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Background: The Northern Hemisphere forest ecosystem is a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the subalpine zone stores large amounts of carbon; however, their magnitude and distribution of stored carbon are still unclear. Results: To clarify the carbon distribution and carbon budget in the subalpine zone at volcanic Jeju Island, Korea, we report the C stock and changes therein owing to vegetation form, litter production, forest floor, and soil, and soil respiration between 2014 and 2016, for three subalpine forest ecosystems, namely, Abies koreana forest, Taxus cuspidata forest, and Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii forest. Organic carbon distribution of vegetation and NPP were bigger in the A. koreana forest than in the other two forests. However, the amount of soil organic carbon distribution was the highest in the J. chinensis var. sargentii forest. Compared to the amount of organic carbon distribution (AOCD) of aboveground vegetation (57.15 t C ha−1) on the subalpine-alpine forest in India, AOCD of vegetation in the subalpine forest in Mt. Halla was below 50%, but AOCD of soil in Mt. Halla was higher. We also compared our results of organic carbon budget in subalpine forest at volcanic island with data synthesized from subalpine forests in various countries. Conclusions: The subalpine forest is a carbon reservoir that stores a large amount of organic carbon in the forest soils and is expected to provide a high level of ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]