What was removed from the valley?

Ninety-two structures that were illegally occupying the Dohak-dong valley, together with roughly 356 tonnes of waste. They were the accumulated infrastructure of long-standing private use of public land.

Which animals returned?

Seventeen species were recorded by camera traps over three months, including the yellow-throated marten and the northern goshawk. Both are listed as Class II endangered wildlife in Korea, and both need continuous, undisturbed habitat rather than simply clean ground.

Can I visit Palgongsan?

Yes, and it costs nothing — no Korean national park charges admission. It sits on the edge of Daegu and is reachable by public transport from the city, which makes it one of the more accessible parks in the country.

When did Palgongsan become a national park?

In 2023, as Korea's twenty-third, having previously been a provincial park. Bringing its valleys back into public condition is part of what that redesignation was intended to allow.

News·Korea National Park Service

Ninety-two illegal structures cleared from a Palgongsan valley, and the animals came back

Kang Shin-wookPublished 22 September 2026Updated 21 September 20265 sources checkedEditorial policy 이 글을 한국어로 읽기

Korea National Park Service

The Korea National Park Service removed 92 illegally occupying structures from the Dohak-dong valley in Palgongsan National Park and disposed of about 356 tonnes of waste. Three months of camera-trap monitoring afterwards recorded seventeen wild species using the valley again, including the yellow-throated marten and the northern goshawk, both listed as Class II endangered wildlife in Korea.

In short

Ninety-two structures illegally occupying the Dohak-dong valley in Palgongsan National Park were removed, along with about 356 tonnes of waste.
Three months of camera-trap monitoring afterwards recorded seventeen wild species using the valley again.
Two of them — the yellow-throated marten and the northern goshawk — are listed as Class II endangered wildlife in Korea.
Palgongsan became a national park in 2023, and clearing long-standing private occupation of its valleys is part of what that change is for.

A yellow-throated marten at the edge of a valley stream, its throat and chest bright yellow and its head black. — The yellow-throated marten is Palgongsan National Park's flagship species — a reference photograph of the species, not an animal photographed at Palgongsan. Photo: Sasidharanmanekkara / Wikimedia Commons

Palgongsan, on the edge of Daegu, was designated a national park in 2023 — the twenty-third — after decades as a provincial park. Designation is not only a change of signage: it brings the land under a national management regime that can act on things a provincial authority had tolerated. The clearance of the Dohak-dong valley is what that looks like in practice.

What was there

Valleys close to a large city attract semi-permanent private use: decking over the stream, platforms, huts, fencing, the infrastructure of a business that has quietly occupied public land. Ninety-two such structures were removed here, and about 356 tonnes of material was taken out with them. That tonnage is the part worth pausing on — it is the accumulated weight of something that was never supposed to be there.

An unmanned enforcement unit and an information sign at the entrance to the valley. — The unmanned enforcement unit at the valley entrance. Photo: Korea National Park Service · Original

Surveyors recording vegetation in the valley after the structures were cleared. — A vegetation survey in the cleared valley. Photo: Korea National Park Service · Original

What came back

The park then left camera traps in the valley for three months. Seventeen wild species were recorded using it. Two of them are on Korea's Class II endangered list: the yellow-throated marten, a large and conspicuously active mustelid that ranges widely and needs connected habitat, and the northern goshawk, a woodland raptor that hunts under the canopy.

A motion-triggered camera strapped to a tree, the valley behind it. — One of the motion-triggered cameras left in the valley. Photo: Korea National Park Service · Original

Neither is a species that returns to a place because it has been made pretty. They return because a stream corridor has become continuous again, and because the disturbance has stopped.

A close view of a yellow-throated marten, its bright yellow throat and black head clearly visible. — The marten's bright yellow throat and black head — a species reference photograph, not an animal photographed at Palgongsan. Photo: Rushenb / Wikimedia Commons

A yellow-throated marten up on its hind legs, looking around. — A marten up on its hind legs — a species reference photograph, not an animal photographed at Palgongsan. Photo: tontantravel / Wikimedia Commons

A northern goshawk perched on a branch, its white eyebrow stripe and yellow iris distinct. — The goshawk's eyebrow stripe and yellow iris — a species reference photograph, not a bird photographed at Palgongsan. Photo: Jevgenijs Slihto / Wikimedia Commons

Why this matters for visitors

Palgongsan is free to enter, like every national park in Korea, and is reachable on public transport from Daegu.
Valley restoration generally means a stretch of water you can walk beside rather than past the back of somebody's decking.
The designated entry-time system applies here as elsewhere — check the board at the trailhead before starting up.
Camera traps remain in use in national parks. Keep to marked trails, which is both the rule and the reason monitoring works.

A trail along the Palgongsan ridge under a sunset sky. — The ridge trail at Palgongsan at sunset. Photo: Elvinamonica / Wikimedia Commons

The view along the ridge from the summit of Inbong at Palgongsan. — The summit of Inbong and the ridge beyond. Photo: HwangHuang / Wikimedia Commons

Frequently asked questions

Q. What was removed from the valley?: Ninety-two structures that were illegally occupying the Dohak-dong valley, together with roughly 356 tonnes of waste. They were the accumulated infrastructure of long-standing private use of public land.
Q. Which animals returned?: Seventeen species were recorded by camera traps over three months, including the yellow-throated marten and the northern goshawk. Both are listed as Class II endangered wildlife in Korea, and both need continuous, undisturbed habitat rather than simply clean ground.
Q. Can I visit Palgongsan?: Yes, and it costs nothing — no Korean national park charges admission. It sits on the edge of Daegu and is reachable by public transport from the city, which makes it one of the more accessible parks in the country.
Q. When did Palgongsan become a national park?: In 2023, as Korea's twenty-third, having previously been a provincial park. Bringing its valleys back into public condition is part of what that redesignation was intended to allow.

Sources

Official notice (Korean)

Written in our own words from the sources above, never copied from them, and every date and price checked against at least two pages. The originals are in Korean. Spotted a mistake? Ask for a correction.