ID :
48531
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 06:54
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/48531
The shortlink copeid
N. Koreans work to make country green on Tree-planting Day: report
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korean workers and students rolled up their sleeves Monday for Tree-planting Day, state-run media said, amid continuing aid from South Korea despite damaged political relations.
North Korea has a high deforestation rate, as residents have cut down trees for
fuel. Deforestation is closely linked to the country's chronic food shortages, as
barren mountain slopes leave rice farms prone to severe flooding by summer
monsoons, according to aid workers in Seoul.
The North Korean government has banned cutting trees and sought to make its
country greener with aid from South Korea and some European governments.
"Covered with trees are mountains and fields of the country from the foot of
Mount Paektu, the sacred mountain of the revolution, to the military demarcation
line and from the eastern coast to the western coast," the Korean Central News
Agency said in an English-language report titled "Greening and Gardening Campaign
Gets Brisk."
"The tree-planting campaign is being briskly undertaken everywhere in the country
... changing the appearance of the country beyond recognition day by day," it
said.
South Korean government and civic groups have been operating sapling fields in
the North Korean cities of Kaesong and Pyongyang, as well as near the North's
scenic resort Mount Kumgang, providing seedlings, equipment and technology since
1999. The project has cost South Korea some 9 billion won (US$5.7 million),
according to the Ministry of Unification.
Aid workers said the inter-Korean forestry project has continued even though
Pyongyang cut off all government-level dialogue in response to Seoul's hardline
policy toward it that began last year.
Ahn Sun-kyong, an aid worker from Green One Korea, an umbrella group of over a
dozen non-governmental organizations in Seoul, said it plans to build a seed
preservation facility and an apple farm in Pyongyang as new projects this year.
"There may be certain limitations, but this non-governmental exchange project
will continue," Ahn said.
Hwang Jae-sung from the Korean Sharing Movement, which operates the Kaepung
sapling field in Kaesong as a member of Green One Korea, said most trees are
prematurely cut by residents, who also rake up fallen leaves for fuel.
"Deforestation is directly linked to the food problem," Hwang, who last visited
Kaesong in November, said. "We believe tree planting in North Korea is not only
useful for preventing floods, but also can be another means of resolving the food
shortages in the North."
The aid groups say 16-18 percent of North Korean forests, or 1.5-1.6 million
hectares out of the North's 8.9 million hectares of forests, are believed to be
deforested. About 80 percent of North Korea is covered by mountains.
SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korean workers and students rolled up their sleeves Monday for Tree-planting Day, state-run media said, amid continuing aid from South Korea despite damaged political relations.
North Korea has a high deforestation rate, as residents have cut down trees for
fuel. Deforestation is closely linked to the country's chronic food shortages, as
barren mountain slopes leave rice farms prone to severe flooding by summer
monsoons, according to aid workers in Seoul.
The North Korean government has banned cutting trees and sought to make its
country greener with aid from South Korea and some European governments.
"Covered with trees are mountains and fields of the country from the foot of
Mount Paektu, the sacred mountain of the revolution, to the military demarcation
line and from the eastern coast to the western coast," the Korean Central News
Agency said in an English-language report titled "Greening and Gardening Campaign
Gets Brisk."
"The tree-planting campaign is being briskly undertaken everywhere in the country
... changing the appearance of the country beyond recognition day by day," it
said.
South Korean government and civic groups have been operating sapling fields in
the North Korean cities of Kaesong and Pyongyang, as well as near the North's
scenic resort Mount Kumgang, providing seedlings, equipment and technology since
1999. The project has cost South Korea some 9 billion won (US$5.7 million),
according to the Ministry of Unification.
Aid workers said the inter-Korean forestry project has continued even though
Pyongyang cut off all government-level dialogue in response to Seoul's hardline
policy toward it that began last year.
Ahn Sun-kyong, an aid worker from Green One Korea, an umbrella group of over a
dozen non-governmental organizations in Seoul, said it plans to build a seed
preservation facility and an apple farm in Pyongyang as new projects this year.
"There may be certain limitations, but this non-governmental exchange project
will continue," Ahn said.
Hwang Jae-sung from the Korean Sharing Movement, which operates the Kaepung
sapling field in Kaesong as a member of Green One Korea, said most trees are
prematurely cut by residents, who also rake up fallen leaves for fuel.
"Deforestation is directly linked to the food problem," Hwang, who last visited
Kaesong in November, said. "We believe tree planting in North Korea is not only
useful for preventing floods, but also can be another means of resolving the food
shortages in the North."
The aid groups say 16-18 percent of North Korean forests, or 1.5-1.6 million
hectares out of the North's 8.9 million hectares of forests, are believed to be
deforested. About 80 percent of North Korea is covered by mountains.
