The legal definition of forest welfare, under the Forest Welfare Promotion Act (Article 2), is "economic, social, and emotional assistance designed to enhance the people's wellbeing through government provided, forest-based welfare services."

In 2001, the Korea Forest Service declared the construction of a forest welfare country to realize a forest welfare country where people and forests coexist and can have a symbiotic relationship.

In 2010, the Korea Forest Service introduced the “G7 Project” based on the slogan: “From Cradle to Grave,” which specified systems of forest welfare services specific to the entire life-cycle, from birth to death.

Customized forest welfare by life cycle provides people with opportunities to improve their health through various organized services utilizing forests. These range from prenatal care for fetuses and mothers, emotional development of little children and adolescents, forest leisure sports and recreation programs for adults to improve immunity and maintain physical health, forest education and therapy programs for stress reduction, and finally, to memorial parks for the deceased.