The Korea Forest Service said on the 14th that it held a countermeasures meeting at the Government Daejeon Complex to craft an effective control strategy for areas severely damaged by pine wilt disease and to block its spread.
About 130 people attended the meeting, including local government forest officials and representatives from related agencies and experts such as the National Institute of Forest Science, regional forest services, and the Forest Disaster and Safety Technology Corporation.
The Korea Forest Service currently classifies pine wilt damage into five levels: extreme, severe, moderate, minor, and slight. The meeting targeted local governments with more than 30,000 dead trees from damage (severe or above).
According to the Korea Forest Service, areas with damage rated "severe or above" account for 27 out of 166 affected cities, counties, and districts, or 16%. Infected trees number 1.4 million, accounting for 80% of the total 1.77 million infected trees. A Korea Forest Service official said, "Because pine wilt damage is concentrated in certain areas, it is urgent to designate special control zones and carry out strategic control that reflects the characteristics of each region."
This year, the Korea Forest Service revised its guidelines to expand the designation of special control zones from only "extreme" areas (cities, counties, or districts with 50,000 or more dead trees) to areas rated "severe" or above. To improve control efficiency, it enabled year-round control and laid the groundwork to increase control volumes and mechanization.
Lee Hong-dae, head of the forest pests and diseases division at the Korea Forest Service, said, "The more severe the damage, the more important it is to set clear control priorities and respond strategically by protecting key areas first," adding, "We will block spread into important areas through region-specific strategies and prioritize removing hazardous trees in living areas to do our utmost to protect public safety and forest resources."
Pine wilt disease is transmitted by the Japanese pine sawyer or the northern longhorned beetle. In the early stages of infection, external symptoms do not appear, but after infection, resin secretion decreases and the flow of water and nutrients is disrupted, eventually killing the tree.