Mantapsan

{{Short description|Mountain in North Korea famous for nuclear testing}}

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Mantapsan

| elevation_m = 2205

| location = Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea

| range = Hamgyong Mountains

| coordinates = {{coord|41|17|55|N|129|04|54|E|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| module = {{Infobox Korean name/auto

|hangul =^만탑산

|hanja = 萬塔山

|child=yes

}}

}}

Mantapsan (or Mount Mant'ap, {{Korean|hangul=만탑산}}) is a mountain in the south of North Hamgyong Province in North Korea.{{cite web| title= Geographic Names: Mant'ap-san| work=Geographic Org| url= http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=-275230&fid=3391&c=north_korea| accessdate= February 5, 2013}} The granite peak,{{cite web| title= Image shows inside of N.K. nuclear weapons test facility| work=The Korea Herald, February 4, 2013| url= http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130204000692| accessdate= February 5, 2013}} which reaches an elevation of {{convert|2205|m|ft|abbr=on}}, is part of the Hamgyong Mountains. It is located on the border between Kilju County, Myŏnggan County and Orang County.

Political prisoners were reportedly forced to dig tunnels into the southern side of the mountain, at the nuclear test site near P'unggye-ri.{{cite web| title= The Terrible Secrets of N. Koreas Mount Mantap | work=Chosun Ilbo, June 3, 2009| url= http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/06/03/2009060300829.html | accessdate= February 5, 2013}} The horizontal tunnels are believed to be two to three meters wide and high and hundreds of meters long.{{cite web| title= The anatomy of North Korea's nuclear test tunnels released for the first time | work=The Hankyoreh, February 5, 2013| url= http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/572835.html | accessdate= February 5, 2013}} This is where the detonations of the North Korean nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016 occurred.{{cite web| title= North Korean Nuclear Test Preparations: An Update| work=US-Korea Institute at SAIS, April 27, 2012| url= http://38north.org/2012/04/punggyeri042712/| accessdate= February 5, 2013}}

International analysts believe that the sixth and largest explosion, as of January 2024 the last, "made the mountain bulge sideways by about 12 feet and collapse vertically by about a foot and a half", with one seismologist describing the subsequent reaction as the mountain "pancaking".{{cite news|title="How powerful was North Korea's last nuclear test? It moved a mountain"|publisher=The Verge|author=Rachel Becker|date=May 10, 2018|accessdate=May 11, 2018|url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/10/17340166/north-korea-nuclear-test-site-mountain-mantap-moved-satellite-radar-sar}}

Hwasong concentration camp, at {{convert|549|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} the largest North Korean concentration camp,{{cite web | title= The Hidden Gulag – Exposing Crimes against Humanity in North Korea's Vast Prison System | pages= 78–79 | work= The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea | url= http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf | accessdate= February 5, 2013 | archive-date= December 14, 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191214040217/https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf | url-status= dead }} is located between Mantapsan and Myŏnggan (Hwasŏng).