Residential building energy consumption is a very important issue to enhance the holistic energy efficiency in Korea. Reasonable energy conservation in residential buildings can be achieved by enhancing building energy efficiency, market transformation, education and policy change. However abrupt change in a nation can cause side-effects. In this study, the barriers which hamper the energy conservation in Korea were investigated through the analysis over the literature, previous study and statistical data. Diverse barriers were derived through this study and the results are categorized to three major classes : technical barriers, social economical barriers and political barriers. Not-sufficient low-energy product, less experienced engineer and the ambiguousness of the embodied energy were the major technical barriers. The previous studies and statistical data indicates the relationship between individual wealth and energy consumption. Furthermore, Rebound effects, lessened attraction of the residential business model and un-organized policy were the social economic and political barriers.