A domestic environmental group says that the country’s major conifer trees are withering to death due to climate change.
 
Green Korea said on Monday that after inspecting the country’s national parks and major forest reserves using helicopters and drones last year, major needle-leaf trees native to the Korean Peninsula, such as pine trees and the Korean fir, were found dead in parts of the inspected areas.
 
The group said that large strands of Korean fir trees in Jirisan National Park are dying at an altitude between 14-hundred and 19-hundred meters on the mountain.
 
Khingan fir trees were found dead on three major peaks in Seoraksan National Park, while dead pine trees were observed in a forest reserve in Uljin and Samcheok areas.
 
The group said that the decrease of snowfall and precipitation over the past decade appears to have sufficiently reduced moisture supply to conifer trees.