Korea Environment Corporation advances fence management system with GIS-based risk mapping

Employees of the Korea Environment Corporation inspect an African swine fever barrier fence. [Korea Environment Corporation]
Employees of the Korea Environment Corporation inspect an African swine fever barrier fence. [Korea Environment Corporation]

The Korea Environment Corporation announced Friday that it has completed an intensive inspection of 682 kilometers of wide-area African swine fever (ASF) barrier fencing ahead of the autumn season.

The corporation has been installing and managing approximately 1,630 km of ASF barrier fencing since November 2019, focusing on border areas between cities and counties.

The inspection ran from Aug. 31 through Friday. It was carried out to identify and repair vulnerable sections ahead of autumn typhoons and heavy rainfall, and to minimize inconvenience for visitors — including those visiting family graves during the chuseok holiday.

Priority inspection targets included sections installed on soft ground such as riverbeds and mountain terrain, low-lying areas at risk of flooding, areas previously damaged by heavy rain, and fencing near clusters of livestock farms. Gates and locking mechanisms along routes expected to see grave-visiting traffic were also checked.

Inspectors focused on ground subsidence and slope collapse, natural and man-made damage to the fencing, deterioration of signage, and the condition of gates and locking devices.

Sections found to require repair or reinforcement were restored, and some stretches received additional measures to block wild boar movement, including the installation of repellents and warning lights.

The corporation is also gradually removing barrier fencing in ecologically sensitive areas such as Seoraksan and Sobaeksan national parks to preserve biodiversity, pursuing a management approach that balances disease prevention with ecological considerations.

The organization has also been accelerating the development of a spatial information-based management system, building a risk map of fence sections vulnerable to damage by linking historical damage data with a geographic information system (GIS).

"Autumn is a period when the risk of fence damage rises due to typhoons and heavy rainfall, and movement increases during the chuseok holiday as people visit family graves," said Shin Jin-su, president of the Korea Environment Corporation. "We will continue to proactively manage vulnerable sections and carry out prompt repairs and reinforcements to do our utmost to prevent the spread of African swine fever."


thlee@heraldcorp.com