From long ago, the Korean people have loved pine very much, regarding it as the stamina of the nation and symbol of constancy and will. They took the tree for theme of literary works and fine art pieces and planted it in a massive way on mountains and villages and around houses.

The Japanese imperialists sought to eradicate pine of Korea from the very days of their occupation.

They drove iron piles into famous mountains and cut down pine trees at random, including several hundred-years old pines in Mt Kumgang and at temples.

They regarded the thick forests of pine trees as resources of plunder and cut down them at random in order to use them for shipbuilding and pine oil and other military supplies.

As a result, the pine trees of Korea were put in crisis of extinction on the eve of the Japanese imperialists' defeat.

The Korean people are still now remembering the crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists to exterminate the pine trees.