2 weeks Ago By Korea Bizwire
Ornamental trees destroyed in the North Gyeongsang wildfire (Image provided by Mr. Noh, interviewee in this article) UISEONG•YEONGDEOK, South Korea, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) – Forestry workers in North Gyeongsang Province are facing renewed despair after record-breaking wildfires scorched thousands of hectares last month — only to find that government compensation falls far short of the actual losses incurred. According to local authorities and affected families, the wildfires that broke out on March 22, 2025, in Uiseong County quickly spread across five municipalities, including Andong and Yeongdeok, before engulfing forestry plots and farms.
Among the hardest hit was 60-year-old Mr. Noh and his family, who saw their landscaping pine farm in Yoonam-ri, Uiseong, reduced to ashes within hours. Despite sleepless nights and early pleas to authorities for fire control measures, Noh’s 170,000-square-meter property — including more than 8,300 premium ornamental pine trees — was completely destroyed by March 24.
“It was everything we built over 27 years — gone in a moment,” he said. Noh, who left a landscaping company during the 1998 IMF crisis to begin his tree farming career, had invested decades of labor, infrastructure, and capital into the land. But the government’s response has deepened his anguish.
Residents watch wildfires spreading to a nearby hillside in Andong, about 190 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on March 25, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap) Instead of being compensated based on tree value — which can range from millions to tens of millions of won per tree — the state is offering only 8,186 won (approximately $6) per square meter in seedling replacement costs. Moreover, only half of that is covered by the government, with 30% issued as loans and the remaining 20% as personal out-of-pocket expense.
“This amount doesn’t reflect the value of what we lost. It’s as if our lifetime of work is worth nothing,” said Noh’s family. “Without realistic support, we can neither recover nor continue our livelihood.
” A Uiseong County official confirmed that current disaster relief regulations only authorize this flat-rate reimbursement and make no distinctions based on tree type or maturity. “There are no separate standards for ornamental pines,” the official said. The impact isn’t limited to tree farmers.
Matsutake mushroom growers — another key forestry sector in North Gyeongsang — also face bleak prospects. Under current presidential decrees on disaster relief, naturally occurring forest products like matsutake are not eligible for compensation due to their inconsistent yields and difficulty in quantifying damage. Despite the legal limitations, Yeongdeok County has begun accepting reports from affected matsutake farmers, anticipating that the scale of the wildfire damage could spur policy revisions.
“We’re classifying the mushrooms as other crops and collecting auction data from the forest cooperatives to support future claims,” a county spokesperson said. As wildfires increase in frequency and severity, calls are growing for a major overhaul of South Korea’s forestry disaster compensation system. Affected residents are urging the government to either adjust compensation based on actual tree size and market value or, at the very least, increase the flat-rate payment and cover it fully with public funds.
“Even if wildfires become an annual threat, we need a system that lets forestry workers rebuild and continue,” said Noh. “Without that, there’s no future for us.” M.
H. Lee ([email protected]).
