Foreign residents in S. Korea invited on DMZ ecological tour

SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- The Ministry of Environment will take a group of
foreign residents this weekend on an ecological tour of wetlands near the
country's heavily-fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), officials said Thursday.
The DMZ, a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula, serves as a buffer
zone between South and North Korea who are still in a technical state of war,
having only signed an armistice at the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Undisturbed by human access since the war's end, the heavily-mined area has
turned into one of the most well-preserved areas habitat in the world.
The U.N. Development Program (UNDP) and Korea's Ministry of Environment will
sponsor the two-day tour for ecologists and environmentally-conscious foreign
residents from Saturday.
"This tour will give foreigners a rare opportunity to look at the
tightly-controlled zone, which is not accessible to foreign civilians," Lee
Na-mue, an official in charge of the wetlands project, said. "We also hope to
encourage them to actively participate in projects protecting valuable ecological
resources in South Korea."
The participants will visit Imjin River, Jangdan Peninsula and Chopyeong Island,
just south of the inter-Korean border, to monitor wildlife, watch birds and
observe stars, the ministry said.
"The wetlands are becoming more important as we recently have found more new
endangered species," said Lee. "That is mainly because more and more of other
areas have been ruined due to development."
Ecologists have identified some 2,900 plant species, 70 types of mammals and 320
kinds of birds within the narrow buffer zone. Additional surveys are now being
conducted throughout the region.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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