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The Korea fir, a tree species native only to South Korea, faces the threat of mass mortality. Mass die-offs are underway across various Korean fir habitats.

Reporter Hong Seung-yeon went to the scene.

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This is a high-altitude area of Mount Jirisan, standing over 1,000 meters above sea level.

The ridge is covered with trees stripped down to white skeletons.

We boarded a helicopter and ascended into the skies above Mount Jirisan.

As you can see out the window, the ridges are filled with trees that have withered and died white in various places.

Hikers cannot hide their sorrow at the transformed landscape.

[Kang Jun-ho & Lee Min-seok / Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province: These days, it feels a bit too desolate and empty. Compared to when I came last time, so many more dead trees have appeared.]

The trees dying in mass numbers are "Korean firs" (Abies koreana), a plant endemic to the Korean Peninsula that grows natively only on mountains like Jirisan and Hallasan.

Despite being a core species of the ecosystem, they have now been pushed into the status of an endangered species designated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The nationwide mortality rate for Korean firs jumped from 19% in 2018 to 29% six years later, and particularly on Mount Jirisan, it surged from 17% to 26%.

[Park Sung-hyuk / Associate Researcher, Korea National Arboretum: Every time I go every year, trees that I saw last year are in a particularly much more serious condition this year... We are also finding many trees that seem likely to die within a few years.]

Mount Hallasan in Jeju, home to the southernmost Korean fir habitat in the world, also has one out of every ten trees dead.

Climate change is being pointed out as the cause of this mass mortality.

[Gam Bo-mi / Assistant Director, Forest Ecological Restoration Division, Korea Forest Service: The world is currently facing a climate crisis. In particular, the decrease in moisture and the rise in temperatures in high-altitude regions are making it difficult for the trees to grow.]

Not only Korean firs, but all seven alpine conifer species are facing similar survival threats.

Forest authorities have announced plans to establish a conservation center to preserve Korean fir genes by 2033, but amid the accelerating climate crisis, they have yet to find a definitive solution to revive the forests.

(Video Reporter: Kim Min-cheol, Footage courtesy of: Korea Forest Service, Green Korea United)