Yangpyeong County has become the first area in Gyeonggi Province to be designated a special control zone for pine wilt disease.
Gyeonggi Province said on the 6th that it will begin intensive control efforts to curb the spread of pine wilt disease after the Korea Forest Service designated Yangpyeong as a special control zone on the 5th.
The special control zone is a system for the focused management of areas where damage is spreading rapidly or where urgent monitoring and control are needed. The Korea Forest Service previously made designations centered on "extreme" areas with 50,000 or more dead trees, but starting this year, it eased the standard to include "severe" areas with 30,000 or more trees.
Yangpyeong was designated under this standard. From June 2025 to May 2026, 34,034 infected trees were confirmed in Yangpyeong. This accounts for about 34% of the 99,587 infected trees across all of Gyeonggi Province during the same period.
In Yangpyeong, pine wilt disease was first confirmed in February 2013 in Samsan-ri, Yangdong-myeon. Since then, infected trees have steadily increased, centered on areas including Seojong-myeon, Gangha-myeon, and Yangdong-myeon.
Once an area is designated a special control zone, work can be carried out year-round without seasonal restrictions. This allows for emergency responses such as the removal of infected trees in line with the situation on the ground.
At sites where control involves converting to different tree species, some procedures for collecting small branches can be partially omitted. This is expected to reduce work costs and burdens, and to increase the participation of forest owners.
Gyeonggi Province has requested that the Korea Forest Service designate Gapyeong County, where 37,550 dead trees occurred in July, as a special control zone. The designation is currently under review.
"This designation will serve as an opportunity to go beyond removing infected trees and transition to healthy forests," said Kim Il-gon, head of Gyeonggi Province's Forest and Green Space Division. "We will work with the Korea Forest Service and Yangpyeong County to prevent the spread and restore the forest ecosystem."
