Abstract
More than 130,000 residents are dwelling in 550 villages or residential areas covering 100K$m^2$ in the twenty national parks of Korea. Building new houses, additions, reconstruction, and certain kinds of land uses are prohibited in the residential areas of the national parks. Residents and park officials were interviewed and surveyed to discover problems and to suggest new management policies. Two of the mountain region national parks were studied, and the results are : First, it is recommended to amend the National Parks Act in order to list explicitly those facilities allowed in residential areas. Also the Act should enalble residential area management planning. The Residential area survey period should be shortened to 5 years instead local governments and the National Parks Authority offices. It is recommended that the NPA offices take over this responsibility completely. Thirds, some residential areas are better off to be excluded from the parks and the Boundaries of many residential areas are inappropriate and need to be adjusted. Fourth, as the number of visitors increase rapidly, the residential areas serve as tourist centers. The "Ecotourism" concept is to be introduced so that the residents can take part in ecotourism promotion. Fifth, the residents should be and well informed of residential area management policies and regulations.gulations.
