GINKGO TREES BEING PULLED OUT

[Anchor Lead]

Many downtown boulevards in Korea are lined with ginkgo trees. The yellow leaves are a sight to behold in the fall, but the ginkgo fruits have been a nuisance due to their foul smell, which led them to be eventually expelled. Let's take a look

[Pkg]

​This pedestrian walkway is lined with tall ginkgo trees. The yellow fruits have ripened and fallen to the ground, scattered all over the place. But they have a really bad stench, making passersby frown as they walk by.

[Soundbite] HEO HAK-MOO(SUWON CITIZEN) : "I step on them, they pop open and the smell is horrible. I even feel embarrassed and sorry for the tourists coming to this area."

This is a seasonal plague that comes every autumn. The fruits are being cleaned up to lessen the smell which even involves shaking the trees. Those that still hang from the trees are made to drop into a protection net, but all this can't be a fundamental solution. The city of Suwon has finally decided to pluck out the ginkgo trees. Of the 12-thousand trees that exist across Suwon, some 43-hundred bear the stinky fruit. Another 1,000 will also be set aside from the 43-hundred which have preservation value. The remaining three-thousand ginkgo trees will all be uprooted by the year 2022.

[Soundbite] YOON JAE-GEUN(SUWON CITY OFFICIAL) : "Large, aged trees and ones with magnificent features will be preserved for scenic value but the rest will be replaced."

The ginkgo was once a popular roadside tree known for its fast growth, resistance to disease and insects and air purifying properties. But the bad smell eventually couldn't be ignored and they are on their way out.