KCNA
5/22/2007
The Paektusan biosphere reserve in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea covers a vast area from Mt. Paektu to the southeast direction.
Mt. Paektu, starting point of the Great Paektu Range, is a celebrated mountain with precious wealth in the scenic and ecological, historical and cultural aspects.
Mt. Paektu, volcanic creature, 2,750 meters above the sea level, the vast land around it and Lake Chon, a large crater lake, which is the fountainhead of rivers and streams, go well with each other, presenting a beautiful landscape.
Mt. Paektu covered with a thick pumice stone layer, which looks like a mountain capped with snow all the year round, the clean and blue water of the Lake Chon, the boundless forests covering the vast land, the Lake Samji among the forests, water-falls with their fountainhead in the Lake Chon, wild flowers on the highland and the unique ecosystem on the boundary line of the forests–all these constitute a natural landscape that can be seen only in the Paektusan biosphere reserve.
Animals such as Korean tiger, deer and musk deer, trees of various species including larch, Abies nephrolipis and birch, wild vegetables, medicinal herbs, aromatic and flower plants form a forest ecological system in the reserve.
Chonji char accustomed to the Lake Chon attracts special attention of experts.
Mt. Paektu and its surrounding area, which are of great significance in preservation of biodiversity, were registered as an international biosphere reserve in April Juche 78 (1989).
The DPRK government set the area as a natural reserve in 1959 and as a special reserve of revolutionary battle sites in 1985.
