The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. The country’s real gross domestic product (GDP) has increased about sixteen-fold since 1970, while its share of urban population doubled in the period, from 40.7% in 1970 to 81.9% in 2009 (OECD, 2012e). Moreover, as most of Korea’s large metropolitan areas have developed in a piecemeal way in this brief period, the best use of limited land resources has become a major concern of urban policy makers.