Korea Forest Service Intensifies Crackdown on 'Illegal Activities' in Forests During Vacation Season

A crackdown team is monitoring illegal activities in the forest around Yeonha Valley, Yeongwol-eup, Gangwon-do. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service is intensifying crackdowns on illegal activities within forests, such as in mountain valleys, during the vacation season.

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 28th, the Korea Forest Service and local governments will conduct crackdowns from the 1st of this month until the end of next month in accordance with the "2022 Summer Special Crackdown Plan on Illegal Activities within Forests."

The previous day, guidance and crackdowns on illegal activities within forests were carried out around Yeonha Valley in Yeongwol-eup, Gangwon Province. The crackdown focused on activities such as cooking and smoking within or adjacent to forest areas, dumping of waste and garbage, illegal occupation of facilities in mountain valleys, and illegal commercial activities.

The Forest Protection Act stipulates that if someone dumps waste or garbage in forests, or lights fires or brings fire into forests or adjacent areas, they can be fined up to 1 million KRW.

Based on this, the Korea Forest Service and local governments detected 1,173 cases through intensive crackdowns last summer and took judicial and administrative actions.

Before the crackdown, the inspection teams also provided prior guidance on the crackdown items and the fine imposition regulations for violations within forests.

However, despite these guidance activities, four people were caught violating the Forest Protection Act by lighting fires for cooking within forests and were fined.

Lee Hyun-joo, Director of the Forest Environment Protection Division at the Korea Forest Service, said, "Changing public awareness is important to eradicate illegal activities within forests. Since forests provide great public value to the people, we ask for active participation in forest protection so that forests can be preserved healthily and everyone can enjoy pleasant forest recreational activities."

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