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President Moon Jae-in (left) and first lady Kim Jung-sook plant a pine tree at a garden near the Yeomingwan office building at Cheong Wa Dae to commemorate Sikmogil Arbor Day on April 5.

By Kim Hyelin and Kim Young Shin
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae

Every year, people celebrate Sikmogil Arbor Day (식목일) on April 5. It’s a national celebration to promote trees, forests, tree-planting and gardening.

In 1946, the Korean government established Arbor Day with the aim of recovering forested land that had been devastated during colonial occupation (1910-1945). In 1949, it became a national holiday. Arbor Day was excluded from a list of national holidays in 1960, but was restored in 1961. In 2006, it was removed from the list again.

The reason why April 5 was designated as Arbor Day is because it’s near the day of Cheongmyeong (청명, 淸明) by the traditional agricultural calendar. This day, the Day of Pure Brightness, is one of the traditional 24 seasonal divisions and one of the most suitable days for planting trees on the Korean Peninsula. Traditionally, people tended the grass at grave sites and planted trees on this day.

It is also a historical date. On the 10th day of the third lunar month in 1343, equivalent to April 5, 1343, Joseon’s ninth monarch, King Seongjong (성종, 成宗) (1457-1494), along with the crown prince and other aristocrats, cultivated a farm field at the Seonongdan (선농단 先農壇) shrine for the god of agriculture, located just outside Dongdaemun, the eastern gate of the capital.

Nowadays, many events are held across the nation to celebrate Sikmogil Arbor Day, such as reforestation projects, the sharing of trees, planting bamboo, planting mugunghwa hibiscus (무궁화) plants, and opening tree markets.

President Moon Jae-in also planted two trees at Cheong Wa Dae to celebrate the day.
In the garden at the Yeomingwan Presidential offices, the president planted a pine tree, which represents the evergreen Korean spirit, and a miseonnamu white forsythia (미선나무), an indigenous species that only lives on the Korean Peninsula.

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President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook celebrate the 73rd Arbor Day with advisors by planting two trees at Cheong Wa Dae on April 5.

kimhyelin211@korea.kr