http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership This presentation was made during the Asian Soil Partnership workshop that took place in Bangkok, Thailand 13-15 May 2015. This presentation was made by Kangho Jung, K.I. Kim, K.R. Kim, and it presents National Soil Resources in Republic of Korea. ©FAO: http://www.fao.org

1. Kangho Jung, K.I. Kim, K.R. Kim
National Soil Resources
in Republic of Korea
Soil and Fertilizer Management DivisionNational
Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS)
Rural Development Administration (RDA)

2. 1) 홍보 성과Soil information system ‘Heug-To-Ram’2
Soil forming factors1
1) 홍보 성과Main issues in soil management3
Contents
1) 홍보 성과Ongoing activities for soil security4
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3. Soil forming factors
 Climate
- Temperate Zone and Asian Monsoon belt
- Annual precipitation : 900~1,600 mm
- About 2/3 of total precipitation falls from June to Sep.
 Topography
- 75% of total land is mountainous or hilly
- The altitude of northern parts and eastern part is high.
- Plain lands has developed in southern part and western part
following the lower reaches of a river.
 Land use
- Mountain and Forests (65%), Agricultural land (20%), Others : 15%
- Agricultural land : paddy fields, upland crop fields
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Altitude(m)
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4. Residual Soil
- A soil formed from
consolidated rock in
the same location
- Inherent properties
from bedrocks
- >15% slope
Fluvial Soil
- A soil formed from
deposits
-1-7% slope
Colluvial Soil
- A soil formed from
materials with
transportation and/or
deposition by mass
movement by gravity
- Lower slope or foot
-2-15% slope
Mountainous forest
Upland crop
Paddy rice
General toposequences
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5. Classification of Soils in Korea
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 Order: 7 Orders (Inceptisols>> Entisols (82%)>> Ultisols >
Alfisols > Andisols >> Mollisols > Histols)
 Suborder: 13 Suborders (Udepts, Aquepts, etc.)
 Series: 391 series (=>405 series)
ex) Samgag series is a member of the coarse loamy, mesic
family of Typic Dystrudepts
Large : Risk of soil erosion and flood disaster
Weak : Soil genesis and structure development
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6. Heulg-To-Ram: Korean Soil Information System
Digitized soil
map service
Soil & environ.
characteristics
Management
Practices
Plant Nutrition
Diagnosis
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7. 7/30

8. 8/30
Main issues and soil threats
Soil removal: urbanization & soil erosion
- Accelerated soil erosion in upland crop fields
- Saprolite mounding, wild fire, climate change, etc
Chemical degradation
- Excessive fertilization in slope areas
- Imbalanced and/or accumulated nutrients
- Extraneous and domestic acid fallout
- Pollution by heavy metal, oil, waste, etc.
Physical degradation (ex. soil compaction)
Biological degradation (ex. reduced biodiversity)
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9. Changes in arable lands
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 22% of total land in 1980 => 17% of total land in 2010
 Rice production: 3.6 million ton (1980), 5.5 (2001), 4.2 (2014)
 Rice production per ha: 2.9 ton (1980), 5.2 (2001), 5.2 (2014)

10. Pyeongchang county:
145.5 MT/ha/yr
Goseong county:
110.3 MT/ha/yr
Soil erosion in upland crop fields
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11. 0
250
500
750
1000
103
ha
Paddy 898.9 240.7 22.5
Upland 37.3 91.9 100.5 161.7 84.3 87.3 171.1
Total 936.2 332.6 123 161.7 84.3 87.3 171.1
0~2 2~6 6~11 11~22 22~33 33~50 50~
23% of upland
soil
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Soil erosion in upland crop fields

12. Soil chemistry in paddy rice
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pH
O.M.
(g kg-1)
Av. P2O5
(mg kg-1)
Ex.Ca Ex.K Ex.Mg
(cmolc kg-1)
1999 5.7 22 137 4.0 0.32 1.3
2003 5.8 23 141 4.6 0.30 1.3
2007 5.8 24 132 4.7 0.29 1.3
2011 5.9 26 131 5.1 0.30 1.3
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
N 35 67 117 110 110 90
P 38 53 58 70 45 45
K 34 60 65 80 57 57
Fertilization
rate
(kg ha-1)

13. Soil chemistry in uplands
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pH
O.M.
(g kg-1)
Av. P2O5
(mg kg-1)
Ex.Ca Ex.K Ex.Mg
(cmolc kg-1)
2001 5.9 24 547 5.8 0.81 1.6
2005 5.9 25 567 6.2 0.81 1.7
2009 6.2 24 679 5.9 0.79 1.8
2013 6.3 25 627 6.4 0.75 1.7
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
N 259 259 233 233
P 187 187 85 81
K 187 187 157 144
Fertilization
rate
(kg ha-1)

14. Soil chemistry in protected cultivation
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pH
O.M.
(g kg-1)
Av. P2O5
(mg kg-1)
Ex.Ca Ex.K Ex.Mg
(cmolc kg-1)
2000 6.3 34 975 7.7 1.60 3.4
2004 6.4 35 947 9.5 1.71 3.6
2008 6.4 35 1072 10.4 1.52 3.4
2012 6.6 37 1049 10.6 1.58 3.3
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
N 259 259 161 153
P 187 187 62 56
K 187 187 98 84
Fertilization
rate
(kg ha-1)

15. On going activities
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Soil Conservation Act(1995)
Environment-Friendly Agriculture Act(1998)
Legislation of Korean Soil Day(March, 2015)
Resolution to support soil conservation(March, 2015)
Agro-Environment Monitoring Project (Quadrennial)
Soil Testing Project (approximately 500K samples/yr)
Soil Pollution Monitoring Project
Surface Soil Resources Inventory and Integration
Surface Soil Erosion Monitoring Project

16. Thank you
for your attention
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