The Mount Myohyang (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 묘향산 - "''Mysterious Fragrant Mountain''") is a mountain in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. It is named after the mystic shapes and fragrances found in the area. It is a sacred site as, according to legend, it was the home of King Tangun, forefather of the Korean people.

Tourism

Myohyang is a North Korean tourist attraction and visited by many national tourists. There are several hiking routes on the mountain. Apart from the view, tourists are attracted by the

Pohyon temple Pohyon-sa is a Korean Buddhist temple located in Hyangsan county in North Pyong'an Province, North Korea. It is located within the Myohyang Mountains. Founded under the Koryo dynasty at the start of the 11th century, the temple flourished as ...

, built in the 11th century, the Sangwon hermitage, the Kumgang hermitage, and the Habiro hermitage. The Ryongmun cavern is open to the public. At Myohyang-san is the

International Friendship Exhibition The International Friendship Exhibition is a large museum complex located at Myohyangsan, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. It is a collection of halls that house gifts presented to former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il from various forei ...

centre, dubbed the world's biggest treasure-house. On exhibit are presents received by North Korean leaders over the years. One building stores the presents given to

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

, while a smaller one holds those given to his son

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

. The

Hyangsan Hotel Hyangsan County is a ''kun'', or county, in North P'yŏngan province, North Korea. It was established, following the division of Korea, from portions of Nyŏngbyŏn county. The area of Myohyangsan mountain, which stands on the county's border, h ...

caters to luxury visitors, while the Chongchon Hotel is second-class.

Environment

Much of the mountain is covered by mixed broadleaf and coniferous forest and protected in a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

. Some has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA).

World Biosphere Reserve

In 2009

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

designated Mount Myohyang a world

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

, citing its cultural significance as well as the spectacular cliffs providing habitat for 30

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

plant species, 16 plant species that are threatened globally and 12 endangered animal species.

References

External links

''Ryongmun Cavern'' picture album
at

Naenara Naenara () is the official web portal of the North Korean government. It was the first website in North Korea, and was created in 1996. The portal's categories include politics, tourism, music, foreign trade, arts, press, information technology, ...

''Hyangsan Hotel'' picture album
at Naenara
Another picture album
at Naenara Mountains of North Korea Biosphere reserves of North Korea Important Bird Areas of North Korea {{Asia-protected-area-stub