The budding of trees and blooming of flowers in early spring, mainly due to global warming, is forcing cities to move up Arbor Day events this year, local officials said Tuesday.
The city government of Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, will hold its tree-planting event on Thursday for the first time this year, dropping its tradition of holding it on April 5.
"We've seen an increasing gap between the time when the trees form buds and the time when we plant them, so the city has decided to move up the tree-planting event starting this year," said Kim Chang-sook, an official of the city government's greenery department.
Trees need to be planted before they form new buds so they can take root and grow well.
Some 1,990 white pine trees, cherry trees, yellow apricot trees and shrubs will be planted in a park by newly-recruited civil servants, city officials said.
The early planting move is to be joined by the city of Guri, east of Seoul, which is also holding the event for the first time. Some 500 volunteers will gather on Friday to plant 6,250 azaleas in a city park.
"The weather is warming up early and it's better to plant early," Lee Cheol-soo, the city's park greenery official, said.
The city of Paju, located north of Seoul near the North Korean border, also moved up its planting event to Thursday.
Calls for moving up Arbor Day have emerged across the country due to the effects of climate change, but the day will be observed for now according to public recognition, the Korea Forest Service said. (Yonhap)