Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Detect 51 Cases of Unauthorized Damage to Mountain Areas Equivalent to 5 Soccer Fields

Unauthorized Damage to Mountain Campsite

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has uncovered a large number of illegal offenders who unlawfully damaged mountain areas equivalent to five times the size of a soccer field.

The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police Unit announced on the 30th that from the 18th to the 27th of last month, they conducted on-site crackdowns targeting 601 mountain land parcels suspected of damage based on aerial photographs. They detected 51 violations (51 individuals) of the Mountainous Area Management Act. The damaged area amounted to 36,981㎡ (approximately 11,187 pyeong), about five times the size of a soccer field (7,140㎡).

The violations included ▲illegal installation of facilities (26 cases) ▲illegal creation of farmland (4 cases) ▲illegal creation of parking lots (5 cases) ▲illegal creation of gravesites (2 cases) ▲other illegal acts including illegal campsite creation (14 cases).

Among the major cases, Mr. A was caught for illegally damaging 2,455㎡ of forest land in Uijeongbu City in 2019 by cutting and filling the land without obtaining the required mountain land conversion permit from the relevant authorities, and relocating a family grave.

Mr. B was caught after installing and using a temporary structure without mountain land conversion permission on 103㎡ of forest land in Dongducheon City in 2020, intending to use it as a weekend farm shed.

Mr. C was found to have illegally converted 130㎡ of forest land in Siheung City by constructing two vinyl greenhouses for storing lumber.

Mr. D operated a campsite on 13,916㎡ of forest land in Ansan City without mountain land conversion permission starting in 2014. Despite being caught once in 2020, he continued operations and was recently caught again and criminally charged.

Under the current Mountainous Area Management Act, installing facilities or creating farmland on mountain land without permission from the Forest Service Chief, provincial governor, or city/county/district head is punishable by up to three years imprisonment or a fine of up to 30 million KRW for quasi-conservation mountain areas, and up to five years imprisonment or a fine of up to 50 million KRW for conservation mountain areas.

The special judicial police plan to forward the 51 detected cases to the prosecution and notify the respective cities and counties to restore the sites to their original condition.

Yoon Tae-wan, head of the provincial special judicial police unit, stated, "We plan to induce changes in awareness and eradicate illegal acts in mountain areas through continuous crackdowns and publicity in cities and counties."

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