Visit
44 Years of German-Korean Forestry Cooperation

On Friday, October 5th, until Sunday, October 7th, the former German forest offcials Hartmut Kiene-Kroos and Joachim Lorbach visited South Korea accompanied by Manfred Bauer, the head of the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection as well as head of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park. They accepted the invitation of the Korean Forest Service (KFS), which is an independent agency under the supervision of the Korean Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The foresters were invited to the 44th anniversary of the German-Korean forestry cooperation, as they were staying in South Korea from 1984 to 1989 to pass on the basics of German forestry to their Korean colleagues. The cooperation between Germany and South Korea already started in 1974 with the first project in Ulsan, followed by the second one in Gangneung in the 1980s, and ended in 1993.

[Translate to English:] Vortrag von Joachim Lohrbach in Gangneung.

HSS

On the first day of the excursion Mr. Kiene-Kroos, Mr. Lorbach and Mr. Bauer travelled to Gangneung, a town in the province of Gangwon, where they visited a Korean forest machinery education center in the morning. In the afternoon they were invited to a seminar with the English title 'Seminar Marking 44th Anniversary of ROK-Germany Forestry Cooperation', where the German teaching techniques, which were passed on to the Korean forest officials, were discussed.

On Saturday, the two forest experts and Mr. Bauer were welcomed to the 2018 Korea Forest Culture Expo in Inje, which is also located in the province of Ganwon. At the opening ceremony Mr. Kiene-Kroos and Mr. Lorbach were presented with plaques of appreciation for their efforts in the 80s.

The last day started with an excursion to a village and a nearby project forest close to Ulsan, where the first German-Korean forestry project was initiated. At a seminar organized by the Korean Forest Cooperative Association and by the city of Ulsan, Mr. Lorbach, Mr. Kiene-Kroos and Mr. Bauer met the mayor of Ulsan, as well as officials, residents and local forest experts. Jointly they took a look on past and future projects.

Newspaper article by "The Korea Herald"

If interested by clicking on the link below you may read an article in English by the Korean newspaper "The Korea Herald", in which more details about the history of German-Korean forestry cooperation and the excursion are provided: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20181007000019