Infectious Wilt Disease

[Anchor Lead]

An infectious wilt disease is spreading at an alarming pace to seriously affect the nation's pinewoods, including those in Hallyeo Haesang National Park and near Upo Wetland. Here is more.

[Pkg]

Parts of the woods near a beach in Geoje, Gyeongsangnam-do Province have already turned red. A closer look reveals most pine trees have withered. They have been infected by a fatal pine wilt disease.

[Soundbite] Jeong Kyu-won(Forestry Engineer) : "The trees on the right withered a year earlier and are abandoned."

To stop the disease from spreading, all affected trees must be cut down. But the preventive measure has not been carried out properly.

[Soundbite] Do Seung- baek(Daegu Resident) : "It is not a pleasant sight. Dead pine trees are left across a green mountain."

The disease is now withering pinewoods in Upo Wetland, the nation's largest inland marsh, located in Changnyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do Province. With the woods seriously blighted, the entire eco system of the wetland is at risk. It is quite difficult to cut down and move infected trees out of the wetland, since it is designated as a special eco system protection zone. According to the local government there is nothing that can be done to address the problem.

[Soundbite] Ha Chan-mok(Changnyeong-gun County Office) : "The Environment Ministry designated the region as a wetland preservation zone. To my knowledge, it has no plan to allocate a budget to tackle the pine wilt disease infection in Upo Wetland."

Experts call for active efforts to tackle the wilt disease by designating pinewoods of great value in national parks as special care zones.