Korea Forest Service to Create Thousands of Jobs in Forestry Sector

The current number of jobs in the forestry sector is 15,351, with a goal of reaching 19,228 by the end of the year. (Image:KFS)

SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korea Forest Service (KFS) is planning to create 60,000 new jobs in the forestry sector by the year 2022, with the expectation that new occupations relevant to forestry will appear in stages.  

KFS head Kim Jae hyun said that the 60,000 jobs will consist of 5,000 in the public sector, 10,000 in social services, 4,000 in local business clusters, 32,000 by direct employment, and 9,000 in social enterprises and forestry-specialized businesses.  
 
The current number of jobs in the forestry sector is 15,351, with a goal of reaching 19,228 by the end of the year.  

In line with a revision of the Forest Protection Act last year aimed to prevent damage to trees and to ensure that the right diagnosis, prescription, and treatment is carried out, a ‘tree doctor’ licensing program is scheduled to debut in June of next year.  
Tree doctor licenses will be granted to those completing courses designated by the KFS and passing a national qualification examination. 
 
It is expected that tree hospitals established with tree doctors and other specialized workers will create some 4,000 new jobs centered on young people. 

Additionally, a new occupation cluster comprised of forest instructors, school forest coordinators and forest healers is also expected to produce new jobs for women suffering from career discontinuity.   

Forest instructors teach children and guide their development by nurturing their emotions through forest education.  
A total of 1,000 forest coordinators will be assigned to some 2,000 school forests across the country, tasked with running educational programs to cultivate young Koreans’ creativity and character. 
 
Concerning the forest sports field, forest sport instructors are to be assigned for activity assistance and safety prevention and management at forest leisure sport facilities around the country.   

Another 400 forest walkway instructors to provide a variety of forest walkway experience services will also be trained and assigned to 60 forest walkway information centers. 
 
The KFS is set to draw up and begin executing detailed measures to create jobs in the forestry sector by the end of next month, once the government’s roadmap for job creation is finalized and released at the end of this month.

J.A. Kang (jakang@koreabizwire.com)