South Chungcheong expands special pine wilt disease control zones

South Chungcheong Province said Friday that it has added Boryeong, Seocheon and Cheongyang — three cities and counties suffering severe damage — as special pine wilt disease control zones, following Taean-gun.

The special control zone system, run by the Korea Forest Service, concentrates control capacity in areas needing urgent, intensive monitoring to curb the spread of forest pests and diseases. With Taean-gun, designated Aug. 5, the province now has four cities and counties under the designation.

The administrative pre-announcement process for the additional designations is currently underway. Once it is completed on Sept. 28, the province is expected to carry out faster, more systematic pest control centered on the four hard-hit cities and counties.

The additional designation was made possible by the province's proactive push for special control zone designations in hard-hit areas. This came as pine wilt disease shows signs of entering a "third major outbreak" phase.

Earlier, to secure expanded government support, South Chungcheong Vice Governor for Administrative Affairs Hong Jong-wan met with Korea Forest Service Commissioner Park Eun-sik on Aug. 12. He requested active government-level support, including expanded state funding for pine wilt disease control and the early designation of special control zones.

Then, Gov. Park Soo-hyun called Commissioner Park again on Sept. 2 to request the prompt designation of special control zones and an increase in the control budget.

"The additional designation of special control zones will allow us to further strengthen pest control in affected areas, including precise monitoring and the rapid removal of dead trees," a provincial official said. "We will do our best to secure as much government support as possible, including state funding, so that control efforts can be tailored to the scale of damage and forest conditions in each region."