The Korea Forest Service has pledged to lower the recurrence rate of pine wilt disease from the current 50 percent range to 30 percent by 2017.
 
Minster of the forest service Shin Won-sop announced the goal during a news conference on the agency’s business plans for the year at the Sejong Government Complex Tuesday.
 
The minister said that over one million pine trees are expected to wither and die between May of last year and this coming April.
 
He said all trees that have died due to wilt will be cut down by 2017 and stronger vaccination will be carried out on important pine tree forests such as those in national parks.
 
Shin also promised to financially assist 30 lumber facilities in their modernization efforts and ensure the response time for helicopters dispatched to fires is within 30 minutes of a rescue call.