South Korea invests enormous sums in the restoration of small scale coastal wetlands south of the embanked Saemangeum estuaries, which formerly were used as fish ponds and for other purposes. On the one hand this can be seen as positive sign that the country puts value for its wetlands (as a follow up of a RAMSAR COP). On the other hand the restoration is done by expensive building and restoring of seawalls, creating freshwater, semi-saline and other artificial habitats. More focus needs to be put on protecting the remaining natural tidal flats or extending/restoring marine habitats important for Arctic shorebirds.