Ulleungdo
Encyclopedia
Ulleungdo is a South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n island in the Sea of Japan
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...

 (East Sea). Formerly known as Dagelet to the Europeans, Ulleungdo is about 120 km (75 mi) east of the Korean Peninsula
Korean Peninsula
The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.Until the end of...

. Volcanic in origin, the rocky steep-sided island is the top of a large stratovolcano
Stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...

 which rises from the seafloor, reaching a maximum elevation of 984 metres (3,228 ft) at Seonginbong Peak. The island consists primarily of trachyandesite
Trachyandesite
Trachyandesite is an extrusive igneous rock. It has little or no free quartz, but is dominated by alkali feldspar and sodic plagioclase along with one or more of the following mafic minerals: amphibole, biotite or pyroxene...

 rock. A major explosive eruption about 9,350 years ago reached a Volcanic Explosivity Index
Volcanic Explosivity Index
The Volcanic Explosivity Index was devised by Chris Newhall of the U.S. Geological Survey and Stephen Self at the University of Hawaii in 1982 to provide a relative measure of the explosiveness of volcanic eruptions....

 of 6 and deposited tephra
Tephra
200px|thumb|right|Tephra horizons in south-central [[Iceland]]. The thick and light coloured layer at center of the photo is [[rhyolitic]] tephra from [[Hekla]]....

 as far as central Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

 over 800 km (497.1 mi) away, while producing pyroclastic flow
Pyroclastic flow
A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving current of superheated gas and rock , which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h . The flows normally hug the ground and travel downhill, or spread laterally under gravity...

s on the island and decapitating its top to form a caldera
Caldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...

.

The island of Ulleungdo has an area of 73.15 km² (28.24 sq mi) with about 10,000 inhabitants. It makes up the main part of Ulleung County
Ulleung County
Ulleung County is a county in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.It consists mainly of the island of Ulleungdo, but is held to cover a total of 44 islands, including Liancourt Rocks , which is contested by Japan and North Korea...

, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The main city of Ulleungdo is the port of Dodong, which serves as the main ferry port between Ulleungdo and the Korean mainland. Ulleungdo is a popular tourist site. The other main economic activity is fishery
Fishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

, including the harvest of cuttlefish
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda . Despite their name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs....

, which can be seen drying in the sun in many places on Ulleungdo. Most Koreans know the island for its cuttlefish.

History

Archaeological evidence indicates that the island has been inhabited since the 1st millennium BC. The first confirmed historical reference to Ulleungdo is in the Samguk Sagi
Samguk Sagi
Samguk Sagi is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The Samguk Sagi is written in Classical Chinese and its compilation was ordered by Goryeo's King Injong Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of...

for the year 512. In that year, the Silla
Silla
Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the longest sustained dynasties in...

 general Kim Isabu
Kim Isabu
Kim Isabu was a general and politician of Silla during the 6th century. He was also known as Taejong. He is best remembered today for his role in subjugating the island nation of Usan-guk which is known as the Liancourt Rocks or Dokdo Island today. Although frequently referred to as "Isabu", his...

 conquered the island, which had previously been the autonomous nation of Usan-guk
Usan-guk
Usan-guk, or the State of Usan, occupied Ulleung-do and the adjacent islands during the Korean Three Kingdoms period. According to the Samguk Sagi, it was conquered by the Silla general Kim Isabu in 512. He is said to have used wooden lions or tigers to intimidate the residents into surrendering...

. Some accounts relate that he used a number of wooden lions to intimidate the population, threatening to turn them loose unless they surrendered.

Usan-guk did not remain under the Silla yoke, however, and the island did not become a permanent political part of Korea until 930, when it was annexed by Goryeo
Goryeo
The Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by Emperor Taejo. Korea gets its name from this kingdom which came to be pronounced Korea. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...

. Remote as it is from the Korean mainland, Ulleungdo was a recurrent security headache for the Goryeo and Joseon
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...

 dynasties. It was devastated by Jurchen pirate raids in the 11th century, and by Wokou
Wokou
Wokou , which literally translates as "Japanese pirates" in English, were pirates of varying origins who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century onwards...

 pirate raids in the 14th century. A clash with Japan over fishing rights in the 1690s was precipitated by the Korean fisherman An Yong-bok
An Yong-bok
The Joseon government answered the Tsushima clan about the An Yong-bok incident by oral as follows. Joseon government told Japan not to admit Ahn's activity in Japan with an official document in March, 1698:...

. In response to these difficulties, Joseon adopted an "empty-island" policy which however proved impossible to enforce. The empty-island policy was officially rescinded in 1881, after which the government sought to encourage additional settlement of Ulleungdo.

Tourism

Favorite activities for tourists are hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, and eating hoe
Hoe (dish)
Hoe may refer to various raw food dishes in Korean cuisine. Saengseon hoe or "Hwal-eo hoe" is thinly sliced raw fish or other raw seafood ; yukhoe is hoe made with a raw beef and seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine; and gan hoe is raw beef liver with a sauce of sesame oil and...

 (a Korean raw fish dish). Sightseeing boats make regular three-hour circuits about Ulleungdo, departing from the harbor at Dodong and passing by all the points of interest along the coast, including many interesting rock formations and the small neighboring island of Jukdo
Jukdo (island)
Jukdo is a small island adjacent to Ulleungdo, South Korea. It was formerly also known as Jukseodo . It lies 2km east of Ulleungdo, and is the largest island in the group apart from Ulleungdo itself. In 2004, one family of three members were living on the island. Administratively, Jukdo belongs...

. Other scenic sites are Seonginbong, the highest peak on the island (984 m); Bongnae waterfall; the "natural icehouse"; and a coastal cliff from which Liancourt Rocks
Liancourt Rocks
The Liancourt Rocks, also known as Dokdo or Tokto in Korean or in Japanese, are a group of small islets in the Sea of Japan . Sovereignty over the islets is disputed between Japan and South Korea...

 can be discerned in the distance.

Myth

Once upon a time, a widowed old man was living with his daughter, and one year, they ran out of the corn they saved to eat during the winter period so the old man had to go to the ocean to catch fish. Then one day, the old man went to the sea, but did not come back. The daughter cried and waited for her dad, but nothing happened. The daughter who lost her father, drenched in grief and forgetting to eat, spent her time overlooking the sea. Then the daughter suddenly had a feeling that her father was coming back. So she went to the beach and she saw a small white sail boat coming towards her. But while she was waiting and waiting for the boat to come, the boat did not reach the shore. She could not wait for the boat so she decided to go to the boat, even though there were wild waves. But she could not beat the sea. Tired and exhausted, she was not able to get further and became a stone in that place. Since then, people called that rock as the HyoNyuh Rock (Filial Daughter Rock), or ChotDae Rock (Candlestick Rock).

Climate and flora

Ulleungdo has a humid subtropical climate
Humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...

 Köppen
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

 Cfa, though it resembles the west coast of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 much more than Korea, since in winter rainfall is heavy if less so than in such wet cities as Kanazawa
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.-Geography, climate, and population:Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula National Park. The city sits between the Sai and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².Kanazawa's...

 or Akita
Akita, Akita
is the capital city of Akita Prefecture in the Tohoku region of Japan.As of June 11, 2005, with the merger of the former Kawabe District , the city has an estimated population of 323,310 and density of...

. Sunshine is also very low in the winter if again not so markedly as in the previously-mentioned Japanese cities.

External links

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