National Institute of Forest Science analyzes 182 grave-visitor wildfires over 15 years — three weeks before chuseok is the most dangerous period
Wildfires sparked by grave visitors increase sharply in the three weeks leading up to chuseok, according to new research.
The National Institute of Forest Science, an affiliate of the Korea Forest Service, reached that conclusion after analyzing 182 grave-visitor wildfires recorded over the past 15 years, from 2011 to 2025.
About 80 percent of such fires were concentrated in the period stretching from three weeks before chuseok through the holiday itself. Broken down by timing, the period 14 to 21 days before chuseok saw the highest number of incidents at six, followed by five fires in the one to seven days before the holiday.
When all four major holidays — Lunar New Year, Cheongmyeong, hansik and chuseok — were examined together, the one to seven days before a holiday recorded the most fires at 42, followed by the holiday period itself with 35 and the eight to 14 days before a holiday with 24.
Researchers attributed the earlier spike around chuseok to the practice of clearing graves before the holiday, which draws visitors to burial sites sooner than other holidays.
Spatial analysis also revealed a clear pattern. Examining the locations of graves alongside the sites where grave-visitor fires broke out, researchers found that fire risk rose as cemetery density increased and distance from graves decreased.
High-risk zones — areas where the probability of a grave-visitor wildfire exceeded 0.5 — were concentrated particularly in the Gyeongsang and Gyeonggi Province regions.
The highest-risk areas identified included Andong in North Gyeongsang Province (34,974 hectares), Hapcheon-gun in South Gyeongsang Province (31,660 hectares) and Pocheon in Gyeonggi Province (23,082 hectares).
"The three weeks before chuseok are a period of especially elevated wildfire risk from grave visitors, so surveillance must be strengthened with a focus on high-risk cities and counties," said An Su-jeong, a researcher at the institute's wildfire research division. "We urge the public to refrain from using open flames when clearing or visiting graves and to take extra care to prevent wildfires."
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