North Korea, where 80 percent of its land is forest zone, has become a greenhouse gas-producing nation, a recent report revealed.

Professor Lee Woo-gyun and his team at Korea University’s Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering Studies announced on Monday that North Korea has been emitting greenhouse gas rather than absorbing it because of its forest denudation, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported on May 27.

The study shows that North Korea used to absorb greenhouse gases in the 1980s, but started producing in the 2000s.

Lee and his team said the denudation of forest in North Korea is one of