[Opinion] Pinewood Nematodes

Smallpox, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria, pest, measles and cholera were all livestock diseases initially, but gradually evolved to the point where they were capable of infecting people. The AIDS virus originated from monkeys.

Bacteriologists, who studied smallpox marks on Egyptian mummies, believe that people were first infected with smallpox around 1600 BC. Mumps first occurred at around 400 BC, leprosy at 200 BC, polio in 1840 and AIDS in 1959. Avian influenza is still transforming itself to infect humans as well.

A great number of America Indians were killed by Spanish conquerors. However, the number pales compared to the number of those who fell victim to bacteria from the Old continent. During the 1520s, Mexico had a population of about some 20 million, but the population fell to a mere 1.6 million in 90 years since the Aztec contracted smallpox.

In the 19th Century, a present of blankets used by smallpox patients to the North American Indians was given in order to exterminate them. It definitely worked. Jared Diamond, a professor at UCLA, wrote in his book “Guns, Germs and Steel” that “the history of mankind has often changed with the change and exchange of germs.”

Two big cone pine trees in the forest one kilometer away from the Korea National Arboretum at Gwangneung, were found to be infected with Bursa phelenchus xylophilus (pinewood nematode or pine tree pests). It was the first time that a big cone pine has been infected with pinewood pests in the world. Pine tree pest is originally a pine tree disease, and trees infected with this disease die 100 percent of the time. This is why pine tree pest is called the AIDS of pine trees. Pine tree pest, which made its way into Korea via Busan Port from Japan in 1988, swept the pinewood forest in Yeongnam Province. It spread up north to Gangneung, passing through the Baedudaegan mountain range, which runs most of the length of the Korean Peninsula, from Baekdu Mountain in the north to Jiri in the south, threatening to kill pine trees in the north. In Japan and Taiwan, pine trees are now virtually wiped out.

Gwangneung is the tomb of King Sejo. The Gwangneung arboretum is not only beautiful but also is a rich repository of forestry resources in a metropolitan area. The Korea Forest Service chopped down around 2,000 big cone pine trees on 15,000 pyeong of land where the pest outbreak was found. This is a desperate countermeasure to preserve big cone pine tree forests around Gapyeong-gun, the country’s largest pine nut-producing area, as well as the Gwangneung forest. The pine tree pest insect, about one millimeter in size, is struggling to survive, but we can’t afford to take a laissez-faire attitude when the nation’s big cone pine tree forests are under attack.

Heo Seong-ho, Editorial Writer, tigera@donga.com