The World On arirang

Korea celebrates its Arbor Day today when a nationwide campaign to plant trees take place.
Our Lee Jeong-yeon is here in the studio to tell us more about the day.
So Jeong-yeon, it's Korea's seventy-third Arbor Day so this is a tradition that stretches back decades

Yes, Mark.
Originally Arbor Day or Sikmogil as it's called in Korea started as a way to fight deforestation.
And while planting trees is still the main idea, in light of recent environmental issues like fine dust ( )that's a huge concern for the Korean public, it's gone beyond 'tree-planting day' to really be a chance for the public and for the government to check in with the environmental issues that need to be dealt with in general.

So then speaking of fine dust levels, are there any plans by the government in celebration of Arbor Day this year to deal with it?

Yes, the government is trying to increase the amount of green spaces in the country, especially in densely populated cities where people are affected the most by this fine dust issue.
The Korea Forest Service recently drew up contracts with Seoul and Suwon to expand their city forest reserves to reduce fine dust levels.
( )And according to data released by the agency last May, the average fine dust level in these reserves was around 26-percent lower than the city center, while the average ultra-fine dust level was more than 40 percent lower.

Now the past few weeks, various organizations and communities have been holding tree-planting events nation-wide in time for Arbor Day, so I went to take a look earlier this week