Observations on Forest Denudation in South Korea

Abstract

In August, 1966, the author made a trip to Korea and visited Seoul, Kamghua, Panmunjon, Puyo and Kyongju. This paper is his conclusion based on the observation in the trip and the revision of his former opinion as well.1) The forest destruction, at least in the southern part of the Peninsula, is mainly due to divartation by human activity. The main actions of people are cutting the trees, digging the stub, burning the forest and tearing the grass cover for fuel. The author thinks that the vegetation can be rejuvenated in those waste lands because there are cases in which the vegetation recovered to some extent, when man's activities are suspended. One can see it on the hillside of demilitarized zone at Panmunjon where the people scarcely enter. 2) In some places the reforestation is interrupted by the erosion of gully which is mainly caused by intense frost and solar radiation in winter. This erosion is stronger in regions of granite than any other rock, while the rejuvenation of vegetation seems faster in regions of weathered slate or sand stone of Paleozoic. 3) The building of river beds above the level of the plains is a very rare case as far as the author observed, so he is convinced that the quantity of sand deposited in river beds is not so large as it has been believed. The waste produced from the denuded forest is transported to the lower courses of the rivers. This process is one type of the erosion by graded rivers generally observed in South Korea.