[2021 National Audit] Korea Forest Service Turns a Blind Eye to Development Activities in Baekdudaegan

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service has been criticized for standing idly by regarding development activities in the Baekdudaegan mountain range.

According to Kim Tae-heum, a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Maritime Affairs Committee (People Power Party, Boryeong·Seocheon, Chungnam), since 2011, a total of 334 development cases within the Baekdudaegan protected area have been carried out through consultations between the Korea Forest Service and local forest offices, resulting in the development of 157.4 hectares of forest land (equivalent to 220 soccer fields).

Typically, prior consultation with the Korea Forest Service is required to conduct development activities within the Baekdudaegan protected area. At this time, the Forest Service can impose restrictions on activities that cause fragmentation of Baekdudaegan or damage to forests and landscapes, demanding reductions in scale or changes in location.

However, over the past five years, the Forest Service has requested a reduction in area only once (1.3 hectares), and other adjustments were limited to simple surveying errors, according to the investigation.

The problem is that although expert opinions and on-site investigations can be requested when professional review is needed for large-scale developments, the number of such requests over the past five years was only five.

Kim pointed out that this indicates the Korea Forest Service, which should protect and preserve Baekdudaegan, has been passive in responding to forest damage and natural disasters by allowing large-scale developments to pass without proper scrutiny.

Kim stated, “To preserve Baekdudaegan, the treasure trove of ecosystems, it is crucial to appropriately control and respond to indiscriminate development activities. To this end, the Korea Forest Service needs to establish and implement legal grounds to minimize large-scale development activities.”

Meanwhile, in May, Kim proposed an amendment to the “Baekdudaegan Protection Act” to restrict the installation of large-scale renewable energy facilities within the core protected areas of Baekdudaegan.

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