Act on Pine Wilt Disease Prevention,

foundation for pine wilt disease expansion control

May 5, 2005

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Korea Forest Service announced that the Act on Pine Wilt Disease Prevention was passed in the special session of the National Assembly on May 3(Tuesday). The affected areas will be designated as restricted zones for pine tree transfer which will thoroughly ban displacement of infected pine species. Central and local governments will be obliged to establish an Action Plan.

The Act on Pine Wilt Disease Prevention passed in the 253rd special session of National Assembly bans transfer of infected pine trees, imposes relief/prevention duties and control command on forest owners, provides foundation for national and local level Action Plan.

▩ Designate restricted zones for pine transfer on eup/myeon/dong(district) level
and control displacement of pine species in adjacent area(Article 9 Clasue 10)
Reinforce fine for violation of such regulation, present 2 million won (USD 1,988)
will be increased to 10 million won(USD 9,940).

▩ Promote systematic Action Plan by organizing a body for national and local
level action plans and increasing human resources, budget, research.(Article 4
Clause 5)

▩ Impose relief/prevention duties to the forest owners of pine wilt disease affected
area(Article 3)

The pine wilt disease commonly known as "pine AIDS" first occurred in 1988. In the 90s the disease affected Busan and Gyeongsangnamdo area however it rapidly spread to Cheongdo, Hamyang, and Daegu of Gyeongsangbukdo, and even in Jeju.

▩ Early this year, infection was confirmed in Daegu, Gyeongsangbukdo, Ulsan,
Gyeongsangnamdo covering 6 city/gu/gun.

▩ Currently 44 city/gu/gun are affected: 13 areas in Busan, 2 areas in Daegu,
4 areas in Ulsan, 5 areas in Gyeongsangbukdo, 3 areas in Jeonlanamdo,
1 area in Jejudo.

Authorities say that the Act will be able to raise awareness among the owners and to solve the underlying problems in pine wilt disease prevention.

The Korean government set 2005 as the "year of pine wilt disease control" and largely increased the budget(increased 190% compared to last year). Also, 83 staffs were reinforced in local governments and Special Plan on Pine Wilt Disease Prevention is being undertaken.

Please CLICK HERE to see full summary of the Act.

Translated by Int＇l Cooperation Division
☎ +82-42-481-4081 (Ms. Kang Hye-young)