The Cultural Properties Administration said Monday....the government will apply to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to have the southern island of Jeju listed as a world natural legacy. Officials said...with many inactive volcanos and world-renowned lava caves, Jeju has high research value. They said...a variety of rare creatures and animal species near extinction that are living in the Mount Halla natural protection zone is also a factor. The government is planning to make an application to UNESCO by Feb. 1, 2003. Should the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO bestow the recognition at a meeting scheduled for June 2004, the Jeju natural legacy complex would become South Korea's first UNESCO-registered natural site. Currently the country has seven cultural heritage sites on the UNESCO list.