Heaven Lake (; Korean: 천지) is a

volcanic crater lake A volcanic crater lake is a lake in a volcanic crater, crater that was formed by explosive eruption, explosive activity or a caldera, collapse during a types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruption. Formation Lakes in calderas fill large crate ...

atop

Paektu Mountain Paektu Mountain or Baekdu Mountain () is an active stratovolcano on the Chinese–North Korean border. In China, it is known as Changbai Mountain (). At , it is the tallest mountain in North Korea and Northeast China and the tallest mounta ...

. It lies on the border between China and North Korea, and is roughly evenly divided between the two countries. The Chinese part is in Jilin Province while the North Korean part is in

Ryanggang Province Ryanggang Province (Ryanggangdo; , ) is a Administrative divisions of North Korea, province in North Korea. The province is bordered by China (Jilin) to the north, North Hamgyong to the east, South Hamgyong to the south, and Chagang to the west. ...

Geology and limnology

The

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

which contains Heaven Lake was created by the 946 eruption of Paektu Mountain. The lake has a surface elevation of . The lake covers an area of , with a south–north length of and an east–west length of . The average depth of the lake is and a maximum depth of . From mid-October to mid-June, it is typically covered with ice.

History

Names and legends

In ancient Chinese literature, ' also refers to ' ( sometimes translated as "southern sea"). North Korean propaganda claims that

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his death in 2011, when he was ...

was born near the lake on the mountain. In accordance with this, North Korean state news agencies reported that on his death, the ice on the lake cracked "so loud, it seemed to shake the heavens and the Earth".

Lake Tianchi Monster

Heaven Lake is also alleged to be home to the Lake Tianchi Monster. On September 6, 2007, Zhuo Yongsheng (director of a TV station's news center run by the administration office of the nature reserve at Mount Changbaishan,

Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...

) shot a 20-minute video of six

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

-like, finned Lake Tianchi Monsters, near the North Korean border. He sent pictures of the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster (), known affectionately as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protrud ...

-type creatures to

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official State media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...

's Jilin provincial bureau. One of them showed the creatures swimming in three pairs, in parallel. Another showed them together, leaving ripples on the volcanic lake.

Notable visits

On September 20, 2018, as part of an

Inter-Korean summit Inter-Korean summits are meetings between the leaders of North Korea, North and South Korea. To date, there have been five such meetings so far (2000 inter-Korean summit, 2000, 2007 inter-Korean summit, 2007, April 2018 inter-Korean summit, Apr ...

, heads of state

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has served as supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim ...

and

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (, ; born January 24, 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the Chief ...

visited Mount Paektu and Heaven Lake. Moon filled a bottle with water from the lake to take back to South Korea. The visit to the lake was a symbolic gesture, as both the lake and the mountain hold considerable cultural significance to the

Korean people Koreans are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnicity, ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As ...

. Mount Paektu is mentioned in the anthems of both

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and is considered to be the spiritual home of the Koreans.

In popular culture

The lake is the subject of the song "Tianchi Lake" on

The Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are a United States band formed in Claremont, California, Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole me ...

' 2008 album Heretic Pride.

Notes

References

External links

{{Lakes of China Lakes of China Calderas of Asia Volcanic crater lakes Bodies of water of Jilin China–North Korea border International lakes of Asia Lakes of North Korea