ORIGIN OF KOREAN CHERRY BLOSSOMS

[Anchor Lead]

Cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Korea now. Many think that the king cherry tree originated from Japan, but some say it's an indigenous Korean species.

[Pkg]

Jeonnong-no on Jejudo Island is known for its cherry blossom tunnel created by its signature king cherry trees. Most of the tourists think this particular cherry blossom type originated from Japan.

[Soundbite] Lim Hyun-woo(Seoul resident) : "As far as I know it's from Japan. I heard these trees were planted during the Japanese colonial time."

However, no wild habitats for the king cherry tree has been discovered in Japan so far. On Hallasan Mountain alone, there are 235 areas where these trees grow naturally. The Korea National Arboretum analyzed the DNA of five king cherry trees from the mountain in 2018. Four of them were found to be native Jeju species. The remaining one had the same DNA as king cherry trees found in Tokyo, Japan. Two years later, when the Korean Plant Names Index was announced, the king cherry tree was deleted from the list of native plants and added to the list of cultivated plants. The announcement resulted in many calling for replacing the Japanese king cherry trees in Korea with the native Jejudo kind. However, some say even the so-called Somei Yoshino cherry trees, classified as a Japanese species by the Korea National Arboretum, is in fact a native Korean tree.

[Soundbite] Kim Chan-soo(Hallasan Ecological and Culture) : "Research Center Japan claims it's a mixed species created artificially. But there is no written or other form of evidence to support that claim."

The Korea National Arboretum says it has confirmed through a credible study that the king cherry tree in question from Hallasan Mountain is similar to the trees at the Koishikawa Botanical Garden in Japan. Controversy over the origin of the king cherry tree will likely continue.