Korea Forest Service "Focused Control of Pine Wilt Disease... Target to Reduce Infected Trees to 870,000"

Korea Forest Service to Intensify Pine Wilt Disease Control Until April
Targeting Reduction from 1.07 Million to 870,000 Trees

The Korea Forest Service has set a goal to reduce the number of infected pine trees from 1.07 million last year to 870,000 this year through intensive control of pine wilt disease (hereinafter referred to as pine wilt disease). The intensive control will continue until April.

Work to crush infected trees is in full swing at the pine wilt disease control site. Photo by Korea Forest Service

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 30th, pine wilt disease is a forest pest that kills 100% of infected trees and is fatal to pine trees, Korean pine, and nut pines.

To prevent the spread of pine wilt disease damage, the Korea Forest Service enacted the "Pine Wilt Disease Special Act" in 2005 and has focused on control activities in pine forests. This is due to the concern that if pine wilt disease is left uncontrolled, all pine trees could become infected and die.

In fact, Japan currently has virtually no pine trees left in most areas except for important regions such as cultural heritage zones. Regarding this, Professor Futai Kazuyoshi of Kyoto University warned, "If pine wilt disease is left uncontrolled, 78% of pine trees will die within 10 years."

In Korea, as a result of intensive control efforts, Jeju Island, which was once at risk of pine tree extinction, has stabilized to a manageable level, and Chungbuk Yeongdong-gun, Daegu Nam-gu, Jeonnam Gokseong-gun, and Gyeongbuk Uljin-gun have recovered as pine wilt disease-free areas, achieving significant results.

However, the Korea Forest Service believes that if control efforts are relaxed just because pine wilt disease is somewhat stably managed, the achievements so far could be lost.

Therefore, since last year, the Korea Forest Service has been focusing on maximizing control effectiveness by using drones for aerial surveillance and developing and distributing genetic diagnostic kits on-site. The diagnostic kit reduces the diagnosis time for pine wilt disease infection from the previous 3 days to 30 minutes.

Also, infected trees identified by drones have their coordinates obtained through video analysis, and QR code information is entered on the infected trees to manage all processes from inspection to control in real time, introducing science and technology-based control, the Korea Forest Service explained.

In particular, this year, the Korea Forest Service plans to designate areas where pine wilt disease has occurred in clusters as "special control zones" and conduct integrated control combining forestry techniques such as thinning and preventive tree injections. To improve project quality at control sites, a "responsible control zone evaluation system" has also been introduced and is being operated.

Nam Sung-hyun, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, "During the intensive control period, the Korea Forest Service will work closely with local governments to maximize control results," and added, "The best way to prevent the spread of pine wilt disease is to carry out continuous control activities every year."

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