Since Kim Jong-un governed North Korea, the North Korean regime has been unstable and unpredictable, and to make matters worse, its economic condition has declined. Hence, the South Korean government needs to anticipate the sudden North Korean change and prepare for the reunification of Korea. For this, it seems that the process of South Korean state building after independence from Japanese colonial rule needs to be reviewed preferentially in order to minimise confusion in the process of building the successful reunification of Korea. Meanwhile, in terms of effective delivery of basic goods and services through functional formal state institutions, state building seems to be closely related with land administration. In the context, this study aims to explain relations between land administration and state building theoretically, and confirm this by analysing how land administration impacted on South Korean state building after the liberation from Japan.