S-Oil has invited 100 children from low-income families to Togomi Village in the Demilitarized Zone in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, for a tour that started Tuesday.

The children will learn about local ecology and explore habitats of natural treasures such as the otter and “orumachi,” or cyprinid fish, until Aug. 9, company officials said.

S-Oil also provides activities such as picking corn, pounding boiled rice for rice cakes and making handkerchiefs with grass leaves. The children will experience rural life through these activities, according to the officials.

S-Oil has run this ecology camp for five years. It signed a convention on safeguarding natural treasures with the Cultural Heritage Administration in 2008, and has worked to protect endangered species and their habitats.

(dunhil-mint@hanmail.net)