Five tourism routes near DMZ to open starting next Monday

Five tourism routes near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in the Cheorwon, Hwacheon, Yanggu, Inje and Goseong counties in Gangwon will open to the public starting next Monday.

Visitors at the Baengmagoji course in Cheorwon, Gangwon look over the surrounding area from this file photo. [JOONGANG PHOTOS]

Five tourism routes near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in the Cheorwon, Hwacheon, Yanggu, Inje and Goseong counties in Gangwon will open to the public starting next Monday.

The five counties’ themed tourism routes highlight the ecological, cultural and historical resources of the DMZ and the area north of the line permitted to civilians near the inter-Korean border.

The Cheorwon Baengmagoji course, which will open next Monday, starts from the White Horse Hill battlefield and passes by Baengmagoji Observatory and Arrowhead Hill. The course is 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) long.

The Battle of White Horse Hill was fought between the 9th division of the Korean Army and three divisions of the 38th Chinese Army to recapture what was then an unnamed hill 395 meters above sea level.

The Yanggu Dutayeon Ridge and Goseong Unification Observatory courses will open next Tuesday. The Dutayeon Ridge course connects the gate of the road to Kumgang Mountain to the main gate of Samdaegyo Bridge, and has a total length of 16.7 kilometers.

The road to Kumgang Mountain was used until immediately after Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-45). The gate to the road is currently tightly closed.

The Goseong Unification Observatory course, located at the northernmost part of the East Coast, starts at the Unification Observatory and offers views from the coastal observatories at the Tongjeon Tunnel and the Southern Limit Line (SLL).

The Unification Observatory is a tourist attraction that opened in 1983. On a clear day, Birobong and Oknyebong, the highest peaks of Kumgang Mountain, are visible from the observatory.

The Inje Daegok-ri Post 1052 Hill course opens next Thursday, and starts at the Daegok-ri guard post and continues to the 1052 Hill and Eulji Three-way Intersection. Visitors can partake in a walking tour of the intersection and enjoy the scenery beyond the barbed wire fence. Black bears, mountain goats and musk deer live in the area.

The Hwacheon Baekamsan Bimok course, which opens on May 25, includes a ride on the Baekamsan cable car, the highest cable car in the country. Baekam Mountain is where the Battle of Kumsong, one of the last battles of the Korean War (1950-53), occurred, and is also the scene of the famous folk song “Bimok.”

Participants of the course tours can hear stories about the border area through audio guides recorded by village residents in the area.

People can apply for the tours on the Korea Tourism Organization website.

“Those participating in the DMZ routes be will able to see the unique ecological environment of the Gangwon Province and experience the unique surroundings of the border area,” said Yoon Kwang-soon, head of the Gangwon provincial government's border area division.

BY PARK JIN-HO, LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]