Korala or Kora La or Koro La ( Nepali: ; literally ''Kora Pass'') is a mountain pass between

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

and

Upper Mustang Upper Mustang (formerly Kingdom of Lo) is an upper part (Northern area) of Mustang District, which is located in Nepal. The ''Upper Mustang'' was a restricted kingdom until 1992 which makes it one of the most preserved regions in the world, with ...

. At only in elevation, it has been considered the lowest drivable path between

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the Ti ...

and the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. It is currently being planned as a vehicle border crossing between China and Nepal.

Geography

Korala is situated on the drainage divide between the

Yarlung Tsangpo The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called D ...

and

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

river basins. At , it is the lowest pass across the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

n mountain range. As such, it forms the key col for K2 on the

ridgeline A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

connecting it to

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

. The

Kali Gandaki River The Gandaki River, also known as the Narayani and the Gandak, is one of the major rivers in Nepal and a left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Its total catchment area amounts to , most of it in Nepal. In the Nepal Himalayas, it is not ...

has its source near the southern side of the pass.

History

Korala is one of the oldest routes between the two regions. It was historically used for

salt trade A salt road (also known as a salt route, salt way, saltway, or salt trading route) refers to any of the prehistoric and historical trade routes by which essential salt was transported to regions that lacked it. From the Bronze Age (in the 2nd ...

between Tibet and Nepalese kingdoms. Up until 2008 when Nepali monarchy was abolished, Upper Mustang was the ''Kingdom of Lo'', an ethnic Tibetan kingdom that was a suzerainty of

Kingdom of Nepal The Kingdom of Nepal ( ne, नेपाल अधिराज्य), also known as the Gorkha Empire ( ne, गोरखा अधिराज्य) or Asal Hindustan ( ne, असल हिन्दुस्तान)(), was a Hindu king ...

. The suzerainty allowed for a certain level of independence in local governance from the Nepalese central government. During the late 1950s and 60s, the Tibetan guerrilla group

Chushi Gangdruk Chushi Gangdruk (, ) was a Khampa Tibetan guerrilla group. Formally organized on 16 June 1958, the Chushi Gangdruk guerrilla fighters fought the forces of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Tibet from 1956 to 1974. The Dokham Chushi Gangd ...

operated out of Upper Mustang with the intention of raiding

PLA PLA may refer to: Organizations Politics and military * People's Liberation Army, the armed forces of China and of the ruling Chinese Communist Party * People's Liberation Army (disambiguation) ** Irish National Liberation Army, formerly called ...

positions in Tibet. This led to a border incident that caused the killing of a Nepalese officer who was mistaken by Chinese border guards as a Tibetan rebel.

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

officially signed border agreement in 1961. The border was set slightly north of the traditional

boundary marker A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other ty ...

. The traditional location of Korala is marked by a

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

lies a bit south of the demarcated border between China and Nepal at . In late December 1999, the 17th claimant

Karmapa The Karmapa (honorific title ''His Holiness the Gyalwa'' ��ྒྱལ་བ་, Victorious One''Karmapa'', more formally as ''Gyalwang'' ��ྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་, King of Victorious Ones''Karmapa'', and informally as the '' ...

Ogyen Trinley Dorje Ogyen Trinley Dorje (, ; born 26 June 1985), also written as Urgyen Trinley Dorje () is a claimant to the title of 17th Karmapa. The Karmapa is head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Ogyen Trinley Do ...

fled Tibet through this area. In response, China built a border fence immediately after. There is a PLA border outpost named "Kunmuja" a few miles on Chinese side, it is the westernmost border outpost in

Tibet Military District The Tibet Military District is a military district of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force. It was first established in 1952, possibly from elements previously part of the 18th Corps. In December 1968 it became part of the Chengdu Military ...

. The outpost was renovated in 2009 to have a modern facility. The border has been closed since the 1960s. However, there is a semiannual cross-border trade fair during which the border is open to local traders. In 2012, Nepal and China agreed to open 6 more official border crossings, Korala being one of them. In July 2016, Nepalese government announced that this border crossing is expected to open, and also expects it to be the third most important crossing between the two countries. , the border infrastructure on the Chinese side has been completed, Nepali authority is in the process of upgrading the road network.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korala Mountain passes of Tibet Mountain passes of China Mustang District Shigatse China–Nepal border crossings Mountain passes of the Himalayas Zhongba County