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N. Korea planting trees for fruit oil
SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is intensively planting trees across the country to provide badly needed oil from their berries, the communist state's official news agency said Wednesday.
The North, which suffers from a chronic oil shortage, has created Tetradium tree forests covering tens of thousands of hectares in several regions near the western and eastern coasts during the national tree-planting season, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Some provincial administrations have set up offices to help residents properly understand the economic value of the trees and how to grow them, it added.
Fully mature Tetradium trees, also known as Evodia or Bee Bee trees, can each produce 7-10 kilograms of small berries composed of 38 percent oil. North Koreans use the oil, traditionally used as lamp oil, to make cooking oil, drugs and soaps, according to the KCNA.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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