SUWON — Gyeonggi Province will designate all of Gapyeong County as a special control zone and launch emergency measures to halt the spread of pine wilt disease.
Cha Seong-su, director general of the province's Climate, Environment and Energy Bureau, told a news conference at the provincial government briefing room on the 27th that the province is "now in a pine wilt disease disaster situation" and that officials "will do their best not to miss the golden window."
As of early October, 116,655 trees in the province had died from the disease, according to Gyeonggi Province. That is 36% more than a year earlier. Gapyeong County alone accounted for 37,458 dead trees, or about a third of the total.
The province attributes the sharp increase to a longer activity period for the insect that carries the disease, driven by climate change. The spread is believed to have accelerated as the active season lengthened for the Japanese pine sawyer beetle, which transmits the pathogen.
At the province's request, the Korea Forest Service plans to designate the entire administrative area of Gapyeong County as a special control zone on the 29th. It would be the second such designation in the province, after Yangpyeong County.
Once designated, Gapyeong will carry out control work against the disease year-round without interruption. Removing and shredding dead trees will be possible immediately, with no restrictions on when the work can be done.
About 11.6 billion won ($8 million) in disaster response funds will be allocated to the effort. Gyeonggi Province said it has urgently arranged reserve funds to be included in that amount and will prepare so that the response proceeds without disruption once the designation takes effect.
The province says it will not miss the winter window for control work. With the carrier insect now less active, officials will give priority to removing and shredding dead trees in areas that need urgent action before heavy snow and freezing set in.
Measures will also be tailored by region. Eight cities and counties with fewer than 1,000 affected trees will remove all infected trees to restore disease-free status. Thirteen with between 1,000 and 10,000 will combine small-area clear-cutting with preventive trunk injections. Five with more than 10,000 will switch to other tree species and carry out heavy thinning.
By December, Gyeonggi Province will also draw up a province-wide control strategy tying together the efforts of all 31 cities and counties. It plans to set containment lines and protective measures for pine stands of high conservation value, and to coordinate a joint response through a regional council involving the Korea Forest Service, local governments and expert organizations.
Starting next year, the province will create a dedicated unit for the disease to run control work on a standing basis. It will also review every available option, including chemical, biological and forestry-based control. Approaches proven effective elsewhere will be adopted quickly after expert consultation.
Gyeonggi Province plans to build a center in Gapyeong by 2028 to turn unused forest resources into lumber and wood chips from the damaged trees.
The province urged residents not to move pine trees to other areas and to report any pine trees found dead or dying to their local government's forestry department.
"Please do not move pine trees to other areas, and if you see a pine tree that has withered and died, report it to your city or county forestry department," Cha said. "We will work actively together with the Korea Forest Service and local governments to control pine wilt disease."