As North Korea’s spring tree-planting season reaches its peak, residents in Ryanggang province are removing newly planted trees to grow food crops instead. This conflict between state-mandated reforestation and citizens’ desperate need for food has drawn criticism, highlighting the clash between government policy and survival needs.
According to a Daily NK source in Ryanggang province recently, the provincial branch of the Ministry of Land and Environment Protection marked Arbor Day on March 14 by launching spring reforestation activities, ordering local authorities to plant saplings in designated zones.
However, these efforts are largely superficial.
“Most reforestation takes place along roadsides or visible mountain slopes, and the work stops once the assigned saplings are planted,” the source explained. “People typically just dig a shallow hole, drop in the sapling, and cover it with dirt.”
The minimal effort extends to aftercare, resulting in extremely low survival rates for the trees.
“While planting the required number of saplings is reported as success, less than 10% actually survive,” the source noted. “Most are left unattended and die, while others are pulled up for firewood.”
The situation is further complicated by the fact that many reforestation zones overlap with small, privately farmed plots, creating resentment toward the government’s tree-planting campaign. Residents frequently remove newly planted trees to grow crops instead.
“It starts with people quietly removing a few trees, but eventually entire reforested areas are cleared,” the source explained. “Many saplings die anyway due to poor planting and lack of maintenance, but people worried about their own survival uproot the rest to plant corn and other crops.”
Despite deploying forest management and protection officers, authorities struggle to prevent people from clearing trees for farmland.
“No matter how much the officers try to enforce the rules, they can’t stop desperate locals determined to grow food,” the source said. “The officers themselves are struggling to feed their families, so they’ve largely given up on protecting the saplings.”
While North Korean authorities continue promoting reforestation campaigns and talking about “covering the hills with trees,” their efforts face obvious limitations due to perfunctory planting practices, inadequate maintenance, and the reality of hungry citizens converting forest land into farmland.
April 28, 2025 at 12:04PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)