151 Rare Trees Stand Tall in Front Yard of Gyeongbuk Provincial Office, Sparking Huge Interest

Donation Ceremony Following the Will of Late Chairman Jo Dong-hwi of Andong Local Company
Rare Baeksong Pine and 500 Million Won Worth of Crapemyrtle and Yew Trees
Lee Cheol-woo: "Millennium Baeksong Pine, Sharing Joy and Sorrow with Provincial Offi

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] On the 19th, when a Baeksong (White Pine) tree, known to live over a thousand years, was transplanted in front of the main building of the Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Office, there was a flurry of attention inside and outside the office regarding the rare Baeksong tree, designated as a natural monument, and its donor.

At the commemorative tree-planting ceremony held in the garden in front of the main building that day, Governor Lee Cheol-woo, provincial office staff, and the donor’s family gathered to share stories related to the Baeksong.

The commemorative tree planting was made possible by the family of the late Cho Dong-hwi, honorary chairman of Daewon Petroleum, a representative local company in Andong, who donated the tree to the provincial office. Alongside the Baeksong, 151 trees of seven species including Crape Myrtle, Yew, and Black Pine were planted, valued at approximately 575 million KRW.

Born in 1930 in Pungyang-myeon, Yecheon-gun, Gyeongbuk, the late Chairman Cho Dong-hwi founded Daewon Petroleum in Yeongju in 1971 and moved its headquarters to Andong in 1975, developing it into a mid-sized energy company supplying petroleum to the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. Until his passing in June last year, he served as the chairman of the Andong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, chairman of the Korean Red Cross Gyeongbuk branch, chairman of the Ham-an Jo clan’s main association, and head of three Seowon academies?Byeongsan, Wolbong, and Imcheon?earning recognition as a symbol of the regional Confucian scholar spirit.

The Baeksong donated this time was a tree that the late chairman personally nurtured with great care for over 50 years, and according to the bereaved family, he wished it to be used for public purposes.

Baeksong is an evergreen coniferous tree of the pine family, gymnosperms, characterized by leaves that grow in clusters of three in May and early shedding of bud scales. Its bark is dark green when young, but after more than 40 years, large pieces of bark fall off, revealing its distinctive white color.

It grows slowly and has weak reproductive ability, making it difficult to cultivate and thus highly valued. Currently, only five Baeksong trees in Korea are designated and managed as natural monuments, making it a rare species.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo said, "The Baeksong is known to live over a thousand years, and I hope it will share joys and hardships with our provincial office building for a long time." He added, "I express my deep gratitude to the late Mr. Cho Dong-hwi and his family for generously donating not just one, but over 150 precious trees to help create a prestigious provincial office building."

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