◀ anchor ▶
There are many people who go hiking in autumn.
Can I pick mushrooms I found while going to the mountains?
If you pick it up without permission, you may be subject to criminal punishment.
Reporter Lee Seung-yeon reported.
◀ Report ▶
A national forest area in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do.
A man with a blue bag comes down from the road next to the mountain.
The Forest Service crackdown team opened the man’s bag.
Freshly harvested pine, neungyi, and various wild mushrooms come out.
[불법 임산물 채취꾼]
“I went hiking and came back, and I just picked up something on the side of the road.”
However, there are no hiking trails in this national forest area.
Another man caught in the crackdown.
They say they came for a hike, but the backpack is loaded with forest products such as hazelnuts and shiitake mushrooms.
[산림청 특별사법경찰]
(I don’t think it has anything to do with hazelnuts…)
“No, it’s illegal to pick without a permit in the national forest.”
In autumn, when forest products are abundant, cars line up on the shoulder of the road near the tunnel.
Most of the cars are parked by gatherers looking for places where mushrooms are abundant.
[산림청 특별사법경찰]
“It is a vehicle that came to guide me last Thursday, and I plan to pay a fine if it comes once more today and is cracked down today.”
As illegal miners were rampant, villagers even built a post to monitor it.
[조현숙/화천군 방천1리 이장]
“We take turns protecting, but if we don’t come here, we’ll come over to the mountain. If we get over there, we don’t know. We can’t catch it.”
If you harvest forest products from national or private forests without permission, you may be punished by imprisonment for up to five years or by a fine of up to 50 million won.
This is Lee Seung-yeon from MBC News.
Video coverage Choi Jeong-hyeon (Chuncheon)
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