R]내 나무 몇 톤 가져갔나?..'산불 피해목 정산 논란'

2026/06/30 08:30:00 Author: Lee Do-eun ◀ Anchor ▶ A project is underway to sell the trees damaged by last year's forest fires in North Gyeongsang Province and pay the proceeds to the landowners. However, the landowners complain that they cannot even verify how much of their trees has been removed from the mountains. Reporter Lee Do-eun investigated the reasons for this. ◀ Report ▶ Landowners who lost their livelihoods due to last year's forest fires. The only assets left were the burnt trees. Andong City obtained consent for logging, promising to fell the damaged trees, sell them as fuel, and return the profits to the landowners. For the landowners, it was a promise that was practically their last hope. ◀ INT ▶ Kwon Won-sik / Landowner Affected by Forest Fire in Andong "They said they were going to cut it down, so I... I was kind of expecting to get some money..." However, that expectation soon turned into distrust. This is because there was no way to verify how much of his wood had been removed, or how the money he received was calculated. [ CG ] After felling the 3 hectares of damaged forest belonging to Mr. Kwon Won-sik, the compensation paid by Andong City was approximately 6.5 million won. According to Andong City's explanation that they paid 15,000 won per ton of wood, approximately 433 tons of raw timber were removed from Mr. Kwon's forest. However, no records remain to verify this. // This is because the weight of the raw timber was not measured. We visited a damaged timber crushing plant in Andong. A truck loaded with felled raw timber passes through the weighing scale without stopping. Once the shredding process is complete, the wood chips stop at the weighing scale to be meticulously weighed. However, by this time, the logs from various landowners, collected by district, have already been shredded together. Residents express strong suspicions. ◀ INT ▶ Ahn Sang-gyu / Landowner affected by wildfire in Andong "I have no idea where my trees are or how many tons have been shipped out." However, Cheongsong, which conducts the damaged tree return project in the same manner as Andong, was different. Not only wood chips, but also logs are weighed by landowner from the moment they arrive at the shredding facility to manage the volume of shipments. ◀ INT ▶ Ma Hee-jong / Director of Cheongsong County Forestry Cooperative "If they are not accurately sorted by district and landowner upon arrival, sorting them afterward is actually impossible. Because they are all mixed together before shredding and shipment, such problems arise, making it impossible to determine the exact amount to be returned to the landowners." ◀ st-up ▶ "When a truck passes over this weighing scale, the weight is measured automatically. Controversy is arising because while Cheongsong measures the weight both when the truck enters and when it leaves, Andong only measures it when it leaves." The explanations from the on-site contractor and Andong City regarding why the log weighing was not carried out are conflicting. ◀ SYNC ▶ Crushing Plant A (Voice altered) "From what I heard, the city told us not to do it." ◀ SYNC ▶ Crushing Plant B (Voice altered) "Because the Forestry Cooperative didn't mention anything about ash..." ◀ INT ▶ Andong City / Kim Byeong-hwi, Head of Forestry Division "Since a massive volume of materials comes in from each district, the construction and building companies are saying, 'We need to get it in quickly so we can do the work.'" One company that has performed log crushing work for forest fire-damaged trees multiple times states that log weighing must be done, even if it delays the work. ◀ INT ▶ Weighing Completed at Crushing Company "For example, if you were to sell watermelons by weight in a field, you would weigh the whole thing to determine the price. If you were to remove the stem, wipe off all the dirt, strip off the rind completely, and weigh only the red flesh inside, would a farmer really sell the watermelon?" Andong City explained that instead of weighing the logs, they calculated the compensation by reflecting sample surveys by affected area and wood chip production volume. If the weighing of the logs, which serves as the basis for calculating compensation for forest fire-damaged timber, is not conducted transparently, it is bound to lead to further controversy. This is Lee Do-eun from MBC News. (Video Coverage: Cha Young-woo) #AndongMBC #AndongMBCNews #NewsDesk #NewsToday