• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.81-91
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• 2021

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea did not have direct legislation on natural environmental conservation until the early 1970s when the regime was still in the early stage. The Law on Land was enacted in 1977 to provide the legal basis for protecting the natural environment, including land protection, protection zones, and forest formation and protection. The enactment of the Law on Environmental Protection in 1986 made progress on environmental conservation in the DPRK. The constitutional amendment in 1992 stipulated "the preservation and creation of the natural environment as the responsibility of the state." Based on the Framework Law on Environmental Protection, subordinate statutes in various fields were enacted after the1990s. While the committee designated and managed the protected zones in the early days, the Framework Law on Environmental Protection established the ground for the designation of legally protected areas, and the Law on Protection of Scenic Spots and Natural Monuments enacted in 1995, and the Law on Environmental Protection enacted in 2009 provided the details. Furthermore, the types of nature reserves include biosphere reserves, primeval forest reserves, animal reserves, plant reserves, and scenic reserves. The 2nd National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan established in 2007 based on the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) stated 326 protected zones in the DPRK. However, the 2018 United Nations list of Protected Areas shows only 31 registered zones, indicating the need to establish basic information on protected areas in DPRK. This study can provide basic information for a better understanding of the nature conservation system in the DPRK. Considering that environmental protection activities such as protection of endangered species and recovery of environmental pollution are subject to exceptions under the current sanctions against North Korea (UN Security Council, the United States), it will be possible to contribute to identifying possible inter-Korean cooperation projects in the field of the natural environment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.110-123
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• 2022

Namsan Park in Seoul was designated as a "grand park" in 1954 and is currently operated as an 'Urban Nature Park Area' and four 'neighborhood parks.' However, despite the park's historical and cultural value as an urban park, it has been discussed mainly from a perspective revolving around notions of a mountain or a city wall. To ensure a comprehensive exploration of Namsan Park's history, this study examined public records at the Seoul Metropolitan Archives (SMA), which houses the city's permanent records for preservation and organization. To this end, documents in the SMA Database (DB) were analyzed, yielding 1,359 records concerning Namsan Park. Based on the contents, general characteristics of the urban park were identified through production periods, record types, and disclosure types. Then, essential keywords concerning organizations, people, geographical areas, subjects, and business functions were examined. Finally, the contents and characteristics of Namsan Park in public records were scrutinized, focusing on specific spaces. This research also uncovered important information, such as park drawings, photos, planting lists, plant parcel lists, and significant discussions and decisions regarding the operation and management of the park. Although the public records do not contain a comprehensive history of Namsan Park, it was possible to check the primary historical changes and deliberation processes pertaining to the park's history. Therefore, continuous research intended to interpret and describe public records is expected to identify many implications. In addition, because the public records showed heterogeneous characteristics that center on specific periods and events, an essential task is to advance collaboration and networking with various related institutions, designers, researchers, and citizens.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.553-565
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• 2022

Awareness of the ecological value and importance of protected areas has increased as climate change accelerates, and there is a need for research on ecosystem services provided by nature. The natural park, which is a representative protected area in Korea, has a system of national parks, provincial parks, and county parks. National parks are managed systematically by the Korea National Park Service, but local governments manage provincial parks and county parks. There may be the same hierarchical differences in naturalness (habitat quality) depending on the hierarchy of the natural parks, but it has not been verified. To identify differences, we examined 22 mountain-type natural parks using habitat quality using the INVEST model developed by Stanford University. The analysis of the habitat quality, regardless of the type and area of the natural park, showed that it was higher in the order of Taebaeksan National Park (0.89), Juwangsan National Park (0.87), Woongseokbong County Park (0.86), and Gayasan National Park (0.85). The larger the area, the higher the value of habitat quality. A comparison of natural parks with similar areas showed that the habitat quality of national parks was higher than that of provincial parks and parks. On the other hand, the average habitat quality of county parks was 0.83±0.02, which was 0.05 higher than that of provincial parks at 0.78±0.03. Furthermore, the higher the proportion of forest areas within the natural park, the higher the habitat quality. The results confirmed that the naturalness of natural parks was independent of their hierarchy and that there are differences in naturalness depending on land use, land coverage, and park management.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.17-33
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• 2024

This study suggests management planning of Bonguisan Neighborhood Park located on the central of Chuncheon city and highly used for citizen's rest and leisure space utilizing its vegetation structure feature. Bonguisan has been the central of the chuncheon since the period of the Three states in Korean history and consistently damaged, especially in present era, an isolation and sererance of its ecosystem has deepen for indiscreet urban development. The percentage of actual vegetation of Boinguisan Neighborhood Park is as follows: Quercus mongolica is 28.5%, Quercus mongolica - Quercus serrata is 2.1%, Pinus densiflora is 15.6%, Pinus densiflora - Quercus mongolica is 15.9%, Betula schmidtii is 1.6%, Robinia pseudoacacia is 5.9%, Pinus koraiensis is 1.6%. Quercus mongolica is distributed on the southwest, northwest, southeast side of region, Pinus densiflora is distributed on the ridge of east and southeast side of region, Betula schmidtii is distributed on the valley of northeast side region and steep slope region which is on the north side of chungwonsa temple. Pinus densiflora community (Comm. I) and Quercus acutissima - Robinia pseudoacacia community (Comm. V) is expected to undergo succession since it's categorized as Quercus spp. and Quercus mongolica community (Comm. II) and Quercus serrata-Quercus mongolica community (Comm. III), Betula schmidtii community (Comm. IV), Pinus koraiensis community (Comm. VI) is expected to maintain. Also for target vegetation and management planning, Vegetation of Bonguisan Neighborhood Park is classified as 1st Natural landscape conservation and improvement type, 2nd Ecological succession type, 3rd Unusual community conservation type, and 4th Recreation and experience type. And we suggested ecological management measure about each management types. For efficient management of Bonguisan Neighborhood Park, it is need to unify management system of it and after designating Pinus densiflora community and Betula schmidtii community which has high ecological preservation value as an ecological landscape protected area and manage it.