Mudeungsan () is a mountain in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. It extends over the district of Buk-gu in the city of Gwangju, as well as Hwasun County and Damyang County in the province of

Jeollanam-do South Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollanam-do''; ), also known as Jeonnam, is a province of South Korea. South Jeolla has a population of 1,902,324 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Honam region at the southwestern tip of the Korean ...

. Mudeungsan has an elevation of and is a part of Mudeungsan National Park which gained national park status in 2012. The peak of Mudeungsan is named Cheonwang summit, but it has been designated as a protection zone for air force military installations. Therefore the highest spot the climbers can ascend without special permission is Seoseokdae Rock, with an elevation of . Looking from the summit, Hallasan in Jeju Island and Geojedo in Namhae, Gyeongsangnam-do can be seen.

Name

The mountain was known as Muak or Mujinak due to its location Mujinju, the former name of Gwangju. As most of the big mountain ranges are related to shamanism, it was also called "the Grave Mountain" or "the Shaman Mountain". The Mudeungsan range is primarily composed of soil rather than rocks. It was called Seoseok mountain during the

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 unificat ...

dynasty. It was after the introduction to

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

in Korea that it was called Mudeungsan. One explanation for this is that the people believed that the greatness of the mountain could not be compared to anything on the land, and thus it could not ("mu") be graded ("deung"). However, this is supposedly an interpretation adapted from the

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

transliteration of its original Korean name, which comes from Gwangju's original name, ''Moodeul'' or ''Moodol''. The ''jin'' in Mujin as written in Hanja was not pronounced so in the past. It used to be read as ''deul'' or ''dol'' in Korean. Therefore ''Mudeung'' can be interpreted in the same way.

History

On 22 May 1972, Mudeungsan was designated as a provincial park. On 29 April 1974, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

notified a basic park plan (the 61st notification of

Jeollanamdo South Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollanam-do''; ), also known as Jeonnam, is a province of South Korea. South Jeolla has a population of 1,902,324 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Honam region at the southwestern tip of the Korean ...

). On 1 September 1987, the government installed the Mudeungsan Park Administrative Office. On 24 September 1998, the government established a comprehensive plan about conservation and use of Mudeungsan. On 7 December 2001, the government changed the basic park plan. On 24 December 2010, the city of Gwangju filed a petition to the minister of environment to designate Mudeungsan as a national park. On 31 December 2012, Mudeungsan was designated as a national park. On 4 March 2013, the government installed Mudeungsan national park office and east office. On 3 December 2015, the government notified withdrawal of military bases.

Provincial and national park

Mudeungsan was designated as a provincial park in 1972. It is located at the city of Gwangju, Hwasun County and Damyang County. It has a total area of In 2012, it was designated as a national park, expanded to a total area of . However, Gwangju Lake area and some cultural areas were excluded from national park, due to the opposition from local government and residents.

Natural monument

Columnar joining in the mountain is protected as natural monument 465. There are many valuable animals such as otters, wildcats, buzzards and Mandarin ducks, designated as endangered at Mudeungsan. In addition, there are many cultural heritages.

Summits

In 2011, after 45 years of being restricted by the military, Inwang summit and Jiwang summit were opened to the public. However, Cheongwang summit remained closed due to air defense facilities. Only those identified and approved by the military after learning about security-related subjects fro
Jangbuljae
can go there. It was opened twice in 2011; quarterly in 2012 and 2013; once in 2014; and three times in 2015.

Environment

The Sobaek Mountains are the main range of Mudeungsan. Mudeungsan has a gradual descent toward the ground. Average temperature for the year is which is 5 °C (9 °F) below that of downtown of Gwangju. Average rainfall for the year is about , which is more than above what is received in downtown Gwangju. The sky is clear 53 days per year.

Tourist attractions

* Soswaewon Garden * Songgangjeong Pavilion * Myeonangjeong Pavilion * Sigyeongjeong Pavilion * Hwanbyeokdang Pavilion
Riverside Eco Park
* Unjusa Temple * Ssangbongsa Temple
Gokseong Train Village

Boseong Green Tea Farm
* Chuwolsan Mountain
Damyang Bamboo Garden

Hwasun Hot Springs

Dogok Hot Springs
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