In 1968, amid the rapid industrialization of Korea, a quiet tragedy unfolded in a small river village in North Gyeongsang Province. The last known breeding pair of black storks in Korea vanished, driven out by habitat destruction and human encroachment. For nearly six decades, the majestic bird — a towering creature with iridescent black plumage, a stark white belly and a crimson beak — has existed on the peninsula only as a fleeting winter visitor, with fewer than 20 birds sighted nationwide each year. Now, an ambitious international effort aims to restore the lost species to Korea's skies. The National Institute of Ecology, a government research agency operating under Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, said Wednesday that it launched a joint ecological restoration project with the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia. Under a comprehensive five-year bilateral agreement signed in Ulaanbaatar, wildlife scientists from both countries are preparing to import healthy wild black storks from Mongolia to establish a self-sustaining breeding population i