Korea running low on honey as 'torrential' rain decimates bee population
by Korea JoongAng Daily
Acacia blossoms wilted at a beekeeping farm in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, on May 19, after being struck by a sudden downpour on May 16. [KOREA BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION]
Beekeeper Park Jong-gyu, 70, who has tended bees for 25 years in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, says he has never faced a year as difficult as this one.The severe loss of honeybees over the winter was already a blow, but a sudden deluge on Friday destroyed all the acacia blossoms — a vital food source for bees — just as honey season was beginning.
“It was just the time when nectar should've been rising, and then the rain poured down,” Park said. “The flowers were all damaged, so the bees can't forage for nectar.”
Tuesday is designated by the United Nations as the annual World Bee Day, but the environment for bees this year has been especially grim. A cold snap and heavy snow in April threatened bee survival, and now unseasonal downpours have ravaged their food supply.
On Friday, Onam-eup in Namyangju saw 130 millimeters (5.1 inches) of rainfall — far exceeding the area’s May monthly average of 91.8 millimeters. Of that, 74 millimeters fell in a single hour, prompting the year’s first weather disaster alert. Acacia flowers, which had just begun producing nectar, were battered shut by the rain.
Bees stay inside their hives in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, on May 16, after a heavy downpour swept through the area. [KOREA BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION]
“Many farms in Namyangju haven’t been able to harvest honey even once this year because of the rain damage,” said Kim Sun-hee, head of the Gyeonggi branch of the Korea Beekeeping Association. “We already started spring with more than half our bees gone. Now that the flowers are ruined, it’s nearly impossible to expect any honey production here.”
The downpour is also expected to ripple through the broader ecosystem.
“Acacia trees form dense clusters and are a major food source for bees,” said Cho Yoo-ri, a senior researcher at Seoul National University’s Climate Lab. “They also play a key role in pollination. When torrential rains hit during honey collection season, it leads to long-term reductions in bee populations and tree clusters. That in turn affects other species like birds, insects and flowering trees.”
Experts warn this may not be a one-off event. Climate change is expected to increase both the frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall in East Asia, while atmospheric volatility is making weather patterns harder to predict.
Acacia blossoms, battered by heavy rain, lie scattered around a beehive on May 19. [KOREA BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION]
On the morning of Friday, the Korea Meteorological Administration had forecast only brief showers, missing the scale of the incoming storm. The agency later explained that “unexpectedly strong atmospheric instability resulted from cold, dry air in the upper atmosphere clashing with warm, humid air from the south.”
These weather changes signal a shift toward a subtropical climate on the Korean Peninsula — a development that does not bode well for temperate-zone species like the acacia tree.
According to the Korea Forest Service, the area covered by acacia groves has already shrunk tenfold from 320,000 hectares (790,737 acres) in the 1980s to just 36,000 hectares as of 2024. While once considered economically unviable and cut down, the current decline is attributable to worsening environmental conditions. The blooming period has also plummeted, from 30 days in 2007 to just 17 days last year.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
Reference Written by JEONG EUN-HYE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr] Provided by Korea JoongAng Daily
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Acacia blossoms wilted at a beekeeping farm in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, on May 19, after being struck by a sudden downpour on May 16. [KOREA BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION]
