Natural Parks Act revision passes; Jogye Order hails 'milestone' for public enjoyment

The General Affairs Department of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism welcomed the National Assembly's passage of an amendment to the Natural Parks Act.

The Jogye Order said Monday the revision "will mark a pivotal turning point, moving natural park policy beyond its existing conservation framework — centered on natural ecosystems and scenery — toward an integrated management system that also takes into account the value of cultural heritage and cultural landscapes."

The amended Natural Parks Act, which passed the National Assembly's plenary session on June 18, introduces a new concept of "park resources" encompassing both tangible and intangible assets that make up natural parks. The revision also requires national and local governments to assess the economic and social value of natural parks and promote that value to the public.

The Jogye Order had long argued that the Natural Parks Act, with its heavy emphasis on environmental conservation, treated traditional temples inside national parks as objects of regulation rather than cultural heritage sites, and had called for deregulation. Traditional temples and temple forests within natural parks have played an important role in shaping both natural and cultural landscapes over centuries, but critics noted that their cultural and historical value had not been adequately recognized under natural park policy.

The General Affairs Department said the amendment expands the concept of park resources to include cultural landscapes and broadens the range of permitted activities within park cultural heritage zones, making it possible to run practice, education, interpretation and experiential programs using temple forests and cultural landscapes. It expressed hope that the change "will serve as an opportunity for natural parks to develop beyond mere conservation spaces into places where the public can experience and enjoy both nature and cultural heritage together."

The order also praised an earlier expansion in April of the designation criteria for park cultural heritage zones — under which the radius around head temples was extended from 300 meters to 500 meters, hermitages holding cultural assets from 100 meters to 200 meters, and general hermitages from 50 meters to 100 meters. It called the move "a meaningful achievement reflecting the cultural landscape concept — preserving cultural heritage alongside the surrounding natural environment — in natural park policy, and the result of the state institutionally recognizing the value of the natural and cultural heritage preserved by traditional temples."

The Jogye Order said the amendment to the Natural Parks Act is "the starting point for a future-oriented natural park policy in which nature and cultural heritage coexist," adding that it would actively cooperate in conserving natural parks and promoting public enjoyment of culture, drawing on the ecological and cultural value of the roughly 87,000 hectares of temple forests and traditional temple cultural heritage sites across the country.