| Taebaek Mountains | |
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Location of the Taebaek Mountains. |
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| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 태백산맥 |
| Hanja | 太白山脈 |
| Revised Romanization | Taebaek Sanmaek |
| McCune–Reischauer | T'aebaek Sanmaek |
The Taebaek Mountains are a mountain range in both North Korea and South Korea. They form the main ridge of the Korean peninsula.
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The Taebaek mountains are located along the eastern edge of the peninsula and run along the Sea of Japan (East Sea). The Mt. Hwangnyong Mountain in North Korea (1268 meters) forms the northern end of the range. Busan lies at the southern end of the mountain range. This makes the mountain range a total length of over 500 kilometers, averaging about 1000 meters in height.
Prominent peaks of the range include Kŭmgang Mountain (1,638 m), Seorak Mountain (1,708 m), and Odae Mountain (1,563 m). To the east, the mountain range falls steeply into the sea, but to the west, there are more gentle slopes. Many spurs stretch southwest. The most important rivers of South Korea, the Han River and the Nakdong River, both originate in the Taebaek Mountains.
Many of the slopes are extensively covered in forests.
Economically the Taebaek mountains are important for the mining of iron, coal, tungsten, and limestone.
They will be the location of the 2018 Winter Olympics.