Baekdu-daegan

Baekdu-daegan describes a 1,500 km long mountain range that runs from Paektu Mountain in the north to Cheonwangbong Peak of Jirisan in the south. It may even include Hallasan on Jeju Island. The concept also consequently describes the watershed of the peninsula, and notes 13 jeongmaek, mountain ranges that branch off the main range, that effectively channel Korea's most significant rivers to the ocean. A crestline which no body of water ever crosses.{{cite book |last1=Yoo |first1=Myeong-jong |title=100 Cultural Symbols of Korea |date=September 10, 2008 |publisher=Discovery Media |edition=1º |page=14}}{{cite web |script-title=ko:백두대간 |url=http://www.doopedia.co.kr/doopedia/master/master.do?_method=view&MAS_IDX=101013000750465 |accessdate=2016-02-23 |publisher=Doosan Encyclopedia |language=Korean}}

In South Korea, hiking the {{Units|687|u=km}} South Korean portion of the trail, generally from south to north until the Korean Demilitarized Zone, is seen as a significant achievement. The South Korean trail was designated as a national nature-preservation park in 2006 by the South Korean government.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} The desire to also hike through the border until Paektu Mountain is also relevant to Korean reunification sentiment. This sentiment is also shared in North Korea, according to Roger Shepherd of HIKEKOREA.

It is important in traditional Korean geography and is a key aspect of Pungsu-jiri (the Korean analogue of feng shui).{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Under traditional Korean thought, influenced by Taoism and Neo-Confucianism, Paektu is regarded as the origin and patriarch of all Korean mountains, while Jiri-san{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} or Hallasan at the southern end is conceived-of as the grand matriarch of all Korean mountains.

During the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945, Japan attempted to restructure Korean mountains in accordance with the concept of mountain ranges as used in Western geography.{{cite book |last1=Yoon |first1=Myeong-jong |title=100 Cultural Symbols of Korea |date=2008 |publisher=Discovery Media |edition=first |location=Seoul |page=14}} The notion of the mountain ranges that prevailed during the Japanese occupation era was one based on geological structures under the ground, rather than topographical ones.

Hiking the Baekdu-daegan trail was not popular until the late 20th century, as there was no formal trail and dangers such as Siberian tigers were present.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} Korean hikers began creating trails and maps starting in the 1980s. In the 1990s, county governments that the trail passed through began making/improving trails. By the 2000s, there were formal monuments, signs, trail-markers, stairways, water fountains, and trailheads.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} In 2003, the Korea Forest Service was granted authority over the region as a whole within South Korea, but the scope of that authority and the geographical boundaries of the Baekdu-daegan region have remained undefined and controversial.{{Update inline|date=April 2023|reason=add "as of" and cite sources}}

Before 2005, the Baekdu-daegan remained entirely unknown to the world outside Korea, but tourism professor David A. Mason began to promote it to the global audience in English by establishing a website and publishing articles. Andrew Douch{{Cite web|title=Great Korean Mountain Trails|url=https://www.koreantrails.com/|access-date=2021-04-16|website=Great Korean Mountain Trails}} and Roger Shepherd,{{Cite web|title=Mountain Hiking in Korea|url=https://www.hikekorea.com/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-16|website=HIKEKOREA|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910124320/http://www.hikekorea.com:80/ |archive-date=2010-09-10 }} hikers from New Zealand, trekked all of the available crestline trail while keeping careful records, and then with research & editing support from Prof. Mason, wrote a guidebook to the trail. Their book is the most extensive information about the Baekdu-daegan in English {{As of|2021|lc=y}}.{{Cite web|title=Korean mountain high for two Kiwi hikers|url=https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2007/11/16/socialAffairs/Korean-mountain-high-for-two-Kiwi-hikers-/2882866.html|access-date=2021-04-16|website=Korea JoongAng Daily|date=16 November 2007 |language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Baekdu-daegan Trail Guidebook: Hiking Korea's Mountain Spine|url=http://www.san-shin.org/order6.html|access-date=2021-04-16|website=www.san-shin.org}} Their effort attracted international hikers.{{Cite news|last=Eaves|first=Elisabeth|date=2012-11-30|title=Along the Trail of Korea's Mountain Spirits|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/travel/along-the-trail-of-koreas-mountain-spirits.html|access-date=2021-04-16|issn=0362-4331}} On January 3, 2011, Mason was appointed the Honorary Public Relations Ambassador of the Baekdu-daegan by Minister Chung of the Korea Forest Service,{{cite web|url=http://www.san-shin.org/Bddg-HA-KFS.html|title=Appointment as Public-Relations Ambassador of the Baekdu-daegan|accessdate=2020-11-29|language=English}} under authority of Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Shepherd continued his explorations and international promotions of the Baekdu-daegan, including expeditions into some parts of it in North Korea.{{Cite news|last=Choe|first=Sang-Hun|date=2013-07-29|title=New Zealander Hopes to Hike North and South Korea|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/world/asia/new-zealander-hopes-to-hike-north-and-south-korea.html|access-date=2021-04-16|issn=0362-4331}}

At the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a speech that the two Koreas were bound together by the Baekdu-daegan. At the April 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, Chairman Kim Jong Un and President Moon symbolically planted a native tree using soil from both Paektu Mountain and Hallasan.

• Geography of North Korea
• Geography of South Korea
• Korean creation narratives
• List of mountains in Korea

{{reflist}}

• [http://san-shin.org/Baekdu-daegan-index.html David A. Mason's website on the Baekdu-daegan]
• [http://www.baekdudaegan.blogspot.com/ The Baekdu-daegan 2007 Expedition homepage and blog]

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Category:Mountain ranges of South Korea

Category:Mountain ranges of North Korea

Category:Korean reunification

Category:Mountain ranges of China