Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 p.39; Type locality- Sweden; Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.218; Won, 1968 p.249; Corbet, 1978 p.161; Han, 1994 p.46; Won & Smith, 1999 p.15; Oh, 2004a p.147.
Lupus laniger Hodgson, 1847a p.474; Type locality- Tibet
C. chanco Gray, 1863 p.94; Type locality- Chinese Tartary.
C. lupus coreanus Abe, 1923 p.383; Type locality- Korea; Kishida & Mori, 1931 p.379.
C. lupus laniger: Kuroda, 1938 p.36.
C. lupus chanco: Tate, 1947 p.160; Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.219; Won, 1958 p.441; Won, 1967 p.139; Won, 1968 p.251; Yoon, 1992 p.91.
Range: The original distribution of the Eurasian wolf extended throughout the Korean Peninsula (Jo & Baccus 2015). The population declined severely during the Japanese incursion (1910–1945). Several individuals were recorded around Mt. Baekdu until the 1990s (Jin & Ouh 1990), but their current status is uncertain (Fig. 58).
Remarks: The Korean wolf was first classified as C. l. coreanus Abe, 1923, which then was synonymized with C. l. chanco (Won 1967). However, the designation of C. l. chanco as a synonym of C. l. lupus was disputed, because C l. chanco was the name for the Tibetan wolf with a distribution in Central Asia. Although wolves in Korea were classified as C. l. chanco, Korea was outside the distribution compared to the countries listed within the distribution. Abe (1936) stated that C. l. coreanus in the Korean Peninsula was clearly different from the continental form. Recent mtDNA results indicated that coreanus is a synonym of the subspecies C. l. lupus Linnaeus, 1758 (Aggarwal et al. 2003, 2007).
Conservation status: The Red Data Book of South Korea listed C. lupus as ‘Regionally Extinct’ (NIBR 2012). Since wild populations had almost reached extirpation, the North Korean Government classified this species as ‘Vulnerable’ (MAB National Committee of DPR Korea 2002). In 1997, the Ministry of Environment designated C. lupus as an endangered species in South Korea. The wolf became exterminated in South Korea and across most of North Korea in the last century (Jo & Baccus 2015). C. lupus has protection under CITES Appendix II.