Gyeonggi Province has uncovered a large number of unauthorized mountain area damages.
The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police announced on the 21st that from April 15 to May 3, they conducted on-site inspections of 187 suspected damaged mountain sites within the province and detected 27 violations of the Mountain Area Management Act. The damaged forest area amounted to 17,165㎡, approximately 2.4 times the size of a soccer field.
Among the major cases detected, Mr. A was caught illegally converting mountain land by building a stone retaining wall on a 66㎡ forest area in Icheon City to secure private property boundaries.
Mr. B was caught converting mountain land by installing an unauthorized farm access road on a 250㎡ forest area in Gunpo City.
Mr. C in Uiwang City damaged a 113㎡ forest area without permission for mountain land conversion and used it as a private parking lot. Mr. D created a parking lot for a cafe on a 2,352㎡ forest area in Uijeongbu City. Mr. E installed a vinyl greenhouse for warehouse use on a 354㎡ forest area in Siheung City, and Mr. F installed facilities (for camping) on a 604㎡ forest area in Dongducheon City, all violating the Mountain Area Management Act.
The Special Judicial Police of the province plan to take strict measures, including promptly requesting administrative actions from the relevant local governments and referring the cases to the prosecution.
According to the current Mountain Area Management Act, each violation is punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 50 million KRW in conservation mountain areas, and up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 30 million KRW in semi-conservation mountain areas.
Hong Eun-gi, head of the Special Judicial Police of the province, stated, "Through this investigation of illegal mountain area activities, we have blocked illegal forest damage within the province, and we will continue to conduct ongoing crackdowns to do our best to prevent forest damage."
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