The Transition Committee Reports to the Korea Forest Service... Discussing Strengthened Wildfire Response and Restoration Strategies for Affected Areas

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is leaving the transition committee office set up at the Financial Supervisory Service Training Institute in Tongui-dong, Seoul, on the 28th./Photo by Transition Committee Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] On the 28th, the Presidential Transition Committee received a briefing from the Korea Forest Service and reviewed current issues such as wildfire response and restoration strategies for affected areas, as well as landslide response during the summer season.

According to the Transition Committee, the Economic Subcommittee 2, which received the briefing from the Korea Forest Service, highly praised the efforts of those involved in extinguishing the recent wildfires in Gyeongbuk and Gangwon. They particularly emphasized the need to improve the treatment and expand the scale of the Sanbuljaenan Teuksu Jinhwa Dae (Special Wildfire Disaster Response Unit), which played a major role in the wildfire suppression process. They also added that the expansion of forest roads, which are important infrastructure for wildfire suppression and forest management, is necessary.

Furthermore, since the forestry sector is important for domestic companies' participation and cooperation from an ESG perspective, they requested policy improvements related to this. They also asked that biodiversity, along with the recently emphasized carbon neutrality, be given significant attention as a major policy direction of the Korea Forest Service. They requested cooperation with the private sector in the industrial utilization of forest resources such as timber and forest bio-materials, which have been well managed so far.

On the same day, the Korea Forest Service reported on urgent issues and risk response plans, including full-scale wildfire response in spring, restoration strategies for simultaneous wildfires in Gyeongbuk and Gangwon, and landslide response during the summer typhoon season.

The Transition Committee discussed measures to protect the lives and safety of the public from frequent forest disasters such as wildfires and landslides caused by climate change, as well as sustainable forest resource development plans. They also discussed the introduction of life-cycle forest experience programs to expand national forest welfare services and plans to expand urban forests, which are effective in reducing fine dust and mitigating urban heat island effects.

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