Reservations will now be required to trek up Hallasan Mountain.
The new policy will begin next month, and reservations for early February have already been closed.
Due to the new change, some trekkers may be denied entry to the mountain.
The Province asks for understanding and cooperation.
Joseph Kim reports.

Reservations will be required to hike to the top of Hallasan Mountain through the (성판악) Seongpanak and (관음사) Gwaneumsa Trails beginning next month.
This is the trekking reservation website.
A reservation is attempted.
A message of "Fully Booked" appears.
Reservations for the (성판악) Seongpanak Trail on weekends between the 1st and 15th of February have been closed.
For the (관음사) Gwaneumsa Trail, weekend reservations are full until February 8th.
The reservation system is open one month in advance.
Reservations for February are quickly being filled.

As soon as the system was opened in early January, weekends of early February were fully booked.
Between 1,000 and 3,000 trekkers use the (성판악) Seongpanak Trail a day during the weekends.
Beginning next month, the number of trekkers will be limited to 1,000 for the (성판악) Seongpanak Trail and 500 for the (관음사) Gwaneumsa Trail per day.
There could be some trekkers who don't realize the change and are refused for the time being.
The Province asks for understanding and cooperation for the change.
It says the reservation system can break up trekkers to other less popular trails, which can prevent dangerous illegal parking on the shoulder of hilly roads.


If there are any canceled bookings, an unprepared trekker can buy the ticket at the ticketbox. Otherwise, tickets are not available.
The province announced the trekking reservation system is being run through December on a trial basis, and is planning to expand the system to cover all other trails on Hallasan Mountain.

Joseph Kim, KCTV