The Key to Pine Wilt Disease Control: 'Drones' ... Pohang City, Once Notorious for Severe Damage, Now a Thing of the Past

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] Pohang City, Gyeongsangbuk-do, will conduct aerial pest control starting from the 26th in the military protection zone of Guman-ri, Homigot-myeon, Nam-gu, where human access is difficult, to prevent the spread of pine wilt disease.

Using helicopters from the Uljin Forest Aviation Management Office of the Korea Forest Service, pest control operations will be carried out three times by the end of June over an area of 150 hectares, timed to coincide with the peak activity of the summer pine wilt disease vector insects (pine sawyer beetle and northern sawyer beetle).

The pest control work will be conducted by aerial spraying of a low-toxicity agent, thiamethoxam liquid suspension, diluted 50 times with water, during the low-pressure morning hours.

Geum Chang-seok, head of the Forestry Division of Pohang City, stated, "Considering the characteristics of pine wilt disease, we will not immediately remove the damaged dead trees during summer but will keep them as egg-laying attractant trees to reduce additional damage. Once the vector insects stop activity and begin overwintering in winter, we plan to remove them all at once."

Meanwhile, Pohang City has achieved results in reducing damage from pine wilt disease through efficient pest control operations, decreasing the number of affected trees from 354,000 in 2014, when damage was most severe, to 35,000 in 2018. Eight years after being classified as an 'extreme' damage area in 2012, the area was downgraded to a 'severe' damage area, shedding its reputation as a region of extreme damage, and in 2019, it was further downgraded to a 'moderate' damage area with between 10,000 and 30,000 affected trees.

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