Despite repeated mobilizations for tree-planting every spring and autumn, hillsides remain barren as saplings are harvested for fuel and small farming plots prevent forest recovery.
“In October and November, all factories, schools and even Socialist Women’s Union of Korea organizations were mobilized twice for the autumn tree-planting struggle,” a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK recently. “They conduct the tree-planting campaign every year, but the hillsides are still treeless, so people are getting tired of the repeated mobilizations and increasingly cynical about the propaganda trumpeting the results.”
According to the source, North Korea fully mobilizes the public every spring (March and April) and autumn (October and November) for land management campaigns, during which everyone participates in tree-planting activities.
The authorities conducted yet another mobilization this autumn as well, but the SWUK organizations in Hyesan were allotted the same zones to plant trees as they had been in the spring. This sparked skepticism, with SWUK members commenting, “We plant trees every year only for them to disappear, so planting trees perfunctorily is useless.”
The North Korean authorities ban people from indiscriminately cutting down trees, but in reality, saplings repeatedly disappear soon after they are planted. Most are consumed as winter firewood, with the effectiveness of the tree-planting campaigns inevitably falling as a result, the source said.
Bribes enable truck loads of larch logs despite official ban
“Even nowadays, larch logs enter downtown Hyesan in large numbers,” the source said. “Since you can get them through the No. 10 checkpoints if you bribe the guards, families with money are busy bringing larches into town by the truckload, chopping them up and storing them in their warehouses.”
One reason tree-planting efforts are failing is the clash between the hardships people face and the state’s reforestation policy. The authorities demand that people eliminate small farming plots and plant trees on them instead, but people refuse, saying they will “starve if they can’t farm their small plots.”
“People plant trees in districts near the villages where they live just for show, but if you climb a bit up the mountains, there are hardly any trees, with broad swaths of small fields,” the source said. “If there’s a crackdown, the authorities will find out, but people can’t give up farming their small plots when the state provides no rations.”
Ultimately, to avoid crackdowns, people venture deep into the mountains where few people go, endlessly damaging the forests, the source said.
“If you watch films about the anti-Japanese struggle, the forests were thick even deep in the mountains during the colonial era, so where did all the trees go?” people ask, complaining, “We’ve been planting trees for over 50 years since the time of Kim Il Sung, yet the hillsides are still denuded.”
Despite this, the authorities are engrossed in promoting the results of their land management campaigns and encouraging the public mobilizations. The Rodong Sinmun ran a story on Nov. 2 titled, “Let’s Forcibly Promote the Autumn Land Management Campaign,” in which it is said that “autumn land management projects are being vigorously carried out nationwide, with a series of achievements being made.”
The newspaper said, “One’s perspective and stance toward land management are directly linked to one’s attitude in defending the party and the revolution, and in loving the state and the people.” It urged that “all officials and workers should once again deeply recognize that land management is economic construction itself and an essential condition for the people’s safety and the nation’s development, and should redouble their efforts to make further progress in autumn land management projects.”
