Heaven Lake


Heaven Lake is a crater lake on the border between China and North Korea. It lies within a caldera atop the volcanic Paektu Mountain, a part of the Baekdudaegan mountain range and the Changbai mountain range. It is located partly in Ryanggang Province, North Korea, at, and partly in Jilin Province, northeastern China.

Geology and limnology

The caldera which contains Heaven Lake was created by the 946 eruption of Paektu Mountain.
The lake has a surface elevation of. The lake covers an area of with a south-north length of and an east-west length of. The average depth of the lake is and a maximum depth of. From mid-October to mid-June, it is typically covered with ice.

History

Names and legends

In ancient Chinese literature, Tianchi also refers to Nanming.
North Korean propaganda claims that Kim Jong-il was born near the lake on the mountain. In accordance with this, North Korean news agencies reported that on his death, the ice on the lake cracked "so loud, it seemed to shake the heavens and the Earth".

Notable visits

As part of an Inter-Korean summit, heads of states Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in visited Mount Paektu and Heaven Lake on 20 September 2018. Moon filled a bottle with water from the lake to take back to South Korea. The visit to the lake was a symbolic gesture, as both the lake and the mountain have considerable cultural significance to the Korean people. Mount Paektu is mentioned in the anthems of both North and South Korea, and is considered to be the spiritual home of the Koreans.

Lake Tianchi Monster

Heaven Lake is also alleged to be home to the Lake Tianchi Monster.
On September 6, 2007, Zhuo Yongsheng shot a 20-minute video of six seal-like, finned "Lake Tianchi Monsters", near the North Korean border. He sent pictures of the Loch Ness Monster-type creatures to Xinhua's Jilin provincial bureau. One of them showed the creatures swimming in three pairs, in parallel. Another showed them together, leaving ripples on the volcanic lake.