The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea plans to participate in a joint Far Eastern leopard count project with Russia. The preservation of the population of rare predators was addressed at a meeting between Russian Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka and North Korean External Economic Relations Minister Ri Ryong Nam during the former’s working visit to Pyongyang.

Historically, Far Eastern leopards inhabited the Primorye Territory, northeastern provinces of China and the territory of Korea. Leopard counts in Russia are conducted on a regular basis. Recently, Far Eastern leopard photo monitoring data became available from China. However, the number of tigers and leopards in North Korea, whose borders are adjacent to the animals’ habitat, is still unknown.

“Today, we would like to ask the Korean side to become involved in monitoring the leopard population to preserve this unique species for future generations,” Mr Galushka said.

On the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, Environment Minister Sergei Donskoi instructed the relevant agencies to hold consultations with the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East on the possibility for Russian specialists to participate in a tiger and leopard count on the territory of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This joint Amur tiger and Far Eastern leopard count will help obtain a comprehensive picture of the status of their populations and coordinate the efforts to protect the Red Data Book animals.