The national parks of South Korea take up an area of 6,726 km2, which accounts for 6.7% of the national land. They are national conservation areas with their area made up of 59.1% of land (3,972.6 km2) and 40.9% of seawaters (2,753.7 km2). And in 2019, the national parks are classified by type into 17 mountainous, 4 maritime or coastal, and 1 historical site. Here, the maritime or coastal nation parks are lately spotlighted as landmarks in maritime tourism. However, the area of the maritime or coastal national parks is continuously dwindling due to conflicts between the residents in the parks and Korea national park service, the continued pressure with respect to the regional tourism development and private investments, and the abolition of parks in relation to allegedly breached private properties. This study identifies the issues with the operation and management of national parks as caused by the abolition of parks and the reduction of areas, and goes from there to do research with the aim of suggesting an institutionalized improvement plan with a view to more useful operation and management of the maritime or coastal national parks. As a result, the natural resources in the sea and on land should be surveyed again to establish the standard for use-specific zoning and reorganize the park areas in adjusting the national park areas. Second, the use-specific districts need to be reviewed for their reorganization that meets the designation requirements by focusing on the characteristics of the different national parks with a view to ensuring reasonable natural conservation in the maritime or coastal national parks. Third, various support facilities for residents such as public path, lodgings, and rentals need to be created to reduce the conflicts between Korea national park service and those who live in the parks.

National parks, which are preserved areas of 6,726.298 km2(3,972.589 km2 on land and 2,753.709 km2, at sea), take up 6.71% of the national territory, and they are classified by type into 17 mountain parks, 4 maritime or coastal parks, and 1 historical site park. Of them all, the maritime or coastal national parks, which are preserved areas covering wide tracts of maritime, lately attract increasing numbers of visitors. In this light, this study identifies the issues with the maritime or coastal national parks such as the changes in the number of visitors and the unbalance involved in the budget execution, based on the visitors to the national parks and the specifics of budget executed for them. On this basis, the study has conducted the research with a view to suggesting improvements for more useful management and operation of the maritime or coastal national parks. As a result, the study has reached the following conclusions. First, to accommodate those who want to visit the maritime or coastal national parks, the tour infrastructure needs to be expanded to guide the visitors’ use of the facilities by focusing on their touring behavior and characteristics. Second, budget should be acquired through diversifying revenue structure to eliminate hugely unbalanced budget. Third, visitors nowadays come to national parks for recreational experience or to tour nature, but the maritime or coastal national parks focus on cultural facilities. To accommodate the visitors’ needs, the parks should get diversified visitor facilities that reflect the regional characteristics.