Background: Five ministries are involved in estimating the greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory in the South Korean land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sectors. However, these ministries have not established a consistent land classification standard between land-use categories. Therefore, the GHG inventory is estimated at the approach 1 level. Moreover, the settlements category is not estimated because activity data and the spatial scope are lacking.Result: We examined 10 sets of spatiotemporal data in South Korea to construct a land-use change matrix. To maintain consistency in the spatial classification within the LULUCF sectors, we constructed a land-use change matrix using cadastral maps, which provide useful spatial data for consistent land-use classification of the land-use change matrix in South Korea. The land-use change matrix from a cadastral map was divided into remaining and land-converted settlements between 2000 and 2019 with estimated areas of 878,393.17 and 203,260.42 ha, respectively. CO2 emissions, according to Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change’s Guideline Tier 1, were calculated 18,942,905.68 tCO2 for 20 years, with an annual CO2 emission of 1,262,860.38 tCO2 yr-1. Conclusion: The reviewed available spatial data, method of land-use change matrix, and GHG inventory will facilitate the use of approach 3 for the land-use change matrix in South Korea’s LULUCF sectors and more accurate estimations of the GHG inventory.