Methodology — The National Parks Index

Source: 2025 National Park Visitor Statistics press release (2025년 전국 국립공원 탐방객 보도자료) — the annual statistical publication of the Korea National Park Service (국립공원공단), via the official Korea Policy Briefing release. 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 completed annual figures are published in an official release the following 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.