Methodology — The National Parks Index
- Source
- KNPS Basic Statistics of National Parks (국립공원기본통계) — the annual statistical publication of the Korea National Park Service (국립공원공단), via knps.or.kr. License: KOGL Type 1 (공공누리 제1유형 — 출처표시). Year: 2025. Retrieved 2026-08-29. Our park totals cross-check exactly against the publication’s own grand total — the build fails if they ever diverge.
- How the ranking works
- Parks are sorted by annual reported visits; the growth badge compares against 2024. Odongdo (a reference row inside Hallyeohaesang, counted by the local government) is excluded to avoid double counting.
- Update cadence
- Annual — the source publishes once a year, typically mid-year.
Limits worth knowing before you cite this
- Visits are counted at entry points, and mountains have many. Park counts mix ticketed gates, counters and estimates; an urban park with dozens of informal entrances (Bukhansan) is measured differently from an island marine park.
- Two parks carry footnotes. Hallasan is tallied by the Jeju provincial government rather than KNPS, and Palgongsan was only designated a national park in late 2023 — its growth badge reads “new” because there is no comparable prior year.
- National parks are not all of Korean hiking. Provincial parks and city mountains (Gwanaksan, Inwangsan) draw huge crowds and are simply outside this statistic’s scope.