INTERVIEW 'Harvesting key to reducing Korea's surging timber imports'

An artificially managed forest on a mountain in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province is seen in this 2021 photo. Courtesy of Korea Forest Service

By Ko Dong-hwan

• Published Aug 24, 2024 8:33 AM KST
• Updated Aug 26, 2024 11:26 AM KST

Timber harvesting is crucial for increasing Korea’s self-sufficiency in timber, which the country has been heavily importing, according to the former Korea Forest Service (KFS) minister, who is critical of environmentalists for their opposition to logging and advocating for total preservation.

Park Chong-ho, who served the national forest watchdog's top job from 2019 to 2021, said that if the trees are left unharvested, the country’s reliance on timber imports across various industries will persist. Aged trees that have not been cut down will also eventually lose their carbon-reducing function and prevent healthier forest habitats from improving biodiversity, he added.

According to the KFS, Korea began importing timber in 1965. The volume of imports quickly increased, reaching the first $1 billion annual import mark in 1979. In the same year, exports totaled $590 million.

While Korea's highest annual timber exports reached $610 million in 1990, imports first exceeded $2 billion in 1993. The import volume then surpassed $3 billion in 2014, $4 billion in 2016, and $5 billion in 2017. Last year, the country imported $5 billion worth of timber and exported $180 million. As of January, Vietnam, Indonesia, and China were the leading exporters of timber to Korea.

“The biggest volume of raw material Korea has been importing is petroleum. The second is timber,” Park said during an interview with The Korea Times earlier this month.

“In 2019, the country’s timber self-sufficiency rate was only 16 percent, meaning it imported 84 percent of the timber it used that year. Given the extensive use of timber in products such as paper, toilet paper, furniture, construction materials and even billiard balls, timber is an indispensable resource for Korea and many other countries.”

Korea ranks among the highest in the world in terms of timber import volume, especially for solid wood and plywood.

Out of a maximum mandatory contribution fee of $3.79 million charged by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) to its member states based on their annual tropical timber imports, Korea was billed over $234,000 in 2021. This amount was the fourth-highest among the organization’s member states. Among the 39 countries in the ITTO’s consuming group (distinct from the 37 producing countries), Korea ranked behind only China ($1.14 million), Japan ($532,000), and the United States ($286,000).

“Those in the country’s timber industry have long been arguing why the government isn’t more actively harnessing the country’s own forests to supply domestic markets in need of timber,” said Park. Korea’s timber demand has been between 30 million cubic meters and 35 million cubic meters each year.

“We must consume timber responsibly, self-supplying what we can and importing what we cannot. We must expand domestic timber production in that matter.”

Conserving trees?

To manage forests effectively, trees should be regularly cut down rather than uprooted, allowing woodland to regenerate in a healthier condition, Park said.

Despite what some believe, thick forestation hampers biodiversity, he added, because it blocks sunlight which is a source of life.

“In 1980, harvesting of aged forests in the northwestern U.S. threatened the spotted owl species. In response, authorities and scientists advocated for a harvest ban, which the government implemented. Surprisingly, about 20 years later, the owl population increased in areas where trees had been cut down rather than left standing,” Park said.

“To conserve forests, we now leave 10 percent of each area untouched during harvesting. This preserved portion will serve as a natural habitat.”

The KFS has designated 50 percent of the country's forests as artificially managed, where trees can be cut down and replanted. Unless the forests are bulldozed for agriculture or left barren, the risk of landslides in these areas is close to zero, according to Park.

“Out of over 2,100 harvested areas in the country that are five hectares or larger, only less than 30 were found to have unstable terrain with some risks,” Park said.

“Compared to natural forests, artificial forests produce up to five times more timber. New Zealand, with its 300,000-hectare artificial Monterey pine forests, exports the world’s biggest volume of pine.”