Timber harvesting is crucial for increasing Korea’s self-sufficiency in timber, which the country has been heavily importing, according to the former Korea Forest Service (KFS) minister, who is critical of environmentalists for their opposition to logging and advocating for total preservation. Park Chong-ho, who served the national forest watchdog’s top job from 2019 to 2021, said that if the trees are left unharvested, the country’s reliance on timber imports across various industries will persist. Aged trees that have not been cut down will also eventually lose their carbon-reducing function. …“Those in the country’s timber industry have long been arguing why the government isn’t more actively harnessing the country’s own forests to supply domestic markets in need of timber,” said Park. Korea’s timber demand has been between 30 million cubic meters and 35 million cubic meters each year.