Unit costs for 31 items raised average 17.8%, addressing long-standing forestry sector grievances
The Korea Forest Service has expanded its natural disaster recovery cost standards, addressing long-standing concerns over inequitable support between the forestry and agriculture sectors and strengthening the financial safety net for forestry operators facing increasingly severe natural disasters driven by climate change.
The Korea Forest Service, led by Commissioner Park Eun-sik, announced Tuesday that it has revised and officially promulgated its "Natural Disaster Recovery Cost Calculation Standards" to provide more meaningful support to forestry households affected by typhoons, heavy rainfall, abnormal cold and other natural disasters.
The revision addresses the limited scope of eligible forest facilities, which had previously been restricted to a handful of items such as shiitake mushroom cultivation houses and jujube rain-shelter facilities — leaving forestry operators with less support than their agricultural counterparts, who can receive aid for farm shelters and irrigation systems. Four new items have been added to the recovery cost support list: irrigation facilities, two types of forest management structures, and replanting costs for maple sap trees (gorosoe).
Unit costs for 31 of the 52 items under the Korea Forest Service's recovery support program — accounting for 59.6% of the total — have been raised by an average of 17.8% compared to 2025 levels. The increases apply to pesticide costs (expenses for pest and disease control when crops suffer partial damage from a natural disaster) and replanting costs (expenses for sowing new crops when damage is so severe that harvesting is impossible), with the aim of helping affected forestry households resume operations as quickly as possible.
Notable unit cost increases include outdoor shiitake mushrooms, up 29.8% (from 4,517 won to 4,794 won per unit); landscape trees, up 37.7% (from 8,724 won to 12,011 won per square meter); deodeok, up 13.6% (from 1,947 won to 2,211 won per square meter); and cornelian cherry, up 69.0% (from 684 won to 1,121 won per square meter).
The higher unit costs and expanded list of eligible items are expected to bring forestry disaster recovery payments closer to market prices, helping affected households resume farming operations quickly and easing concerns over investment in forestry management.
Lee Sang-ik, director general of the Forest Industry Policy Bureau at the Korea Forest Service, said the agency plans to continue consulting with relevant ministries to bring disaster recovery unit costs in line with market realities, gathering diverse field opinions to help forestry operators focus on their work with confidence while building a stronger disaster safety net and encouraging greater investment in forest income.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
