Trees to Be Planted along Han River

Following the planting of 2,000 Zelkova accuminatas in Yoido district on the banks of the Han River on March 15, small forests of willows and purple eulalias will be planted in front of the Ttooksom Racecourse.

On April 2, a spokesman from Seoul City announced that it would plant 9,000 willows and miscanthus saccariflorus at the water's edge of the Han River in Ttooksom district in Sungsoo 1-ga, Sungdong-gu, Seoul.

Seoul City Mayor Go Gun will attend the ceremony for the planting of the trees on April 3. There are current plans to start further plantations of Miscanthus sacchariflorus, Fraxinus rhynchophylla, and Albizzia julibrissin.

The spokesman said that, "The formation of small woods will improve the riverside view, benefiting Seoul citizens on ships and boats and passers-by."

Plantations on the riversides became possible only after relaxing strict 1980s water-control laws in 1998. The original law was passed on the grounds that trees might disturb the natural flow of the Han River.

by Kim Young-hoon