Planting Trees

[Anchor Lead]

To mark Arbor Day, some activists staged a tree-planting event has been held near the Civilian Control Line on the DMZ, a symbol of Korea's national division. The event took on another symbolic meaning: the Korean people's wish for peace and unification.

[Pkg]

This village is only a stone's throw away from North Korea. A tree-planting event is underway amid the rainy weather. The participants carefully plant young trees in the drenched soil. They also include children, who plant the trees and cover the roots with soil with extra care. The trees will be grown here to enrich North Korea's sparse forestland. A total of 2021 trees have been planted to commemorate the joint hosting of the 2021 Winter Asian Games by South and North Korea. At the nearby Unification Tree Nursery, some 600,000 larches called "unification trees" have been cultivated since last year.

[Soundbite] Choi Moon-soon(Governor, Gangwon-do Prov.) : "We are growing trees to enrich the barren landscape of North Korea."

The Demilitarized Zone, a symbol of Korea's tragic history, is now home to a large forest that will hopefully promote peace and prosperity on the peninsula.