Korea Forest Service Loosened Feasibility Assessment Requirements Through Administrative Notice
Tree Felling at 16 Sites Totals Volume of 11 Shipping Containers
Moon Geumju: "Strictly Limit Exceptions, Conduct Comprehensive Investigation on Logging and Overdevelopment"
Moon Geumju, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.
It has been revealed that a total of 276 kilometers of forest trail construction projects-intended for forest conservation and proper utilization-were carried out nationwide without the legally mandated ecological impact assessments, sparking significant controversy. This distance is equivalent to the stretch from Yeouido in Seoul to Gwangju, and the volume of trees felled amounts to that of 11 shipping containers, raising further concerns.
On October 20, Geum Ju Moon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Goheung, Boseong, Jangheung, and Gangjin in South Jeolla Province, analyzed data submitted by the Korea Forest Service for a parliamentary audit. The analysis found that out of 174 forest trail construction projects conducted since 2020, 120 were implemented without properly following the required feasibility assessment procedures. The lack of legal verification procedures indicates that these projects proceeded without adequately considering the core purposes of forest protection and ecological impact analysis.
Forest trail construction projects are carried out under the “Forest Culture and Recreation Act” (hereinafter referred to as the Forest Recreation Act). Since the transfer of responsibility to local governments in 2020, the National Assembly amended the law that same year to make feasibility assessments of ecological and community impacts mandatory, aiming to prevent indiscriminate forest overdevelopment and destruction. However, the Korea Forest Service, as the competent authority, has faced criticism for undermining the intent of the law by providing loopholes through administrative rules.
Through an administrative notice, the Korea Forest Service allowed local governments to bypass the legally mandated feasibility assessment. Despite lacking a legal basis, Article 4 of the “Detailed Standards for Feasibility Assessment of Forest Trail Construction Plans” enabled the omission of feasibility assessments for trail sections with an estimated construction cost of 50 million won or less, or for trails under 2 kilometers in length.
Due to these exception clauses, the proportion of small-scale projects under 2 kilometers surged from 24.3% to 56.3% of all projects since 2020, more than doubling. This practice of “splitting” projects into smaller segments ultimately encouraged attempts to evade legal review.
In reality, projects carried out without feasibility assessments resulted in the felling of a total of 362 cubic meters of trees across 16 sites nationwide, including 37.5 cubic meters at Osipbong in Yeongyang, 86 cubic meters at Jirisan Lake Park, and 16.9 cubic meters at Cheongoksan in Pyeongchang.
Assemblyman Moon emphasized, “The exceptions for feasibility assessments stipulated in the administrative notice must be strictly limited in accordance with the law when constructing forest trails,” adding, “It is necessary to conduct a comprehensive investigation into whether forest logging, overdevelopment, or other projects inconsistent with the intended purpose have occurred in the process of forest trail construction since 2020.”
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