Korea Forest Service Intensively Inspects Pine Wilt Disease Control Status in Gangwon-do

Vice Administrator Choi Byung-am (second from the right) of the Korea Forest Service is inspecting the processing status of felled infected trees at the pine wilt disease control project site in Gangwon Province. Photo by Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service announced on the 18th that Vice Administrator Choi Byeong-am visited the pine wilt disease control project site in Gangwon-do to inspect the progress of the project.

On that day, Vice Administrator Choi monitored the control situation through aerial surveillance and ground inspections conducted at the control project site, urging that all damaged dead trees be controlled by the end of this month before the emergence of pine sawyer beetles such as Monochamus saltuarius and Monochamus alternatus, which are vectors of the pine wilt disease.

In particular, in Chuncheon, where Korean nut pines are abundant, which accounts for most of the pine wilt disease damage in Gangwon-do, he emphasized thorough control activities, noting that unlike pine trees, it is difficult to identify infection in the early stages in Korean nut pines.

Typically, pine wilt disease mainly infects species such as pine, Korean red pine, Korean nut pine, and Jeju nut pine.

Previously, pine wilt disease was first discovered in Gangwon-do in 2005. Since then, the damage has spread to areas including Chuncheon, Hongcheon, Wonju, Hoengseong, Jeongseon, and Inje. Currently, about 10,000 infected trees have been identified in the Gangwon-do area.

The Gangwon Provincial Government and the Northern Regional Forest Service plan to jointly conduct control measures to prevent the spread of pine wilt disease this year, selecting and controlling all damaged dead trees within this month.

Choi Byeong-am, Vice Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, “The final stage of the control project is currently underway on site,” adding, “The Korea Forest Service will cooperate closely with related organizations participating in the control efforts to ensure timely logging and disposal of damaged dead trees and preventive tree injections.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.