South Korea Table of Contents
Early European visitors to Korea remarked that the land resembled
"a sea in a heavy gale" because of the large number of
successive mountain ranges that crisscross the peninsula. The tallest
mountains are in North Korea. The tallest mountain in South Korea is
Mount Halla (1,950 meters), which is the cone of a volcanic formation
constituting Cheju Island. There are three major mountain ranges within
South Korea: the T'aebaek, and Sobaek ranges, and the Chiri Massif.
Unlike Japan or the northern provinces of China, the Korean Peninsula
is geologically stable. There are no active volcanoes and there have
been no strong earthquakes. Historical records, however, describe
volcanic activity on Mount Halla during the Koryo Dynasty (918-1392
A.D.).
Over the centuries, Korea's inhabitants have cut down most of the
ancient Korean forests, with the exception of a few remote, mountainous
areas. The disappearance of the forests has been a major cause of soil
erosion and flooding. Because of successful reforestation programs and
the declining use of firewood as a source of energy since the 1960s,
most of South Korea's hills in the 1980s were amply covered with
foliage. South Korea has no extensive plains; its lowlands are the
product of mountain erosion. Approximately 30 percent of the area of
South Korea consists of lowlands, with the rest consisting of uplands
and mountains. The great majority of the lowland area lies along the
coasts, particularly the west coast, and along the major rivers. The
most important lowlands are the Han River plain around Seoul, the
Pyongt'aek coastal plain southwest of Seoul, the Kum River basin, the
Naktong River basin, and the Yongsan and the Honam plains in the
southwest. A narrow littoral plain extends along the east coast.
The Naktong is South Korea's longest river (521 kilometers). The Han
River, which flows through Seoul, is 514 kilometers long, and the Kum
River is 401 kilometers long. Other major rivers include the Imjin,
which flows through both North Korea and South Korea and forms an
estuary with the Han River; the Pukhan, a tributary of the Han that also
flows out of North Korea; and the Somjin. The major rivers flow north to
south or east to west and empty into the Yellow Sea or the Korea Strait.
They tend to be broad and shallow and to have wide seasonal variations
in water flow.
News that North Korea was constructing a huge multipurpose dam at the
base of Mount Kumgang (1,638 meters) north of the DMZ caused
considerable consternation in South Korea during the mid1980s . South
Korean authorities feared that once completed, a sudden release of the
dam's waters into the Pukhan River during north-south hostilities could
flood Seoul and paralyze the capital region. During 1987 the Kumgang-san
Dam was a major issue that Seoul sought to raise in talks with
P'yongyang. Though Seoul completed a "Peace Dam" on the Pukhan
River to counteract the potential threat of P'yongyang's dam project
before the 1988 Olympics, the North Korean project apparently still was
in its initial stages of construction in 1990.
Source:
U.S. Library of Congress
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