Latest news with #KoreaNationalParkService
Korea Herald
15-05-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Five new cubs born in Korean red fox restoration project
Seoul Grand Park successfully bred five endangered Korean red foxes last month, marking a second consecutive year of successful reproduction, officials said Thursday. The achievement comes as part of a restoration project launched in 2012 by the Environment Ministry and Korea National Park Service to reintroduce the native fox, also known as the Korean red fox, to the wild. Seoul Grand Park signed a research agreement with the national park authority in 2022 and brought in foxes for breeding. Last year, five cubs were born. With the latest births, the park now houses 16 native foxes. As of September last year, approximately 120 native foxes were confirmed to be living in the wild nationwide, according to the Environment Ministry. The Korean red fox is classified as a first-grade endangered species under the Wildlife Protection and Management Act, along with tigers, otters, black bears, wolves and true seals. Capturing or collecting these animals is punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine ranging from 5 million to 50 million won. Seoul Grand Park plans to eventually release the foxes into the wild after training them to adapt to their natural environment, in cooperation with organizations including the National Institute for Wildlife Conservation. shinjh@
Korea Herald
15-05-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Five new cubs born in Korean red fox restoration project
Seoul Grand Park successfully bred five endangered Korean red foxes last month, marking a second consecutive year of successful reproduction, officials said Thursday. The achievement comes as part of a restoration project launched in 2012 by the Environment Ministry and Korea National Park Service to reintroduce the native fox, also known as the Korean red fox, to the wild. Seoul Grand Park signed a research agreement with the national park authority in 2022 and brought in foxes for breeding. Last year, five cubs were born. With the latest births, the park now houses 16 native foxes. As of September last year, approximately 120 native foxes were confirmed to be living in the wild nationwide, according to the Environment Ministry. The Korean red fox is classified as a first-grade endangered species under the Wildlife Protection and Management Act, along with tigers, otters, black bears, wolves and true seals. Capturing or collecting these animals is punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine ranging from 5 million to 50 million won. Seoul Grand Park plans to eventually release the foxes into the wild after training them to adapt to their natural environment, in cooperation with organizations including the National Institute for Wildlife Conservation.
Korea Herald
27-03-2025
- General
- Korea Herald
Night of valor: Fire responders' all-night battle to protect heritage from wildfires
Burning for days, the flames in southeastern South Korea at one point threatened UNESCO-listed Hahoe Village and Byeongsanseowon South Korean firefighters dispatched to Juwangsan National Park kept an all-night watch into Thursday, as the flames that have been burning the country's mid-section for five days and nights reached within 4 kilometers of the historic temple of Daejeonsa at one point, before receding as of Thursday morning. The series of gargantuan wildfires, which started over the weekend, have destroyed multiple national treasures and historical sites, razing 36,000 hectares of forest and killing at least 26 people. Eighty-five employees of the Korea National Park Service have been dispatched to protect the temple in Cheongsong-gun, North Gyeongsang Province. The fire authorities and the park service officials moving the relicts to safe locations and removing fire hazards and trees next to the temple. The blaze has halted its progress toward the temple, founded more than 1,000 years ago, but the officials are still on full alert for potential development in the ongoing disaster. Battle to protect traditional village, Confucian academy Firefighting authorities have also been dispatched to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hahoe Village in Andong-gun. Flames came within 10 kilometers of the village, which is known for its preservation of Korea's traditional culture and buildings, many of which are made of wood and thatch. According to officials, 20 firetrucks and 130 firefighters had been mobilized at one point to protect the heritage site, with officials pouring water on the haystacks and thatched roofs of traditional buildings. Some 150 residents of the village received multiple evacuation orders, although several have stayed to watch over the fires. Wildfires had spread to within 3 kilometers of the Byeongsanseowon Confucian Academy, also in Andong, Wednesday night. But the wind blew the flames away from the academy and the fire in the area has been receding as of Thursday morning. The Byeongsanseowon is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, being one of the Confucian academies inscribed in 2019. As in case of Daejeonsa, the authorities are keeping watch over the historical sites in the Andong-gun in case the flames start approaching them again. They are hoping to spare the historic buildings from the fate of Gounsa — a temple founded in 681 AD — which was destroyed in the fires in nearby Uiseong-gun. By area affected, the massive fires in five regions further north, in the northern part of North Gyeongsang Province, have been the most damaging of the recent string of wildfires. Authorities estimated that the fires there have been 44.3 percent contained as of Thursday morning.
