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Korean Buffer Zone Is to Serve a Study of Flora and Fauna

Special to the New York Times

SEOUL, South Korea. Oct. 15 - The Korean demilitarized zone uninhabited for the last 13 years, is to be used in the study of the relationships among plants and animals and their environments.

A program for a five-year joint ecological study of animals and plants flourishing in the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea is being worked out in the Smithsonian Institution and the Korean Commission for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Many Smithonian scientists including Dr. Helmut K. Buechner, the Smithsonian's assistant director for ecology, were here last month for meetings with Korean professors and for a preliminary inspection of the area just south of the demilitarized zone.

It was agreed that the American institution would raise the funds needed to finance the program, which is to begin next year. The amount of money necessary will depend on the scope of the program.

The demilitarized zone, 151 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide, was set up under the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in July 1955. It stretches roughly along the 38th parallel, across mountainous areas in the eastern and central sectors and abandoned rice paddies in the west.

Uninhabited by civilians since the armistice, the zone and the adjacent areas have become a game sanctuary in which deer, bears, foxes and pheasants thrive. Vast rice paddies are now covered with underbrush and the once-naked hills are full of vegetation.

Since the number of military patrols and authorized civilians allowed to enter the zone is limited, the projected research is to be conducted in the area immediately south of the area.

"The main purpose of this research is to collect scientific data on exactly what species of plants and animals can best grow on Korean soil," according to Dr. Kang Yung Su, president of the Korean Natural Resources Commission.

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Pacifist's Barn Burns; Police Checking for Arson
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Special to the New York Times

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^[[Who is the director? [[underlined]] HKB. [[/underlined]] [[arrow pointing to third paragraph of newspaper text]]

^[[stamp]] OCT 16 1966 [[/stamp]] ^[[N.Y. Times]]