Hemp grows near UNESCO World Heritage Site Byeongsanseowon Confucian Academy in Andong

A plant believed to be hemp found on May 27 in an agricultural canal near Byeongsanseowon, Pungcheon-myeon, Andong-si, Gyeongbuk. Police and Noh Jong-gyun, chairman of the Hemp Industry Association, believe the plant to be hemp. By Kim Hyun-soo

On May 27, a dozen or so plants with green foliage were dotted along a farm ditch about 10 meters from the parking lot of Byeongsanseowon Confucian Academy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. They looked like young hemp (marijuana) plants often seen in crime films.

In the field near the ditch, there were about 20 plants ranging from 10 to 70 centimeters in length. The narrow and pointed leaves, which are characteristic of hemp, were more pronounced on plants over 70 centimeters long. Some of the plants showed signs of having been cut with a knife. Marijuana, a narcotic drug, is the dried leaves and flowers of hemp that contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is responsible for the hallucinogenic effects.

It has been confirmed that hemp, a drug, is growing near Byeongsanseowon Confucian Academy in Andong, which is registered as a World Heritage Site. Critics point out that the management and supervision of hemp in Andong, which accounts for 60 percent of the country's cultivation area, may be poor.

“It’s hemp,” said Noh Jong-gyun, chairman of the Hemp Industry Association, after seeing the plant in a photo. There is a plant called “Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus)” that looks similar to hemp, but he said it is hemp considering the overall appearance, including the stem and leaf shape.

"There are often reports of Kenaf mistaking it for hemp, but if you look closely, it has a different leaf shape," he said. "Kenaf has a smoother leaf shape than hemp, so it can be distinguished."

“Visually, it appears to be hemp,” the police said. Police suspect the seeds may have been blown in by the wind from a nearby hemp field. There is no reason to secretly grow cannabis near a tourist attraction with high foot traffic.

“It is understood that there is a hemp field near Byeongsanseowon Confucian Academy,” said Lee Sang-min, chief of the Gyeongbuk National Police Agency’s drug investigation division. “When harvesting hemp, the seeds may have been blown away by the wind into nearby wilderness areas.”

Traces of sharp object cuts were left on a plant believed to be hemp on the roadside near Byeongsanseowon, Pungcheon-myeon, Andong-si, Gyeongbuk. By Kim Hyun-soo

According to the Andong City Government, hemp cultivation in the region increased from 5.68 hectares in 2020 to 52 hectares in 2021 and 68 hectares in 2022. This is a 1,097 percent increase in just two years since hemp was cultivated for hemp harvest in 2020. Last year, 81 hectares of hemp were cultivated in Andong, accounting for 60 percent of the country‘s hemp cultivation area. Farmers are growing hemp with local government permission to cultivate hemp which has no hallucinogenic properties.

However, hemp management and supervision is weak. In 2022, farmers reported disposing of hemp after harvesting 1,861,105 bags, similar to 2020 (1,780,097 bags). While cultivated area increased by nearly 1,100 percent, the amount discarded increased by only 4.2 percent. The amount of disposal is counted by the number of hemp stalks, and there are no statistics for leaves and flowers, which contain hallucinogenic ingredients. Andong has only been checking the weight of discarded hemp leaves and flowers only since June last year.

An official from the Andong City Government said, "As problems related to the amount of disposal have been pointed out in administrative audits, we are checking the weight of hemp leaves that are discarded under the recommendation of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety."

Against this backdrop, some farmers have siphoned off cannabis one after another. In June 2022, police arrested four people who siphoned off about 30 kilograms of hemp leaves after planting hemp in Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang Province. They reported to local governments last year that they would discard 7 kilograms of hemp leaves and have systematically concealed hemp leaves.

The Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency has cracked down on illegal cultivation of poppies and hemp for a month since April last year, and 59 people have been caught. They are suspected of raising drug poppies and hemp in greenhouses or backyard gardens near their residences without receiving approval for handling drugs. The number of marijuana and poppies recovered by the police amounts to 7,383 stalks. Usually, 15 grams of marijuana can be obtained per hemp. A single dose of marijuana is usually about 0.3 grams.

Police plan to recover all of these plants, which are believed to be hemp. “We will conduct an investigation to see if there is a possibility that they are secretly growing hemp in a nearby field,” said a police official. “We will request the National Institute of Forensic Sciences to analyze the collected hemp.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.