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According to North Korean sources dated back to the 1980s, forest area covered 80% of North Korea’s territory, consisting of 42% coniferous, 35% deciduous and 23% mixed woods. Larches, poplars, pines and oaks were most common in the DPRK. However, beginning in the late 1980s, the forest share has drastically been shrinking. From 1990 to 2005 North Korea has lost over 24% of its woods , an area of 2,014,000 ha, with a deforestation rate of 1.85% annually. North Korea belongs to the ten states with the highest deforestation rates globally and was even ranked number 3 in 2008.

From 2002 to 2012 about 160,000 ha of wood were destroyed, out of which only 16,000 ha were afforested. Some sources claimed that even in the nature protection area of Mount Paektusan trees are logged.

History

Production in Korea under Japanese rule

As mentioned above North Korea was once covered with forests and wild-land. However the deforestation has drastically changed the shape of North Korea. The first major deforestation occurred during the colonial rule of Japan in Korea. Trees were limbered in order to build streets, construct rail roads and to provide the industry with energy. The Korean war also led to massive deforestation in North Korea. A big portion of forests was not only wiped out by air raids and the use of Napalm, but also by artillery bombardment and massive troop movements. Over 80% of the forests are said to be damaged by the Korean War.

In South Korea, the government soon began to afforest parts of the country, while in the less damaged North afforestation did not have such a political priority. The main focus on North Korea's reconstruction efforts was put on rebuilding the infrastructure, cities and energy supply.

Due to the economic down-turn of North Korea beginning in the 1980s including an industrial and agricultural stagnation, authorities were forced to increase the agricultural output. In order to counterweight the productivity losses, the area used for agriculture expanded constantly. According to Chinese studies the forest density in the DPRK-China border region has been steadily declining from 1972 to 1988. The severe energy, fuel and food crisis has aggravated the situation, as citizens cut trees to survive the cold winter and to produce coal. The areas terraced rice paddies, called Darakbat in Korean, were planted on the barred hills. But due to the bad cultivation and mismanagement the harvest remained poor and the productivity low. The bad maintenance caused a deterioration of soil.

Wood consumption and extend of deforestation in North Korea

The main part of wood is used for fuel and heating as the following graph suggests.

Consumption	Wood fuel	Industrial Roundwood	Sawn Wood	Pulp Paper	Paper Production
Production	5620	1500	280	106	80
Imports	0	0	1	45	25
Exports	0	44	22	0	2
Consumption	5620	1460	259	151	103

The true extend of deforestation is difficult to measure as there is no provable data from North Korea. However, satellite image show a massive decline of forest area in the last years. Analyst suggest that from 1985 to 2005 over 40% of North Korea's forest have been logged.

The effects of the deforestation utterly burden the agriculture and the ecologic system of the DPRK, triggering soil erosion, desertification of the hills and landslide. The rain-wash extracts minerals from the soil and degrades the soil quality. In 1995 and 1996, several floods hit North Korea, leading to a displacement of around 5.4 million North Koreans, a devastation of 333,000 ha of land used for agriculture and a loss of 1.9 million tons of grain. The effects of the flood would have been far less terrible without deforestation.

Economic and ecological consequences of deforestation

The deforestation in North Korea has lead to a devastation of huge areas and experts are warning for a possible desertification. Major desertification might cause dust storms and steppization.

Due to the bad water saving capacities of the soil, heavy rainfall can cause floods. An alarming example of this development can be seen in the case of the Daedong river. The water levels of the Daedong River are rapidly rising due to lack of forests. As rainfall pours onto the ground, earth and sand was merged tumbling towards the river. A mixture of earth and sand congests the Daedong River. As a result, the gap between the levels of the river and nearby farmland is reduced, what causes severe floods in the rain periods.

Due to the deforestation biodiversity is diminishing in the DPRK. Numerous species are going to be extinct, if nothing changes. The decrease of tree-covered areas will lead to a fragmentation of the habitat, in 4 steps:

a) Reduction in habitat size
b) Increase in the number of habitat patches
c) Decrease in sizes of habitat patches
d) Increase in isolated patches

This kind of fragmentation threatens the biodiversity in the long run and cannot be undone in near future.

Forestation efforts by the government and international institutions

The forestry department of the DPRK is in charge of the woodlands and the forestry of North Korea. Since 1999, under Kim Jong-Il, the first forestation plans were published and publicy taken into consideration. In the 2000s, forestation efforts were included in the propaganda (during the Arirang mass games) and the government encouraged the population to protect the forests. Since the 2000s, the population is mobilized to participate in forestation projects all across the country. In order to prevent illegal logging, security forces were deployed to guard the woods. However, the success of those measures is still questionable, because many trees are still cut for heating in the cold winter due to a lack of other energy sources. In 2012, 14 foreign forestry experts were invited to North Korea and participated in a discussion with North Korean scientists. It seems that the DPRK is interested to involve more foreign foundations to engage in the forestation efforts. An example for a cooperation between North Korea and a foreign institution is the work of the German Hanns Seidel Foundation, which offered numerous seminars to North Korean forestry experts and organized a visit of a North Korean delegation in Bavaria. In Germany, the delegation was informed about new technologies and sustainable forestry means. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 several forestry projects were set between North and South Korea, which were cancelled by escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula. In her Dresden speech the South Korean president Park Geun-Hye named the afforestation as one of the future areas of cooperation between the two Koreas.

Obstacles to afforestation

However, there are big obstacles preventing a quick implementation of the reforestation projects. The rural and urban population depends on wood as a source of energy in cold winter days. Conflicts already seemed to occur between members of the forest guards and the local population, especially in the East of the country. Problematic is also the confiscation of land privately owned by farmers by the authorities

See Also

• List of Korea-related topics