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By Matt VanVolkenburg
Upon liberation from Japan in 1945, Korea's landscape was less than picturesque. Decades of timber exploitation by the Japanese and use of firewood by Koreans to heat homes had depleted Korea's forests and left most of its mountains barren.
To deal with this pressing problem, the first Arbor Day was proclaimed in 1946. April 5 soon became a "holiday" during which officials, students, soldiers and regular citizens were marshalled to take part in tree-planting activities. American officials and soldiers also donated trees and labor.
By 1957, 358 million saplings were being planted annually. The government exhorted citizens to plant by urging them to "regain their ancient aura of beauty of the land and to recapture our past remembrance of mild, warm and kind humanity prevalent among our people," and had them sing the "Reforestation Song."
A lack of budget and commitment from the Syngman Rhee government, however, led to less-than-stellar results. This began to change after the military coup led by Park Chung-hee in 1961. The military authorities quickly called for the eradication of five major social ills, one of which was illegal logging. The drain on the economy caused by the lack of forests and timber made it clear to them how pressing the need was for reforestation.
The lack of homegrown timber required imports surpassing $100 million by the 1970s, while treeless mountains contributed to flooding which devastated farmland, leading to food imports which further diverted capital from industrialization.
So important was reforestation to Park Chung-hee's government that it established a 3 billion won forestry fund from money gained by normalizing relations with Japan, and in 1967 established the Office of Forestry, which years later was upgraded to ministry level.
One of the most dire problems the government faced was the need for firewood by rural families who had no other source of heating fuel. In 1966, for example, coal briquettes, or "yeontan," were only used in 59 cities and towns, and in the short term there was a need to establish 3 million acres of firewood forests to supply the 2.4 million rural families without access to this fuel. The longer-term solution was to expand yeontan manufacturing and use.
Every Arbor Day, editorials in The Korea Times bemoaned the lack of progress but writers hoped for the future and exhorted readers to take part in tree planting so that Korea would one day be as green as wealthier nations. One way to motivate citizens was to "appeal more strongly to patriotism."
Park Chung-hee, who once said "A man who does not love trees cannot be called a true lover of the country," clearly understood this. For over a decade he was photographed leading tree-planting ceremonies, and each year he spoke of the need for reforestation.
"The green of the countryside is a measure of the wealth of the nation. A poor nation is characterized by a lack of green," he said in 1966. Eight years later, amid frugality drives and crackdowns on decadence, he declared "a well-cultivated forest is a representation of national character full of diligence and thrift."
In 1975, he said, "Planting a tree today is planting a hope for the future. And cultivating the tree with utmost sincerity is cultivating national power which will be bequeathed to our descendants in the form of development and prosperity."
By this point, Park's Yushin dictatorship had done away with the public ceremonies and urged all-day planting from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. He had also yoked reforestation efforts to the Saemaeul or "New Village" movement which was focused on rural development.
Ultimately, this focus led to one of the few reforestation success stories among developing nations. Having reached its goal, the government ended the program in 1992.
The degree to which it is taken for granted is reflected in the fact that little protest arose when the government stripped Arbor Day of holiday status in 2005.
Matt VanVolkenburg has a master's degree in Korean studies from the University of Washington. He is the blogger behind populargusts.blogspot.kr.
