As the highest in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mt Paektu is reputed as the nation’s celebrated and sacred mountain. Its elegant and magnificent scenery is highlighted by unique changes in all seasons.

Climatologically, seasons in the area are classified into four according to a range of average temperature: spring when temperature is between zero and 12°C, summer when it climbs over 12°C and back to the point, autumn when the mercury drops to zero, and winter when below zero.

Spring begins early in May when Lake Chon on the top of the mountain comes into consideration.

In this period, thunder rumbles as a harbinger of spring, melting snow runs down and plants are ready to sprout.

In June the mountain is ablaze with a variety of fragrant flowers such as rhododendron, Dryas octopetala var. asiatica and Therorhodion redowskianum .

Flowers in full bloom against the backdrop of snowdrifts around are a sight to behold.

Flowers which bloom in spring are unusually fragrant, colourful and beautiful.

Many birds that migrated to warmer climes fly back.

Hares, which have spent winter in burrows, come out and move around in earnest.

With the onset of spring, ice on Lake Chon begins to thaw and melts down in mid-June, a good time for chars to forage for food.

Mt Paektu unfolds breathtaking scenes while all living things begin to emerge from winter hibernation.

In this period, you can see full-bloomed flowers and experience abrupt blizzards.

Spring lasts for about three months in plain areas, but it takes less than 70 days on the mountain.

Summer here begins in mid-July.

All plants grow thicker with flowers blooming, adding more to the landscape of summer.

It often rains and various species of birds flock in.

On a fine day, the surface of Lake Chon is so clear like a mirror that some birds dive into the lake, mistaking the surface for the sky.

Autumn sets in the mountain in late August after nearly 40 days of summer. At this time thin ice begins to be formed on the shore of the lake, and the plants make preparations for upcoming winter.

All the plants by the lake become yellow, but only rhododendron remains green.

Autumn here is featured by gales, and the living things are poised for wintering.

Winter starts in mid-October and lasts for over 200 days, presenting the most spectacular sights of all seasons.

It starts to snow from autumn and the mountain is covered mostly with snow by mid-October.

The daily average temperature falls below zero in mid-October, but Lake Chon is frozen early in December.

The ice of the lake is 1.5 metres thick on average to the maximum.

The mercury drops to the lowest in February, with the ultra-lowest temperature recorded as 47.5℃ below zero.

Ko Jin Chol