En-Uk's Volcano

Volcano

En-Uk Sequoya Hwang

(Image from En-Uk's Art Blog)

This image was En-Uk's art post for the first day of Chuseok, Korea's Thanksgiving Harvest Festival. To explain his choice of image, En-Uk wrote:

This drawing is called "Volcano." I made this drawing because I like volcanos. Bye.

And that is En-Uk's full, total, and complete explanation as to why he chose the image of a volcano for Chuseok. I don't usually associate Korea with volcanos . . . but my son might be on to something. I can think of three important volcanos associated with Korea:

Mt. Baekdu: a mountain on the border between North Korea and China that rises to 9,003 feet (2,744 meters) and is considered by Koreans as the sacred mountain of their ancestral origins.

Mt. Halla: a mountain on Jeju Island, South Korea's nearly southernmost territory at 75 miles from the mainland (Mara Island being 5 miles further south), that rises to 6,398 feet (1,950 meters), thereby dominating the island, beloved by Koreans as a honeymoon spot.

Ulleung Island: a volcanic island 75 miles east of the Korean mainland and the easternmost territory of Korea aside from Dok Island (54 miles further east), its highest point being Seonginbong Peak, at 3,228 feet (984 meters), dominating a rugged landscape that I loved far more than Jeju Island. 

Those are three impressive volcanos associated with Korea, though there may be more that I'm unaware of. I've visited Jeju Island and Ulleung Island, but I've not yet been to Mt. Baekdu. En-Uk, being only 12, has visited just Ulleung Island. I don't know that any of these three volcanos were on En-Uk's mind as he drew and colored his volcanic image. Perhaps he simply possesses a volcanic imagination.

Speaking of high points, the four of us (my wife, our two children, and me) are going to hike one of the mountains that ring Seoul today in honor of Chuseok . . . but not a volcanic one, so far as I know.