![]() ![]() There are no active volcanoes (aside from Baekdu Mountain on the border between North Korea and China, most recently active in 1903), and there have been no strong earthquakes. Unlike Japan or the northern provinces of China, the Korean Peninsula is geologically stable. There are two major mountain ranges within South Korea: the Taebaek Mountains, and the Sobaek Mountains. The highest mountain peak in South Korea is Hallasan (1,950 m (6,398 ft)), which is the cone of a volcanic formation constituting Jeju Island. The highest mountains are in North Korea. The difference is caused by the fact that the eastern coast is gradually rising, while the southern and western coasts are subsiding.Įarthquake epicenter map in South Korea from Jan 2000 (M2.0 or higher).Įarly 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. ![]() Although the eastern coastline of South Korea is generally unindented, the southern and western coasts are jagged and irregular. Other important islands include Ulleung and Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan and Ganghwa Island at the mouth of the Han River. The largest island, Jeju-do, lies off the southwest corner of the peninsula and has a land area of 1,825 square kilometers. South Korea alone is about the size of Portugal or Hungary, or the U.S. The combined territories of North Korea and South Korea are about the same size as the United Kingdom. Some 44.8 percent (100 210 square kilometers) of this total, excluding the area within the DMZ, constitutes the territory of the Republic of Korea. The total land area of the peninsula, including the islands, is 223,170 square kilometers. The DMZ is a heavily guarded, 4,000-meter-wide strip of land that runs along the demarcation line established by the Korean Armistice Agreement from the east to the west coasts for a distance of 241 kilometers (238 kilometers of that line from the land boundary with North Korea). After the Korean War, the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) formed the boundary between the two. Most of them are found along the south and west coasts.Īfter World War II and before June 25,1950, the line between the two Korean states was the thirty-eighth parallel of latitude. Some 3,579 islands lie adjacent to the peninsula. The 8,640-kilometer coastline is highly indented. The west coast of the peninsula is bordered by the Korea Bay to the north and the Yellow Sea and Korea Strait to the south the east coast is bordered by the Sea of Japan. The Japanese islands of Honshū and Kyūshū are located some 200 km (124 mi) to the southeast across the Korea Strait the Shandong Peninsula of China lies 190 kilometers to the west. The Korean Peninsula extends southward from the northeast part of the Asian continental landmass. ![]()
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