Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment advances black stork restoration with Mongolia

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said that its National Institute of Ecology is stepping up cooperation with a Mongolian research center to restore the endangered black stork in South Korea, where breeding records have been absent since 1968.

The institute and Mongolia's Wildlife Science and Conservation Center signed a five-year memorandum of understanding in Ulaanbaatar on June 8. The agreement also covers genetic-diversity management, propagation techniques and academic exchanges. It includes a CITES-required non-detriment assessment and cooperation on administrative procedures to acquire birds. The assessment is a scientific review of whether capturing or trading wild birds would harm the survival of their natural population.

Fieldwork in Mongolia's Khentii Province from late June through late July found seven nests, including four with 10 chicks, confirming stable breeding in Mongolia.

The species is a winter visitor and passage migrant in Korea. Fewer than 20 black storks are known to winter in the lower Nakdong River, Cheonsu Bay and Jeju Island.

"Restoring the black stork is more than bringing back a single species; it is a meaningful process of restoring Northeast Asian ecosystems based on science and international cooperation," Lee Chang-seok, director of the National Institute of Ecology, said.

The institute plans to complete the assessment, then proceed with domestic quarantine and international permit procedures. It plans to establish a foundation in the first half of 2027 for bringing black storks into Korea and testing domestic breeding.