Korea Forest Service names Lee Hyeon-u 'Forester of the Month' for August

The Korea Forest Service on Tuesday named Lee Hyeon-u, 54, CEO of Ihyeon Samsam-won, its "Forester of the Month" for August — an award given to exemplary forestry practitioners who create new value through forest products and demonstrate the potential of the industry.

Lee spent his early career in the construction sector in the city before returning to his hometown of Geochang-gun, South Gyeongsang Province, drawn by what he saw as the boundless potential of forests. In 2010, he was selected as a forestry successor, formally embarking on a career in the industry.

The forest product Lee chose to stake his future on was sanyangsam — wild-simulated ginseng. He established his own seed collection site, harvests clean seeds under strict conditions, and conducts germination tests as part of a meticulous quality-control process from the very start of cultivation.

Lee grows the ginseng using an eco-friendly direct-seeding method, scattering carefully selected seeds by hand across 25 hectares of mountain terrain at elevations above 600 meters. He ships roughly 100 kilograms of ginseng annually — ranging from one-year-old to 15-year-old roots grown entirely in natural forest — and personally oversees every step from sorting and packaging to sales, generating annual revenue of 300 million won ($210,000) to 350 million won.

Lee is also pushing beyond production and sales to develop processed goods that add value to the ginseng. He recently created a functional handmade soap, branded G:soup, using wild-simulated ginseng berries. His longer-term goal is to transform the forest operation into a "sixth-industry complex" that combines production with experiential, healing and therapeutic functions.

"Creating added value through processed-goods development, on top of producing high-quality forest products as Lee does, is the core of forestry competitiveness," said Lee Sang-ik, director general of the Korea Forest Service's Forest Industry Policy Bureau. "We will actively support forestry practitioners in opening new markets by making full use of forest products."