Located in the Thaebaek Mountains stretching along the east coast of the country, the mountain is 60 km long from north to south and 40 km wide from east to west and covers an area of 530 square kilometres, embracing 12 000 sky-high peaks and fantastic rocks that unfold characteristic scenes according to seasons.

Because of variation of scenes in every season, people called it “Mt Kaegol” in winter, “Mt Pongnae” in summer, “Mt Phungak” in autumn and “Mt Kumgang” in spring, likening its vernal scenery full of blossoms and fragrance to a beautiful diamond.

March to May is spring on Mt Kumgang like in all other parts of the country. During the season, Kumgang County situated in Inner Kumgang has the mean temperature of 8.2 degrees Celsius and average precipitation of 61.8 mm while those of Kosong County in Sea Kumgang are 10.9 degrees Celsius and 78.9 mm, which shows that temperature and precipitation get low from the coast to inland.

The mountain area has a high rate of precipitation and is covered with dense forests, and thereby has an abundant supply of water. Especially, it snows a lot in winter and therefore spectacular views of Kuryong and Pibong falls are unfolded even in spring when the area has low precipitation.

The most eye-catching in the mountain’s spring scenes is a mass of flowers covering the entire mountain.

In spring over 1 000 species of flowering plants bloom in the area as plants of middle and southern genealogy of the country converge there.

Colourful flowers open on peaks and cliffs, in ravines and even in cracks in rocks, petals blown off in the breeze drift along blue streams, flowers scent all over the mountain and birds chirp quietly—the scenery of Mt Kumgang in spring evokes feeling of both warmth and freshness.

In the mountain there are fantastic rocks in various shapes and colours, huge rocky cliffs, an amazing variety of animals and plants in thick foliage, innumerable pools and ponds in deep gorges and waterfalls cascading down the cliffs forming rainbows. As to such breathtaking scenery of the mountain, Korean ancestors used to say, “Do not talk about scenic beauty before seeing Mt Kumgang.”