Development rules on parks partially eased

The government yesterday said it will ease development restrictions on some areas in 20 national parks.

About 2 to 3 percent of land used for residential towns and amenity facilities will be released from the regulations.

Portions of park land that have decayed due to roads and rivers, along with regions located near shorelines, state roads and national park boundaries are also included in the government`s list of to-be-disbanded park land, the Environment Ministry said.

The ministry also lowered the number of special purpose zones within the park land from five to three - nature preservation zones, natural environment zones and village zones.

Areas bundled as village zones will be relieved from some construction regulations: an expansion in total size for residential buildings from 100 square meters to 200 square meters.

Land owners will only have to make reports to state authorities to go ahead with construction projects within the village zone. They are currently required to receive state authorization before doing so.

In the meantime, public land deemed to be preserved for its high ecological and cultural value will be transferred into the national park category after examining the ecosystem of such regions by yearend, ministry officials said.

The ministry said it will finalize its national park restructuring plan by the second half of next year after conducting further negotiations with related government branches.

Such plans were announced after the Korea Environment Institute undertook a research on national parks across the nation from March-December of last year.

It was found that 39 percent of the park land belonged to private parties, resulting in an increasing number of people filing lawsuits, from 17 cases in 1997 to 43 cases in 2007. Those who owned park land argued that their right to private ownership was being infringed.

The ministry said it was also difficult to fully manage national parks with a considerable figure of citizens living within the national park boundaries. About 24,700 families were counted to be living in the related areas, said ministry officials.

To deal with such problems, the ministry plans to expand the resident support project with an increase in this year`s funding, to 6.1 billion won ($4.41 million) in 2009, up from 3.4 billion won in 2008, officials said.

It will also implement several new measures such as constructing special prevention areas, allowing people to make reservations to explore restricted areas and building eco-villages for visitors to take home an eco-friendly experience, said ministry officials.

Since naming Mount Jiri as the first national park in 1967, the total area for the national parks across the nation now add up to 6,580 square kilometers, according to the ministry.

By Cho Ji-hyun



(sharon@heraldm.com)