South Korea location map topography with taebaek mountains marked

The Taebaek Mountains are a mountain range that stretches across

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 ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. They form the main ridge of the

Korean peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Geography

The Taebaek mountains are located along the eastern edge of the peninsula and run along the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. The Hwangnyong Mountain in North Korea (1268 meters) forms the northern end of the range.

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

lies at the southern end of this mountain range, thus making the mountain range a total length of over 500 kilometers, averaging about 1000 meters in height. Prominent peaks of the range include Mount Seoraksan (1,708 m), Mount Kumgangsan (1,638 m), Mount Taebaeksan (1,566.7 m) and Mount Odaesan (1,563 m). To the east, the mountain range falls steeply into the sea, but to the west, there are more gentle slopes. Many spurs stretch southwest. The most important rivers of South Korea, the Han River and the

Nakdong River The Nakdonggang River or Nakdonggang () is the longest river in South Korea, and passes through major cities such as Daegu and Busan. It takes its name from its role as the eastern border of the Gaya confederacy during Korea's Three Kingdoms Er ...

, both originate in the Taebaek Mountains.

Ecology

Many of the slopes are extensively covered in forests.

Industry

Economically the Taebaek mountains are important for the mining of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

, fluorite, and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

Attractions

Manggyeongsa Temple in Hyeol-dong

Taebaek Taebaek () is a city in Gangwon province, South Korea. Its name is shared with that of the Taebaek Mountains. Situated at an elevation of , Taebaek is the highest city in South Korea. Attractions Manggyeongsa Temple in Hyeol-dong, at an elevation ...

, Gangwon-do Province at an altitude of 1,460 meters on Mount Taebaeksan, is a temple built to enshrine the statue of the Bodhisattva of wisdom. It was built by

Jajang Jajang (590–658) was a monk born Kim Seonjong, into the royal Kim family, in the kingdom of Silla. He is credited with founding the temple of Tongdosa in 646 CE, near in what is now Busan, South Korea, and played a significant role in the ...

, a

Silla Dynasty Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of Ko ...

monk. The "Dragon Spring" at the entrance of the temple is known as the highest spring in Korea.Cin Woo Le
"Simply stunning: 33 incredible Korean temples"
''CNN Go''. 10 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-12 The

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

took place in

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, Gangwon-do, located in the mountains. Taebaek is also a name of a

poomsae The Korean terms hyeong, pumsae, poomsae and teul (meaning "form" or "pattern") are all used to refer to martial arts forms that are typically used in Korean martial arts such as Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do. * Hyeong is often romanized as ''hyu ...

that is performed by the 3rd Dan black belts in Tae Kwon Do. Taebaek is mostly practised in Southern South Korea.

References

{{Coord, 38, 13, 29, N, 128, 11, 7, E, type:mountain_region:KR, display=title Mountain ranges of South Korea Mountain ranges of North Korea

Geography

Ecology

Industry

Attractions

See also

References