Animals and plants in the Paektusan Biosphere Reserve.

Mt Paektu is the sacred mountain of revolution and the ancestral mountain of Korea which is associated with immortal leadership exploits of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il.

The Paektusan Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 126 126 hectares.

It is made up of volcanic cones in a lava field consisting of heaps of lavas and pumice stones, the output of volcanic eruption.

Its terrain is low around its margins and becomes gradually higher with Janggun Peak at the centre.

There are a basin formed by the collapse of a crater on the ridge of Mt Paektu and more than 20 peaks of the outer rim around the basin.

Janggun Peak is the highest one of the peaks on Mt Paektu with an altitude of 2 750 metres above sea level.

The basin takes an oval shape lying north and south and there is a vast expanse of Lake Chon.

The lake is 2 190 metres above the sea and the deepest place is 384 metres deep.

The volcanic basin is 944 metres deep and is regarded as an unusual crater in the world.

The reserve is the coldest region in Korea as it is at high altitude in the northern alpine area far away from the sea.

As winter continues for more than 170 days in a year, the reserve is covered with heavy snow.

The atmospheric pressure is low.

As it is located in the highest part of Korea, it has diverse fauna and flora according to different climatic zones.

In the reserve 2 901 species of plants grow.

Although they number little in species, gymnosperms take the major part of plants in the Mt Paektu area. Such trees as Abies nephrolepis, Picea Koraiensis, Korea larch and Siberian larch take a large proportion.

Its fauna and flora have been steadily updated due to several volcanic eruptions through the long passage of time. It has unique fauna adapted to severe climatic conditions and geological and geographical features as it occupies the alpine area connected by land with the Asian continent.

It is home to lots of animals including 61 species of such mammals as tiger, deer, red deer and brown bear and 235 species of such birds as heat cock and pheasant.

Thanks to its uncommon topographical conditions, it is rich in fauna and flora and can be claimed to be a natural zoo.

Its natural and living monuments include blueberry on Mt Paektu, pine on Yonji Peak, heat cock in Samjiyon, Korean tiger on Mt Paektu, deer and red deer in Samjiyon, Lake Chon on Mt Paektu and Rimyongsu Falls.

“The Paektusan Biosphere Reserve was created in April 1989, making it possible to develop the work for preserving and protecting biodiversity in the area of Mt Paektu as a matter of global concern,” said Ri Song Il, chief of the nature conservation lab of the Central Committee of the Nature Conservation Union of Korea.