Kumgang Mountains

Granite mountain region on North Korea's east coast, long celebrated in Korean poetry and painting

The Kumgang Mountains (Diamond Mountains) rise along North Korea's eastern coast, a range of granite peaks and gorges that have been celebrated in Korean poetry and painting for over a thousand years. From 1998 to 2008 they were the site of a remarkable experiment: a joint tourist project between North Korea and the South Korean conglomerate Hyundai Asan allowed South Korean tourists to visit the mountains overland or by sea, bringing limited contact between the divided peninsula's people.

The project was suspended in 2008 following the shooting of a South Korean tourist and has not resumed. During its decade of operation it gave tens of thousands of visitors a glimpse of North Korean mountain scenery — the valleys, waterfalls, and rocky faces that give the range its "diamond" name — as well as an unusual window onto daily North Korean life from the fenced tourist corridors. The experience of seeing North Korean guides wearing their lapel pins of the Great Leader, villages visible from the roads with oxen working the fields, and border formalities more thorough than anywhere else in the world, was unlike any other tourist experience on earth.

Whether access will reopen is impossible to predict. For now the Kumgang Mountains are visible from the south at Goseong Observatory near the DMZ — one of the few spots on the South Korean side with a clear view north into the range.

Guide

People in Kumgang mountains

While all of the people working in the hotels, in the restaurants, and the stores in the main tourist areas, are South Koreans, or ethnically Korean Chinese, in the mountains, most of the staff and guides are North Korean. Look for the lapel pins of the Great Leader to tell who is who. Guides are helpful, friendly and surprisingly talkative. Some of them speak English quite well, and are eager to explain the importance of certain sights along the way.

North Korean made candies, soju cups, and postcards are on sale by women with powder white skin, and bright red lips along the mountains paths.

Between tourist sites, the town of Onjong-ri, as well as some small villages can be seen from the fenced roadway. People working the fields with oxen, a pair of guards marching in unison for your sake, manned guard posts, chlildren in sailor school uniforms, adults on bicycles, are all a small glimspe into North Korean life, and are just as interesting as the mountains.

Contributors May 26, 2005

Guide

Practical Information in Kumgang mountains

Travel to the Kumgang Mountains from South Korea is strictly monitored, and must be done as a part of a tour group. Tours are done through Hyundai Asan, with overland and sea routes offered. The overland route is relatively new, leaving from Goseong Observatory, and is much faster and easier than taking the boat from Sokcho.

** Contact:**

Trips may be booked through

Geumgangsan.com Co. Ltd.

Tel: 82-2-739-1090

Fax: 82-2-739-3222

or in person at

Geumgangsan.com Co. Ltd.

906 Haeyoung Bldg.

148 Anguk-dong, Jongno-gu

Seoul.

Leave Anguk Station Exit 1, and on your left look for a grey building with a green Hana Bank sign written in Hangeul a little ways down. Enter the building, take the elevator to the 9th floor and look for room 906. Open weekdays and Saturday.

Tours range from day trips, where you arrange your own transit to Goseong, to three or five day excursions. On longer trips, one may arrange to be picked up in Seoul for an extra 30,000 South Korean Won round trip.

Two passport sized color photos are needed to reserve a space on the tour.

** Things to bring :**

Outfit - Proper gear for hiking according to season. A raincoat would be a wise investment, although they can be bought on site in North Korea for 3 USD.

Toiletries - Towels and soap are not provided in the hotels.

Medicine - First aid supplies, medicines. Access to supplies is limited when in North Korea.

Other - Cameras.

Things not to bring:

Electronics - Laptops, PDAs, cell phones, cameras with 160mm or longer lenses, binoculars with 10x zoom or higher. Video cameras may be confiscated at the border. Anything taken will be stored, and returned to you upon exit of North Korea.

Hazardous Substances.

Written material relating to North or South Korea.

Anything determined to be detrimental to the North Korean way of life.

Do not:

Interfere with the duties of a North Korean Official.

Litter.

Pick, pluck or otherwise damage any natural things.

Criticize North Korean politics or economy.

**

Cost:**

Cost depends on the season and the day of departure. Departure day determines which hotel you will stay in, and directly affects the price. Expect to pay 400,000 to 600,000 South Korean Won (including transit to Goseong), and an extra 200 USD (the currency while in the areas cleared for tourism in the Kumgang area) for food, performances, optional hikes, North Korean vodka, and souvenirs.

**

Exit Procedures:**

Foreigners do not seem to need a reentry permit if leaving from South Korea to the North. Before going through customs you will receive a temporary passport (a small booklet with passport information written on it, a debit card to be used in tourist zones, a filled embarkment card. These will be in a plastic sheath, to be worn around the neck at all times while in the North.

South Korean exit proceedures are performed at the Goseong Observatory. There is a special line for Foreigners, (aptly, although somewhat bluntly, labelled "Foreigner").

You will receive a South Korean exit stamp. On the other side, you will be assigned a bus, that you will stay with for the duration of the tour. Remember your bus number.

**

Entry Proceedures:**

North Korean customs consists of four ATCO trailers and a few tents, and is situated in one of the most beautiful areas that will be seen on the trip. North Korean officers (male and female) will supervise disembarkation from the bus. Your guide will tell you where to line up, and in what order. Customs is a cursory check of luggage through an old x-ray machine. Make sure to remove any film or camera equipment from baggage during this process.

Contributors May 26, 2005

May 27, 2005