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| Korea Forest Service Deputy Director Park Jong-ho, right, shakes hands with Kim Song-jun, deputy director of the North's Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection, during an inter-Korean forestry talk at a liaison office in the North's border city of Gaeseong on Oct. 22. / Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
A South Korean delegation embarked Monday on its trip to Pyongyang for a working-level discussion on inter-Korean forestry cooperation, the Ministry of Unification said.
The 10-member delegation ― led by Korea Forest Service managing director Lim Sang-seop ― will arrive in Pyongyang on Tuesday via Beijing and stay there for three days.
A planned schedule for the team includes a visit to a tree nursery in Pyongyang.
The move came as part of a follow-up to an inter-Korean forestry agreement in October when they agreed to modernize 10 nurseries in the North and make concrete efforts to ensure the preservation of nature across the peninsula.
"The delegation's Pyongyang visit will serve as an opportunity for us to understand the current status of the North's forest conservation and restoration," a ministry official said. "The visit will pave the way for the two Koreas to materialize inter-Korean forestry cooperation plans."
Late last month, South Korea sent 50 tons of pine tree pesticides, in a move to help the North prevent forestry diseases from spreading.
This was also part of efforts from Seoul and Pyongyang to fulfill their joint agreement signed during the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in September.
At that time, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached a consensus to make joint efforts for the restoration and preservation of the natural ecosystem on the peninsula.
