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North Korean TV features autumn foliage at Mount Kumgang. / Source: Yonhap News

Mount Kumgang, long celebrated as one of Korea’s most scenic mountains, is poised to become North Korea’s next UNESCO World Heritage site.

According to UNESCO on May 27, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)—the advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee—have jointly recommended Mount Kumgang (officially submitted as Mt. Kumgang – Diamond Mountain from the Sea) for inscription.

One of the Korean Peninsula’s iconic peaks alongside Mount Paektu, Mount Kumgang rises to 1,638 meters at its highest point, Birobong, and stretches across the rugged northern Taebaek mountain range through Hoiyang, Tongcheon, and Goseong counties in Kangwon Province. The area is divided into Inner Kumgang, Outer Kumgang, and Coastal Kumgang, each offering dramatic rock formations, waterfalls, and diverse flora. The mountain has been admired in every season and praised under many names, including Geumgang, Bongrae, Pungak, and Gaegol.

In Korean folklore, it is said that to avoid the afterlife in hell, one must climb Mount Kumgang at least once before death—an expression of its breathtaking beauty. The lyrics of the children's song “Mount Kumgang” reflect this reverence:
"Let’s go to Mount Kumgang, to see twelve thousand peaks / So wondrous and beautiful at every glance / Changing clothes with every season / So lovely it’s named Kumgang."

North Korea first submitted the site for World Heritage consideration in 2021. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the evaluation was delayed until this year. The mountain was submitted as a mixed heritage site, recognizing both cultural and natural significance.

The advisory bodies recommended its inscription as a cultural landscape, excluding specific coastal features such as Haemanmulsang and Chongseokjeong. A cultural landscape is defined as a heritage site shaped by the interaction between humans and nature. This designation represents a broader interpretation of heritage that goes beyond the binary of cultural versus natural. The concept was first applied to Tongariro National Park in New Zealand in 1993.

According to a paper by Professor Jeon Jong-han of Gyeongin National University of Education, cultural landscapes encapsulate “heritage formed through human-nature interaction.”

Heritage sites that receive a recommendation for inscription are almost always approved by the World Heritage Committee. The 47th session of the committee will take place in Paris from July 6 to 16.

If approved, Mount Kumgang will become North Korea’s third World Heritage site, joining the Complex of Koguryo Tombs (2004) and the Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong (2013). North Korea also has five elements inscribed on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.