For withering pine trees, North Korea calls in Hyundai for help

Posted on : 2015-07-29 17:02 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Delegation of forestry experts to visit North Korea to assess problem of treez around Mt. Keumgang

When pine trees around Mt. Keumgang began withering, North Korea asked Hyundai Asan to send in experts. A team of forestry experts will be heading to North Korea on July 29 to carry out a three-day investigation.

“A team of eight individuals composed of five forestry experts with the Korea Forest Research Institute (part of the Korea Forest Service) and the Korea Tree Health Association and three staff members from Hyundai Asan are planning to visit North Korea between July 29 and 31,” said an official from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification on July 28.

The decision came after North Korea’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and Mt. Keumgang Development and Direction Bureau asked Hyundai Asan, which holds a monopoly on tours to Mt. Keumgang, to look into the problem.

Currently, trees all around Mt. Keumgang are turning yellow and withering around the base and the leaves. The damage to trees in the township of Goseong is said to be particularly severe.

The fact that North Korea is asking the South to help with a quick disease and pest investigation despite the poor state of inter-Korean relations is thought to reflect the considerable interest that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has shown in reforestation.

In 2012, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO assisted with pest control in a pine forest around a group of ancient tombs from the Goguryeo Dynasty near Pyongyang at the request of North Korea.

“Since the area around Mt. Keumgang is a natural heritage that both North and South Korea must protect, we are planning to take necessary measures on a governmental level according to the results of the experts’ survey,” a senior official at the Ministry of Unification said, adding that their visit to North Korea is unrelated to tourism at Mt. Keumgang.

 

By Kim Ji-hoon, staff reporter

 

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

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