Paektu Mountain


Paektu Mountain, also known as Baekdu Mountain and in China as Changbai Mountain, is an active stratovolcano on the Chinese–North Korean border. At, it is the highest mountain of the Changbai and Baekdudaegan ranges. Koreans assign a mythical quality to the volcano and its caldera lake, considering it to be their country's spiritual home. It is the highest mountain in North Korea, the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China.
A large crater lake, called Heaven Lake, is in the caldera atop the mountain. The caldera was formed by the VEI 7 "Millennium" or "Tianchi" eruption of 946, which erupted about of tephra. This was one of the largest and most violent eruptions in the last 5,000 years.
The mountain plays an important mythological and cultural role in the societies and civil religions of both contemporary Korean states. For instance, it is mentioned in both of their national anthems and is depicted on the national emblem of North Korea.

Names

The modern Korean name of the mountain, "Paektusan" or "Baekdusan", was first recorded in the 13th century historical record Goryeosa. It means "white-head mountain". In other records from the same period, the mountain was also called "Taebaeksan", which means "great-white mountain". The modern name of the mountain in Chinese, "Chángbáishān", comes from modern Manchu name of the mountain, which is "Golmin Šanggiyan Alin", which means "ever white mountain". Another Chinese name, "Báitóushān", is the transliteration of "Paektu Mountain". The Mongolian name is "Ondor Tsagaan Aula", which means "lofty white mountain". In English, various authors have used nonstandard transliterations.

Geography and geology

Mount Paektu is a stratovolcano whose cone is truncated by a large caldera, about wide and deep, partially filled by the waters of Heaven Lake. The lake has a circumference of, with an average depth of and maximum depth of. From mid-October to mid-June, the lake is typically covered with ice. In 2011, experts in North and South Korea met to discuss the potential for a significant eruption in the near future, as the volcano explodes to life every 100 years or so, the last time in 1903.
The geological forces forming Mount Paektu remain a mystery. Two leading theories are first a hot spot formation and second an uncharted portion of the Pacific Plate sinking beneath Mount Paektu.
The central section of the mountain rises about per year due to rising levels of magma below the central part of the mountain. Sixteen peaks exceeding line the caldera rim surrounding Heaven Lake. The highest peak, called Janggun Peak, is covered in snow about eight months of the year. The slope is relatively gentle until about.
Water flows north out of the lake, and near the outlet there is a waterfall. The mountain is the source of the Songhua, Tumen and Yalu rivers. The Tumen and the Yalu form the northern border between North Korea and Russia and China.

Climate

The weather on the mountain can be very erratic, sometimes severe. The annual average temperature at the peak is. During summer, temperatures of about or higher can be reached, and during winter temperatures can drop to. The lowest record temperature was on 2 January 1997. The average temperature is about in January, and in July, remaining below freezing for eight months of the year. The average wind speed is, peaking at. The relative humidity averages 74%.

Millennium eruption

The mountain's caldera was created in 946 by the colossal "Millennium" or "Tianchi" eruption, one of the most violent eruptions in the last 5,000 years, comparable to the 180 AD eruption of Lake Taupo and the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora. The eruption, whose tephra has been found in the southern part of Hokkaidō, Japan, and as far away as Greenland, destroyed much of the volcano's summit, leaving a caldera that today is filled by Heaven Lake.
According to the Book of Koryo History, "thunders from the heaven drum" were heard in the city of Kaesong, and then again in the capital of ancient Korea about south of the volcano, which terrified the emperor so much that convicts were pardoned and set free. According to the book of Heungboksa Temple History, on 3 November of the same year, in the city of Nara, about southeast from the mountain, an event of "white ash rain" was recorded. Three months later, on 7 February 947, "drum thunders" were heard in the city of Kyoto, about southeast of Paektu.

Tianwenfeng eruption

The age of the Tianwenfeng eruption is not clear, but the carbonized wood in Heifengkou's lag breccia has been dated at around. This eruption formed large areas covered in yellow pumice and ignimbrite and released about of SO2 into the stratosphere. The bulk volume of the ejecta is at least 100 km3, making the Tianwenfeng eruption also of VEI 7. The Tianwenfeng eruption has also been recorded in Manchurian myths. Manchus described the mountain as "Fire Dragon", "Fire Demon" or "Heavenly Fire".

Recent events

After these major eruptions, Mount Paektu had at least three smaller eruptions, which occurred in 1668, 1702, and 1903, likely forming the Baguamiao ignimbrite, the Wuhaojie fine pumice, and the Liuhaojie tuff ring.
In 2011, the Government of North Korea invited volcanologists James Hammond of Imperial College, London and Clive Oppenheimer of the University of Cambridge, to study the mountain for recent volcanic activity. Their project was continuing in 2014 and expected to last for another "two or three years".

Flora and fauna

There are five known species of plants in the lake on the peak, and some 168 have been counted along its shores. The forest on the Chinese side is ancient and almost unaltered by humans. Birch predominates near the tree line, and pine lower down, mixed with other species. There has been extensive deforestation on the lower slopes on the North Korean side of the mountain.
The area is a known habitat for Siberian tigers, bears, wolves, and wild boars. The Ussuri dholes may have been extirpated from the area. Deer in the mountain forests, which cover the mountain up to about, are of the Paekdusan roe deer kind. Many wild birds such as black grouse, owls, and woodpecker are known to inhabit the area. The mountain has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because it supports a population of scaly-sided mergansers.

History

The mountain has been worshipped by the surrounding peoples throughout history. Both the Koreans and Manchus consider it sacred, especially the Heaven Lake in its crater.

China

The mountain was first recorded in the Chinese Classic of Mountains and Seas under the name Buxian Shan. It is also called Shanshan Daling in the Book of the Later Han. In the New Book of Tang, it was called Taibai Shan. The current Chinese name Changbai Shan was first used in the Liao dynasty of the Khitans and then the Jin dynasty of the Jurchens. The Jin dynasty bestowed the title "the King Who Makes the Nation Prosperous and Answers with Miracles" on the sanshin in 1172 and it was promoted to "the Emperor Who Cleared the Sky with Tremendous Sagehood" in 1193.
The Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, which founded the Qing dynasty in China, claimed their progenitor Bukūri Yongšon was conceived near Paektu Mountain.

Koreas

The mountain has been considered sacred by Koreans throughout history. According to Korean mythology, it was the birthplace of Dangun, the founder of the first Korean kingdom, Gojoseon, whose parents were said to be Hwanung, the Son of Heaven, and Ungnyeo, a bear who had been transformed into a woman. Many subsequent kingdoms of Korea, such as Buyeo, Goguryeo, Balhae, Goryeo and Joseon worshiped the mountain.
The Goryeo dynasty first called the mountain Paektu, recording that the Jurchens across the Yalu River were made to live outside of Mount Paektu. The Joseon Dynasty recorded volcanic eruptions in 1597, 1668, and 1702. In the 15th century, King Sejong the Great strengthened the fortification along the Tumen and Yalu rivers, making the mountain a natural border with the northern peoples. Some Koreans claim that the entire region near Mount Paektu and the Tumen River belongs to Korea and parts of it were illegally given away by Japanese colonialists to China through the Gando Convention.
Dense forest around the mountain provided bases for Korean armed resistance against the Japanese occupation, and later communist guerrillas during the Korean War. Kim Il-sung organized his resistance against the Japanese forces there, and North Korea claims that Kim Jong-il was born there, although records outside of North Korea suggest that he was actually born in the Soviet Union.
North Korea uses the mythology of the mountain to promote government projects, such as the Paektusan rocket and the Paektusan computer. The peak has been featured on the state emblem of North Korea since 1993, as defined in Article 169 of the Constitution, which describes Mt. Paektu as "the sacred mountain of the revolution". The mountain is often referred to in slogans such as: "Let us accomplish the Korean revolution in the revolutionary spirit of Paektu, the spirit of the blizzards of Paektu!" North Korean media also celebrates natural phenomena witnessed at the mountain as portentous.
It is also mentioned in the national anthems of both Koreas and in the Korean folk song "Arirang".
The standard sidearm for the Korean People's Army is the BeakDuSan pistol which is named after Mt. Peaktu.

Border disputes

Historical border disputes

According to Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, the Yalu and Tumen Rivers were set as the borders in the era of the founder of Joseon Dynasty, Taejo of Joseon. Because of the continuous entry of Korean people into Gando, a region in Manchuria that lay north of the Tumen, Manchu and Korean officials surveyed the area and negotiated a border agreement in 1712. To mark the agreement, they built a monument describing the boundary at a watershed, near the south of the crater lake at the mountain peak. The interpretation of the inscription caused a territorial dispute from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, and is still disputed by academics today. The 1909 Gando Convention between China and Japan, when Korea was under Japanese rule, recognized the area north and east as Chinese territory. The border was further clarified in 1962, when China and North Korea negotiated a border treaty on the mountain border in response to minor disputes. The two countries agreed to share the mountain and the lake at the peak, with North Korea controlling approximately 54.5% and gaining approximately 230 km2 in the treaty.

Recent border disputes

Some South Korean groups argue that recent activities conducted on the Chinese side of the border, such as economic development, cultural festivals, infrastructure development, promotion of the tourism industry, attempts at registration as a World Heritage Site, and bids for a Winter Olympic Games, are an attempt to claim the mountain as Chinese territory. These groups object to China's use of the name Mount Changbai. Some groups also regard the entire mountain as Korean territory that was given away by North Korea in the Korean War.
During the 2007 Asian Winter Games, which were held in Changchun, China, a group of South Korean athletes held up signs during the award ceremony which stated "Mount Paektu is our territory". Chinese sports officials delivered a letter of protest on the grounds that political activities violated the spirit of the Olympics and were banned in the charter of the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia. The head of the Korea Olympic Committee responded by claiming that the incident was accidental and held no political meaning.
The 2007 official National Atlas of Korea shows the boundary as per the 1962 agreement, roughly splitting the mountain and the caldera lake. South Korea claims the caldera lake and the inside part of the ridge.

Sightseeing

In addition to domestic tourists, most international visitors, including many South Koreans, climb the mountain from the Chinese side, though it is also a popular tourist destination for visitors to North Korea. The Chinese tourism area is classified as a AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration.
There are a number of monuments on the North Korean side of the mountain. Paektu Spa is a natural spring and is used for bottled water. Pegae Hill is a camp site of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army 조선인민혁명군 allegedly led by Kim Il-sung during their struggle against Japanese colonial rule. Secret camps are also now open to the public. There are several waterfalls, including the Hyongje Falls which splits into two about a third of the way from the top. In 1992, on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Kim Il-sung, a gigantic sign consisting of metal letters reading "Holy mountain of the revolution" was erected on the side of the mountain. North Koreans claim that there are 216 steps leading to the top of the mountain, symbolizing Kim Jong-il's 16 February birth date, but in reality there are more.