Officials from the two Koreas met on Wednesday to discuss ways to cooperate in the forest sector.
They agreed on various practical steps to protect their forests, including conducting joint on-site studies in the coming weeks.
Our Park Hee-jun with more.
South and North Korea have agreed to take joint action to protect their forests against disease and insect pests.
The decision comes after the two sides held working-level talks on Wednesday at the Peace House-- a building on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom.
Seoul's Unification Ministry says the two Koreas will work together on disease and insect pest control,... mainly targeting areas near the inter-Korean border.
To do so,... they will send teams to the site in mid-July to figure out the exact conditions in the area.

The two sides also agreed to take step-by-step measures in projects that are key to conserving forests-- including modernizing forest nurseries, preventing forest fires, and erosion control.
There will also be an active exchange of know-how on forest development and protection.

At present, there's no data available on the condition of North Korea's forests.
However, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry,... about a third of the previously-forested area in the North had been destroyed as of 2008.
The country is known to be in need of support to fight problems caused by excessive logging and farming.

The discussions are the latest in a series of meetings between the two Koreas,... aimed at implementing the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration, which focuses on expanding inter-Korean exchanges in various sectors.
The two governments plan to communicate through the exchange of documents on issues that could come up along the way while carrying out the agreements.
Park Hee-jun, Arirang News.