Ulleungdo (also spelled Ulreungdo;

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 l ...

: , ) is a South Korean island 120 km (75 mi) east 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 ...

in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, ...

, formerly known as the Dagelet Island or Argonaut Island in Europe. Volcanic in origin, the rocky steep-sided island is the top of a large

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and pe ...

which rises from the seafloor, reaching a maximum elevation of at Seonginbong Peak. The island is in length and in width; it has an area of . It has a population of 10,426 inhabitants. The island makes up the main part of Ulleung County,

North Gyeongsang North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

Province, South Korea and is a popular tourist destination. The main city of Ulleung-do is the port of Dodong (), which serves as the main ferry port between Ulleung-do and the South Korean mainland. After tourism, the main economic activity is fishing, including its well-known harvest of

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting ...

, which can be seen drying in the sun in many places.

History

The island consists primarily of

trachyandesite Trachyandesite is an extrusive igneous rock with a composition between trachyte and andesite. It has little or no free quartz, but is dominated by sodic plagioclase and alkali feldspar. It is formed from the cooling of lava enriched in alkal ...

rock. A major explosive eruption about 9,350 years ago reached a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6 and deposited

tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they re ...

as far as central

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island sepa ...

over away, while producing

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of bu ...

s on the island and decapitating its top to form a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber i ...

. Archaeological evidence indicates that the island has been inhabited since the 1st millennium BC. The first confirmed historical reference to Ulleung-do is in the ''

Samguk Sagi ''Samguk Sagi'' (, ''History of the Three Kingdoms'') is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The ''Samguk Sagi'' is written in Classical Chinese, the written language of the literati of ancient Korea, ...

'' for the year 512. In that year, the

Silla 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 ...

general

Kim Isabu Isabu was a military general and politician of Silla during the 6th century. According to ''Samguk Sagi'', he is the fourth generation descendant of Naemul of Silla. He was also known as Taejong. He is best remembered today for his role in subju ...

conquered the island, which had previously been the autonomous nation of

Usan-guk 280px, "Samguk Sagi" Book 04. Silla's Records. In 512, Usan-guk（于山國）was Ulleungdo（鬱陵島） Usan-guk, or the State of Usan, occupied Ulleung-do and the adjacent islands during the Korean Three Kingdoms period. According to th ...

. Some accounts relate that he used a number of wooden lions to intimidate the population, threatening to turn them loose unless they surrendered. Usan-guk did not remain under the Silla rule, however, and the island did not become a permanent political part of Korea until 930, when it was annexed by

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

. Remote as it is from the Korean mainland, Ulleung-do was a recurrent security headache for the Goryeo and

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and r ...

dynasties. It was devastated by Jurchen pirate raids in the 11th century, and by

Wokou ''Wokou'' (; Japanese: ''Wakō''; Korean: 왜구 ''Waegu''), which literally translates to "Japanese pirates" or "dwarf pirates", were pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century to the 16th century.An Yong-bok. In response to these difficulties, Joseon adopted an "empty-island" policy which however proved impossible to enforce. The empty-island policy was officially rescinded in 1881, after which the government sought to encourage additional settlement of Ulleungdo. American whaleships cruised for

right whale Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are clas ...

s off the island between 1848 and 1892. Some went ashore nearby Jukdo to club

pinniped Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walr ...

Geography

Ulleungdo is a volcanic island that rose from the seabed between the third and fourth

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configurat ...

periods, and the part of the island is near the peak of the mountain. It is the summit of the longitudinal

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

, which was created by volcanic activity during the 3rd and 4th Cenozoic Era, and consists of

trachyte Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava enriched with silica and ...

, andesite, and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low- viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron ( mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More tha ...

. Hot spot volcanic activity by the General Yi Sa-bu seamount, dissolved Simheungtaek seamount and Liancourt Rocks and Ulleung Island with An Yong-bok seamount was created as well. Liancourt Rocks is 4.6 million years ago estimated 2.5 million years ago, and the creation of Ulleungdo to us, 2.5 million years ago in 5,000 years ago. There is Seonginbong Peak in the center of the island. In the northern part of the island is the only flat basin, the Nari Basin. The Nari Basin was formed from caldera in the crater of the volcano, which was shaped like a Cheonji or Baekrokdam, but the water was drained and the soil was covered with stones and dirt on the bottom of the lake. There are 650 species of plants, including beech, cedar, and pine trees, and 50 species of birds, including black pigeons, and 340 species of insects.

Tourism

Favorite activities for tourists are

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histo ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

, and eating hoe (a Korean raw fish dish). Sightseeing boats make regular three-hour circuits about Ulleung-do, departing from the harbor at Dodong and passing by all the points of interest along the coast, including many interesting rock formations and the small neighboring island of Jukdo. Other scenic sites are Seonginbong, the highest peak on the island (); Bongnae waterfall; the "natural icehouse"; and a coastal cliff from which the

Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, also known by their Korean name of Dokdo or their Japanese name of Takeshima,; ; . form a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The Liancourt Rocks comprise two ...

can be discerned in the distance.

Climate

Ulleung-do has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40� ...

( Köppen climate classification ''Cfa''), though it resembles the west coast of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

much more than Korea, since in winter rainfall is heavy if less so than in such wet cities as

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな� ...

or Akita. Sunshine is also very low in the winter if again not so markedly as in the previously-mentioned Japanese cities.

Nature

The island and surrounding water were registered as a marine protected area to secure rich biodiversity in 2014.해양수산부고시제2014-139호(울릉도 주변해역 해양보호구역 지정)
제18417호 / 관보(정호) / 발행일 : 2014. 12. 26. / 83 페이지 / 490.8KB As above mentioned,

North Pacific right whale The North Pacific right whale (''Eubalaena japonica'') is a very large, thickset baleen whale species that is extremely rare and endangered. The Northeast Pacific population, which summers in the southeastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, may ...

s and pinnipeds were targeted by whalers and sealers in the adjacent waters.

Fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of ceta ...

s were also commonly observed historically, and other cetaceans such as

minke whale The minke whale (), or lesser rorqual, is a species complex of baleen whale. The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. The minke whale was first described by the Danish n ...

s and

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae ( ...

s may appear around the island. Japanese sea lions, now extinct, once bred on the island.Scientists find traces of extinct Dokdo sea lions
/ref>

References

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External links

Ulleung County governmentUlleung.go.kr: Tourist Information (in English)

Ulleungdo, Dokdo islands to be preserved as National Park
{{Authority control Islands of North Gyeongsang Province Islands of the Sea of Japan Volcanoes of South Korea Holocene stratovolcanoes Inactive volcanoes VEI-6 volcanoes Calderas of Asia Ulleung County