Ulreung Island and Baekdudaegan Foresets to Be Designated as National Parks

Ulreungdo, Dokdo and the sea area between the two islands, which are considered as ecological treasure houses, are likely to be designated as national parks as early as the end of next year.

And like Mt. Seoraksan, Mt. Odaesan and Mt. Girisan, natural forests in Baekdudaegan, a chain of mountains that ranges from Mt. Baekdusan, Mt. Geumgangsan, Mt. Seoraksan Mt. Girisan, will be added on the list of national parks.

The Ministry of Environment announced on Thursday the first basic plan on natural parks, including the national park designation, and said that it would implement this plan until 2012.

It is said that Korea`s per capita national park space is only 80 sq. meters, far short of Canada with 5678 sq. meters, the U.S. with 2767 sq. meters and Japan with 281 sq. meters. Against this backdrop, the Environment Ministry has decided to add areas surrounding Ulreungdo and Baedudaegan natural forests to the national park list.

For this, the Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environment Institute are conducting joint field research in the sea areas around Ulreung Island and they will finish investigations into the areas for appropriateness of the designation until next February.

Then after public hearings, consultation with related government ministries and the deliberation by the national park committee, the Ministry is scheduled to officially designate Ulreugdo, Dokdo and the surrounding sea areas as a marine national park.

Since July 1988, when the Byeonsan Peninsula and Mt. Wolchulsan were designated as a national park, there have been no designations.

And the Ministry also plans to raise existing provincial or county parks that have great ecosystems to the status of a national park and include areas surrounding such natural parks that are worth preservation into national park zones.

Meanwhile, the Ministry plans to promote effective management of natural parks, including national park, and to try to buy as much privately owned land within parks as possible to reduce complaints from private landowners against limitations to land use.

Currently, privately owned land accounts for 43% of the total space of national parks, 73% of provincial parks and 68% of county parks.

In Korea, there are 20 national parks with a combined space of 6472 sq. kilometers, 22 provincial parks (742 sq. kilometers) and 31 country parks (429 sq. kilometers.

Kyung-Joon Chung news91@donga.com