TREE VANDALISM

[Anchor Lead]

For our local news today, we take you to Chungcheongnam-do Province where someone has damaged hundreds of trees in a rural village. Holes were created and herbicides were used as well to kill the trees. Police have launched an investigation into the details

[Pkg]

​A family charnel house located near a grave site that belongs to the father of Joseon dynasty regent Heungseon Daewongun. Thuja trees in the vicinity appear burnt. Pine trees nearby are not in the best of conditions. We can see a hole created in the bottom of one tree, about 1 centimeter in diameter. Some 70 trees suffered similar damages since late April.

[Soundbite] (VICTIM OF TREE VANDALISM) : "Who would have thought something like this can happen? It aches my heart and I feel guilty as a descendant."

Also last weekend, similar holes were found at a chestnut tree farm a kilometer away. Out of 2,000 chestnut trees at the farm, 500 of them had as many as three holes drilled through them, apparently using an electric device. The trees with the perforation are on the verge of withering away as the new shoots budding out dry up. The police are questioning the townspeople.

[Soundbite] (YESAN POLICE STATION) : "We suspect a single perpetrator given the holes' similar shape and their proximity."

Last year, nine perfectly healthy trees were also damaged at this village. The mystery escalates over who is behind these acts and why they're doing it.