Paekdusan Paektu Mount Paekdu in North Korea DPRK Pyongyang

Paekdusan, Paektu, Paiktusan, Paekdu mount, (Changbai-shan, as it's known in Chinese) Paekdusan as it's known in Korean, is a sacred mountain straddling the North Korean-Chinese border, is one of the most stunning sights on the Korean peninsula, very far northeastern tip of DPRK. Apart from being the country's highest mountain at 2744m (9000ft), and an amazing geological phenomenon, it's also of huge mythical importance to Koreans. According to Korean mythology,  it is where the 'Son of the Lord of Heaven' descended to earth and the first Korean kingdom began. It is an extinct volcano with a vast crater lake (Heaven Lake, "Conji" in Korean, surrounded by bare rocky crags) at its centre.

Visitors here will be shown the secret camp beneath Jong Il Peak, said to be the Dear Leader’s birthplace, which features a log cabin, and plenty of monuments commemorating patriotic fighters and glorious battles. But the real reason to come here is the glories of nature: vast tracts of virgin forest, abundant wildlife, lonely granite crags, fresh springs, gushing streams and dramatic waterfalls – and, for those able to make the steep and treacherous climb, the astounding Jong Il peak, where heaven indeed seems close and the mundane world is so very far away. Few foreign travellers make it here at all, due to the formidable costs involved, and that is unlikely to change until a highway or train line is built.

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