immediate charge.
Tips and cautions for a more accurate result
Record the all-time cumulative height and the last-year total separately rather than one round of work.
The Planning Act 50 cm and 2 m tests use the all-time total while the Farmland Act 50 cm test uses the last-year total, so the two figures can differ.
Keep soil test reports and source-site details for imported soil to avoid disputes over the contaminated-soil exception.
Ordinances may set their own minor-activity scope, farming 2 m figure and farmland report exemptions, so check the local ordinance even when the result is exempt.
Look up the ecological-nature grade on the environmental spatial information service and fix the damaged and excluded areas from survey drawings.
For forest land check conversion feasibility and the substitute forest resource fee, and for farmland the farmland preservation charge, with separate calculators to see the full cost.
Permit caps, small-scale EIA thresholds and coefficients by zone
Development permit scale caps, small-scale EIA area thresholds and ecosystem charge land-use coefficients by Korean land-use zone| Land-use zone | Permit cap (below) | Small-scale EIA (at or above) | Land-use coefficient |
|---|
| Residential and commercial | 10,000 m² | Listed projects 60,000 m² | 1 or 0 by category |
| Industrial | 30,000 m² | Listed projects 60,000 m² | 1 or 0 by category |
| Natural and production green | 10,000 m² | Listed projects 10,000 m² | 2 |
| Conservation green | 5,000 m² | Listed projects 10,000 m² | 2 |
| Planned management | 30,000 m² | 10,000 m² | 1 or 0 by category |
| Production management | 30,000 m² | 7,500 m² | 2.5 |
| Conservation management | 30,000 m² | 5,000 m² | 3.5 |
| Agriculture and forestry | 30,000 m² | 7,500 m² | 3 |
| Nature conservation | 5,000 m² | 5,000 m² | 4 |
Permit caps follow Planning Decree Article 55(1), assessment areas follow EIA Decree Annex 4 row 1 and land-use coefficients follow Nature Conservation Decree Annex 2-5.
The final regional coefficient is the average of the land-use and ecological-nature grade coefficients.
Assessment thresholds when protected areas or forest land overlap
Small-scale EIA area thresholds for protected areas and forest land under Korean EIA Decree Annex 4| Overlapping area | Threshold (at or above) |
|---|
| Development restriction zone | 5,000 m² |
| Ecological landscape core zone, nature reserve, wildlife protection area | 5,000 m² |
| Ecological landscape buffer zone | 7,500 m² |
| Ecological landscape transition zone | 10,000 m² |
| Park nature preservation district, wetland protection area, groundwater conservation zone | 5,000 m² |
| Other park districts, wetland surrounding or improvement area | 7,500 m² |
| Within 1 km upstream of a regional water-supply lake, small-stream zone | 7,500 m² |
| River zone | 10,000 m² |
| Public-interest forest land (forest permits only) | 10,000 m² |
| Other forest land (forest permits only) | 30,000 m² |
Under note 2, an overlapping protected area replaces the zone threshold with the threshold in this table.
Some rows have special figures, such as apartment projects near water-supply lakes, so check the original text as well.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a development permit to add soil to a rice field?
Soil dressing, replacement or levelling for farming on finished farmland is, in principle, not a development activity.
It becomes a permit case if it affects neighbouring land, uses soil that may pollute, changes the land category, or involves a retaining wall or cumulative cut or fill of 2 m or more.
Even without a permit, check the Farmland Act fill report separately.
When did farmland fill reports start, and from how many centimetres?
They took effect on 2025-01-03.
A report is required when the parcel total exceeds 1,000 m² and the last-year fill total exceeds 50 cm.
If either figure is within its limit the work is an exempt minor activity, but check whether the local ordinance sets a different scope.
Is 660 m² the filled area or the parcel area?
Decree Article 53, item 3(b) uses the total area of the parcel where the land-form change happens.
Filling only 200 m² of a 900 m² parcel still exceeds 660 m².
The Farmland Act 1,000 m² test also uses the parcel total.
If I obtain a development permit, do I also file a farmland fill report?
No.
Farmland Act Article 41-3(1), item 1 exempts work under an obtained development permit.
The calculator marks permit-required work as exempt once the permit is obtained to avoid duplicate preparation.
Extra fill outside the permit scope needs a new check.
Can splitting the land avoid a small-scale EIA?
Under Annex 4 note 11, additions within 10 years and 50 m by the same developer, or on the same or a split parcel for the same project, are combined with the approved area.
If the total reaches the threshold and the addition is at least 30% of it, an assessment is required.
Splitting is unlikely to avoid it.
Does the 30,000 m² forest threshold apply to a country house on forest land?
Note 8 limits forest thresholds to projects carried out only with forest permits.
A country-house estate that also needs a building permit uses the zone threshold, so assessment starts at 10,000 m² in planned management zones and 5,000 m² in conservation management zones.
When is the ecosystem conservation charge paid, and can it be split?
It applies when a small-scale EIA is required and the development area is 30,000 m² or more.
A one-month payment period is given, and instalments within 3 years can be requested when the charge exceeds KRW 10 million with hardship grounds, or when the payer is an SME.
Does unreported fill trigger an enforcement fine immediately?
No.
A restoration order comes first, and only if it and a further deadline are ignored can 25% of the higher value be charged once a year.
If the work needed a Planning Act permit and none was obtained, imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine of up to KRW 30 million may be a separate issue.
Official sources and update context
The current texts were verified through the National Law Information OPEN API on 2026-11-01.
Planning Act MST284013 is effective 2026-07-01, Planning Decree MST288857 is effective 2026-09-18, and Farmland Act MST284301 and Farmland Decree MST288811 are the 2026-09-18 versions.
EIA Act MST276833, EIA Decree MST288841 (Annex 4 amended 2025-10-01), Natural Environment Conservation Act MST270179, its Decree MST287307 (Annex 2-5 amended 2026-03-17) and Natural Disaster Countermeasures Act Decree MST273837 were also checked.
Recheck amendments and the local minor-activity and report-exemption ordinances at the time of use.
Save the review and fix the procedure before work starts
Next, compare the ordinance and schedule the permit or report
Save the review with the zone, area, height, three routes and threshold room, and share it with the local office and your designer.
Once the route is fixed, estimate soil volume and haulage, forest or farmland conversion costs and charges together for the full budget.