Korea Forest Service: core forestry activities exempt from reporting; stone industry certification streamlined

An infographic on the passage of three forestry-sector bills at a plenary session of the National Assembly.
An infographic on the passage of three forestry-sector bills at a plenary session of the National Assembly.

The Korea Forest Service said Wednesday that the National Assembly passed three bills at a plenary session: the Mountainous Districts Management Act, the Act on Promotion of the Stone Industry, and the Act on the Creation and Promotion of Arboretums and Gardens.

Under the changes, core forestry activities that preserve the natural state of mountainous land will no longer require prior reporting, easing the administrative burden on forestry workers and encouraging more active forest management. A new temporary-use regime for mountainous land will also allow certain minor activities — including urgent disaster recovery — to proceed without permits or notifications, enabling timely responses to emergencies.

▶ In the mountainous-land sector, the new law excludes the planting and harvesting of forest products from the definition of land-use conversion.

▶ In the stone industry sector, the "certification" system for outstanding stone-industry businesses and traditional stone products has been simplified into a "selection" system. The revision also establishes a mandatory hearing process before adverse actions such as deregistration or revocation of selection, strengthening procedural transparency.

▶ In the arboretum and garden sector, the purposes of educational gardens have been expanded to include the education and recreation of youth not enrolled in school, ensuring that out-of-school young people are not excluded from the educational programs, hands-on experiences, and therapeutic services that arboretums and gardens provide.

Alongside this, the legislation creates a legal basis for providing fiscal support for the creation and operation of not only national gardens but also local and privately run gardens, a move expected to further invigorate garden culture at the regional and private level.

"This legislation is a livelihood bill that forestry workers, the stone industry and the general public who use gardens will all feel the benefit of," Korea Forest Service Commissioner Park Eun-sik said. "We will push ahead without delay with revisions to subordinate regulations, including enforcement decrees, so that the effects of these improvements are felt on the ground as soon as possible."


kwonhl@heraldcorp.com