To all Koreans, the iconic and majestic Red-crowned Crane is an auspicious symbol of good luck, happiness, and long life.  The logo of the DPRK state airline, Air Koryo, is a crane.  Hundreds of cranes adorn the high walls that surround the mausoleum of Kim IL Sung.  In both Korean states the Red-crowned Crane is strictly protected as a Natural Monument. 

The Red-crowned Crane is endemic to northeast Asia. Primarily attributed to hunting and habitat loss during the past century, they are now endangered.  There are two populations: a non-migratory group of about 1200 individuals in northern Japan, and a migratory group of about 1,500 on the Asian mainland.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was once a major wintering area for Red-crowned Cranes.  They fed on large invertebrates in the tidal pools and mudflats of the west coast, and on gleanings in rice paddies in more inland areas.  Prior to 1990, the former USSR provided DPRK with an ample supply of petroleum products to produce chemical fertilizers.   Following the evolution of the USSR into several sovereign states, petroleum products had to be purchased from Russia, leaving the DPRK with insufficient amounts of fertilizer.  The DPRK leader encouraged farmers to develop organic fertilizers, the use and proficiency of which is now coming back into practice.  But competition between birds and farmers for precious farm lands, fields and food resources have helped to stress and endanger Korean crane populations.

To promote goodwill and economic progress amongst the Korean people, Hyundai Corporation from ROK funded construction of a large tourism center at Mount Kumgang in DPRK just north of the eastern portion of the DMZ.  Hundreds of tourists from ROK visit Mt. Kumgang daily to the economic benefit on DPRK.  Other corporations from ROK built a complex of factories in DPRK just north of the western portion of the DMZ.  Using ROK capital and DPRK labor, commerce flourishes to the benefit of both states.  Now planners are hoping to develop land in the DMZ and the CCZ.  One option proposes turning the most important wintering site for cranes, the Chorwon Basin, into Reunification City! 

These ominous threats to the welfare of cranes and other wildlife together with their habitats in the DMZ and ROK influenced the International Crane Foundation and BirdLife International to initiate communication with colleagues in DPRK.   Dr. George Archibald, ICF co-founder and DMZ Forum board member, visited DPRK March 25 – April 8, 2008, to meet with the nation’s leading ornithologist and conservationist, Dr. Pak U Il, and his colleagues at the Biodiversity and Eco-Engineering Center of the State Academy of Sciences in Pyongyang.  Dr. Archibald was accompanied by Dr. William Duckworth, a British ornithologist and conservationist, who had worked in DPRK on a conservation program for several years.   The joint team then traveled to the east coast to meet with leaders of the agriculture community at the most important former wintering area for Red-crowned Cranes in DPRK, the Anbyon Plain, near the port city of Wonsan just north of Mt. Kumgang and the DMZ.  March 28-30 they visited the Anbyon Plain and met with the Manager of Pisan Cooperative Farm, Mrs. Kim Yon Sim, the Chairman of the Anbyon County People’s committee, Mrs. Kang Yong Ok, and several other leaders.

This project has been approved by the Government of DPRK perhaps because organic farming and the conservation of Red-crowned Cranes were already priorities of the government.  The migration of cranes between the Anbyon Plain in DPRK and the Chorwon Basin along the DMZ in ROK provides an opportunity for information exchange between researchers and conservationists in the two states.  Helping the cranes is becoming a venue for scientific exchange between the two Korean states.  This cooperation promotes goodwill in one of the most politically sensitive and potentially dangerous spots on earth.  Helping the cranes can be to the widespread benefit of humans and ecosystems.