Korea is located in northeastern Asia facing three seas. The climate change in Korea has been rapidly progressed compared to the other side of the world.  The speed that the average temperature in Korea has been rising twice as fast as that of the world average. Also, the sea level and the sea temperature are rising almost three times as fast as that of the world average. These changes directly affect the duration of each season, especially longer summer and optimum conditions for local fruits.  Korea has been known as the representative temperate zone having distinct 4 seasons – spring, summer, fall and winter. There was no tropical fruits grown in mainland Korea in the past except for the southernmost island called Jeju where you can see palm trees and tangerines.

However, due to the climate changes, the temperature has been rapidly going up resulting in the change the map of the local fruits. In fact, apple, pear, grape, peach and watermelon are the most famous and representative fruits grown in Korea and especially apple is now widely cultivated in Korea. According to the new forecast map for fruits in Korea which has been made by certain agricultural research center in Korea, the apple cultivation area will be reduced as time goes by and by 2090 apple can be grown only in small area in Korea leaving new kinds of tropical fruits such as avocado, mangosteen and kiwi grown in the most of the cultivation region. It may be a good news for farm families for they can have more diverse fruits to cultivate making more incomes, but it is very sad that sometime in the future, we will have to import apple from some countries located far north from Korea.