PINE WILT DISEASE SPREADS

[Anchor Lead]

Pine wilt is a deadly disease for coniferous trees with a 100% mortality rate. Alarmingly, the disease is spreading fast in Korean pine forests this year.

[Pkg]

Reddish brown patches are spotted in the green forest. At a closer look, the trees have wilted and died. They have been infected with pinewood nematodes. In some places, an entire pine forest has been decimated. Residents claim that the spread has suddenly accelerated recently.

[Soundbite] Mok Yeong-il(Chuncheon Resident) : "The trees started dying one by one and then kept dying. This spring, only half of the forest was brown, but now all of it is."

Pine wilt is caused by the nematodes which bore into pine trees to obstruct water movement, ultimately killing the trees. It’s main vector is the pine sawyer beetle. The infected trees all die since there is no treatment. Korea has been carrying out disease prevention measures every year. As a result, pine wilt disease has been in steady decline since 2013. But this year 380,000 trees have been infected already, posting a 20% spike from last year. The disease is on the rise again after eight years. One reason could be this year’s unusually warm spring when the main vector emerges. The average temperature between March and May set a record high of 13.5 degrees Celsius. But rainfall during the same period fell about 40% compared to average levels.

[Soundbite] Kwon Chang-oh(Chuncheon Nat'l Forest Management Center) : "Higher temperatures extended the vector’s active period. The disease spread as the vectors emerged from the eggs."

The Korea Forest Service plans to launch a joint inspection team to carry out detailed investigations on affected forests.