culture

Mt Paektu has been called the ancestral mountain of the Korean nation from olden times and held an important position in the development of its society and history.

Historical records and literature tell that the founders of states in historical periods, including King Tangun who founded Ancient Joson (the first slave state of Korea that existed from the early 30th century BC to 108 BC) and Tae Jo Yong who founded Palhae (a feudal state of Korea that existed from the late 7th century to the early 10th century), worshipped Mt Paektu as a site of their sacred cause of state-building and an ancestral mountain, not regarding it as merely a natural concept.

A book published in the 17th century records, “All the mountains of our country originate from Mt Paektu,” and a map made by a well-known Korean geographer marked the Great Paektu Mountains in bold lines and made a distinction between the mountain and other mountains in order, thereby indicating that Mt Paektu is the ancestor of all mountains in the country.

Various kinds of literary works created by many writers after personally exploring Mt Paektu, including accounts of trips to the mountain in the Middle Ages, show that the Korean people recognized and worshipped Mt Paektu as the ancestral mountain, from which all the mountains of the country stretch out.

“Mt Paektu Travelogue” introduces in detail the rivers, valleys, soil and trees witnessed on a 1 300-ri trip made from May 14 to June 2 1764. Especially, it vividly depicts the landscape of the peaks of Mt Paektu and Lake Chon, describing that the time-honoured history and brilliant cultural tradition of the Korean people “benefited from the noble spirit of Mt Paektu”.

Another travelogue, recounting the course of several days of expedition to Mt Paektu, portrays the shore of Lake Chon and the sunrise on Mt Paektu with a skilful stroke and devotes a good deal of space to describing the wonderful scenery of Lake Samji, calling it a true scenic spot.

Along with travelogues, the topographies of Mt Paektu are also remarkable.

One of the topographies introduces the wonderful natural scenery in the Mt Paektu area by means of personification, noting that even the fairy’s palace in heaven as well as boastful scenic spots would “bow their heads or fall over in fright” before it, and calls for using its rich natural resources for “making the country wealthy and providing welfare for the people”.

Precious historical relics have recently been unearthed and verified to show the patriotic spirit and customs of the Korean people who have worshipped Mt Paektu as the ancestral mountain.

In the course of the survey and excavation of historical relics in the area of Mt Paektu, a research team of the History Faculty of Kim Il Sung University unearthed tombs on the shore of Lake Chon and in Taehongdan County of Ryanggang Province and Musan County of North Hamgyong Province, which are in the same style as the Korean tomb discovered on an islet in the first pond of Lake Samji, and scientifically explained the characteristics, origin and age of the tombs.

The Archaeology Society of the DPRK deliberated and commented that the owners of the tombs unearthed in the areas of Ryanggang and North Hamgyong provinces, including the shore of Lake Chon on Mt Paektu, were Koreans who inherited the tomb custom of Palhae.

The recent discovery of the tombs proved scientifically the clear historical fact that the Korean ancestors worshipped Mt Paektu as an ancestral mountain and regarded it as an inviolable part of their territory, climbing the mountain through hundreds of ris of primeval forests and burying the remains of their ancestors and relics on the shore of Lake Chon.

Thanks to the nature conservation policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the DPRK government, the Mt Paektu area was set as the Paektusan Plant Reserve, the Paektusan Nature Reserve and the Paektusan Revolutionary Battle Sites Special Reserve. It was inscribed on the list of world biosphere reserves in April 1989 and registered as a global geopark last year.