Guided Visit of Korean Forestry Deleg­a­tion to Finnish and North Karelian Forest Sectors for Knowledge Exchange and Partner­ship Development

All the repres­ent­ative organ­iz­a­tions from North Karelia, along with related insti­tu­tions and companies, extended excep­tional hospit­ality to the Korean deleg­a­tion from the Korea Forest Manager Associ­ation (KFMA) and research insti­tutes. As part of the BIOSYS project, the deleg­a­tion success­fully completed the inter­na­tional visit as a cooper­ative effort.

By Daesung Lee and Aliisa Pöllänen

From June 12 to 18, 2025, a deleg­a­tion of ten repres­ent­at­ives from the Korea Forest Manager Associ­ation (KFMA), Gangwon Research Insti­tute, univer­sities, and local media companies visited the North Karelia region to strengthen connec­tions between Finnish forestry, the North Karelia forest sector, and Korean forestry profes­sionals. The deleg­a­tion focused on knowledge exchange, building strong partner­ships, sharing business ideas, and exploring new cooper­a­tion opportunities.

Meetings were held with relevant organ­iz­a­tions such as the Univer­sity of Eastern Finland (UEF), Forest Joensuu, Regional Council of North Karelia, Finnish Forest Centre, ProAgria, European Forest Insti­tute (EFI), and the Natural Resources Insti­tute Finland (LUKE) in Joensuu. Siikako­sken Myllykahvila (a café), a private forest farm, Koli National Park and Nature Centre Ukko were included in the itinerary as key sites.

Lunch break was held in a café “Siikako­sken Myllykahvila” located in a unique histor­ical setting (June 15, 2025).

Deleg­a­tion visited a family-owned forest farm which repres­ents Finnish rural heritage (June 15, 2025).

Meeting with experts from Regional Council of North Karelia and Finnish Forest Centre (June 16, 2025).

Meeting experts from ProAgria and Forest Joensuu (June 16, 2025).

European Forest Insti­tute (EFI) and the Natural Resources Insti­tute Finland (LUKE) had present­a­tions about agroforestry and nature-inspired material and food innov­a­tions (June 17, 2025).5).

In Koli National Park, the deleg­a­tion walked a popular route “Trail of the Tops” and got familiar with a sacred place of feminine spiritual powers “Akka-Koli”, an ancient sacri­fi­cial and judicial site “Paha-Koli” and an iconic national landscape that can be seen from “Ukko-Koli”.

European Forest Insti­tute (EFI) and the Natural Resources Insti­tute Finland (LUKE) had present­a­tions about agroforestry and nature-inspired material and food innov­a­tions (June 17, 2025).5).

Addition­ally, during their stay in Finland, outside the North Karelia region and for forestry-related purposes, they also visited the LUKE Viikki office in Helsinki, Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) FutureHub, VirtuLab at LUKE, LUKE’s exper­i­mental forest site, Metsä Group company visitor center, MTK Mhy (The Central Union of Agricul­tural Produ­cers and Forest Owners), and TAPIO.

LUKE’s virtual nature space VirtuLab and a meeting with LUKE scient­ists in Helsinki (June 12, 2025).

Meeting with a VTT team in Helsinki (June 12, 2025).

Metsä Group’s Pro Nemus visitor center in Äänekoski (June 13, 2025).

LUKE’s exper­i­mental research site in Vesijako (June 13, 2025).

Before heading to the airport, the deleg­a­tion visited MTK and TAPIO in Helsinki (June 18, 2025).

The delegation’s key object­ives included forestry field visits to forest farms and stand sites, touring research teams focused on timber- and non-timber-based products, and visiting sawmills along with LUKE’s research facil­ities to gain insights into the current knowledge and state of the Finnish forest sector.

Finally, the deleg­a­tion expressed inten­tions for continuing exchanges, offering to host Finnish visitors at Korean associ­ation members’ recre­ation forests, guest houses, and urban accom­mod­a­tions. They sincerely hope that regular mutual visits and collab­or­a­tion between Finland and Korea will signi­fic­antly contribute to advan­cing forestry in align­ment with future challenges and opportunities.

During their visit, they engaged with experts in North Karelia, focusing discus­sions on themes such as national parks, wooden archi­tec­ture, forest farming, agroforestry, private forest owner­ship, local timber supply and wood markets, cutting-edge forest techno­logy, healing, wellness, trails, agricul­tural products, tourism, rural economy, and Nordic culture. Through these exchanges, the deleg­a­tion identi­fied several promising oppor­tun­ities for collab­or­a­tion and initi­ated discus­sions with the appro­priate hosts in North Karelia to estab­lish partnerships.

The BIOSYS North Karelia Inter­na­tional Growth Ecosystem is run by Natural Resources Insti­tute Finland / Luonnon­varakeskus as a project lead, the Regional Council of North Karelia Pohjois-Karjalan maakun­t­aliitto, Univer­sity of Eastern Finland and MKN Itä-Suomi | Rural Women´s Advisory Centre (RWAC) of Eastern Finland. The project is funded by Renewing and Competent Finland 2021–2027, EU Regional and Struc­tural Policy Programme’s Just Trans­ition Fund – JTF, and Regional Council of North Karelia.

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For more information:

Daesung Lee, [email protected]
Naomi Moriyama, [email protected]