By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A former Korean ambassador to China has been fighting the yellow dust phenomenon for 10 years. Kwon Byong-hyon, 69, chairman of Korea-China Culture & Youth Association (Future Forest), said desertification is certainly man-made and everybody should take responsibility for it in an interview with The Korea Times, Monday.
As part of his efforts, Kwon has been sending Korean college students to China on tree-planting projects and environmental seminars since 2002 along with the establishment of Future Forest, an environmental organization. The organization has annually invited Chinese students highly recognized by the Communist Youth League of China, a renowned group of top students in the country, to Korea.
``Korean and Chinese youngsters should take the lead in protecting our environment against rapid desertification. I believe future leaders should be concerned about problems in the environment. This is why I launched exchange programs for elite students from both countries,’’ Kwon said.
When Kwon arrived Beijing as the new ambassador to China in 1998, he immediately experienced a terrible yellow dust day and realized the threat desertification posed in China and the Korean Peninsula as well. In the wake of the environmental problems, he proposed the Chinese government cooperate with Korea on combating the yellow dust phenomenon and the two countries agreed on a tree-planting project.
At the same time, the former ambassador suggested the Communist Youth League of China exchange 500 students every year to boost the relationship between the two countries. However, large-scale student exchange programs were impossible due to a shortage of funds from the government.
``Back in Korea, I found the government was only able to send 40 students and decided to set up the civil organization run by private funds. This is how Future Forest was established,’’ Kwon said.
Now Future Forest organizes the exchange of 100 students and holds environmental seminars and events for a week. This year the organization sent Korean students on a green environment project in spring and invited Chinese students last week to the first Korea-China elite forum from Oct. 26 - Nov. 1.
As a result of Kwon’s ambitious efforts on the yellow dust problem, a ``Green Great Wall’’ consisting of trees in the northern part of China has been established. Kwon plans to develop the zone into a ``Green Ecological Park’’ for which he hopes to reach an agreement with the Chinese government soon.
Kwon joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1962 and was acting head of the Korean negotiation delegation for normalization of relations with China in 1992. He served as ambassador to China between 1998 and 2000 and headed the Overseas Koreans Foundation until 2003.