Korea Forest Service: "Tree Hospital System Established On-Site... Maintaining Appropriateness of Tree Medical Care"

It is analyzed that the Tree Hospital system is being stably established in the field of tree care.

The Korea Forest Service announced on the 12th that after checking the apartment bidding information provided by the Apartment Management Information System (K-apt), it was found that most apartments receive tree care through Tree Hospitals.

Provided by Korea Forest Service

Tree care refers to all activities involved in diagnosing and prescribing treatment for tree damage, as well as preventing and treating such damage.

The Tree Doctor system was introduced by the Korea Forest Service in 2018 (through the revision of the Forest Protection Act) to prevent damage caused by inappropriate use of chemicals and other issues arising from tree care being conducted by non-experts.

The core content of the Tree Doctor system is that tree care cannot be performed without obtaining qualifications as a Tree Doctor or Tree Treatment Technician, and violators are subject to a fine of up to 5 million won under Article 54 of the Forest Protection Act.

However, to minimize confusion in the field that could arise from the introduction of the new system, the Korea Forest Service provided a five-year grace period until last month, which ended on the 28th of last month.

Following the end of the grace period, tree care is now only permitted at Type 1 Tree Hospitals staffed by two types of nationally certified professionals: Tree Doctors and Tree Treatment Technicians.

Based on this, an inspection of the performance of tree care projects contracted from January to June this year revealed that out of 1,296 total contracted projects, 1,263 projects (97%) were appropriately carried out by Tree Hospitals. There were only 33 suspected violations in the contractor selection process.

This serves as evidence for the Korea Forest Service to conclude that the Tree Doctor system has been established in the field through the grace period.

Separately, the Korea Forest Service plans to operate a guidance and crackdown period on tree care violations in cooperation with local governments until the 14th of this month to ensure that a sound tree care industry order is firmly rooted in the field.

Lee Jong-su, Forest Disaster Control Officer at the Korea Forest Service, stated, “The Korea Forest Service will continue to manage and supervise unqualified and non-expert tree care activities,” adding, “Through this, we will ensure that safe and healthy living environments are maintained in apartments and other places.”

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