Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Introduction-mission statement


The Baekdu Daegan (White head – Great ridge) is an unbroken ridgeline that stretches over the entire length of the Korean peninsula. In South Korea it starts at Jiri-san (exquisite-wisdom mountain), and is intersected some 650 walking km later north at the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) seperating North and South Korea. The ridge continues through North Korea to its end at Baekdu-san (White Head mountain), on the North Korean/Chinese border. The trail holds remarkable splendor in its beauty, cultural and historical significance. Its physical and spiritual presence is conceptualized by religious and sacred followers. It self-commands nationalistic reverence by all inhabitants of the Korean peninsula and is the provider of essential life-energy and source of all waterways on the peninsula, testament to that is that the trail never crosses a waterway. The Baekdu-daegan has potential in being recognized as one of the great international hiking trails as acknowledged by the South Korean government with recent discussion angled towards the preservation and promotion of the trail as a national or world heritage site. Join us on this walk back through the past and into the future as we rediscover the immense culture and history of this grand land through the path of the Baekdu – daegan.


Photo: In this image the Baekdu-daegan follows the tigers spine. Baekdu-san is the nose and Jirisan is near the hip.


서론-임무 성명서
 
 백두대간은 한반도 전체에 걸쳐 중단 없이 길게 뻗어 있는 산맥이다.
남한의 지리산에서부터 산행길로 650km쯤 북으로 가면 남북한을 갈라놓은 DMZ와 교차하게 된다.
산맥은 북한을 관통하며 계속 북으로 뻗어 북한과 중국의 국경지대인 백두산에서 끝이 난다.
산행길은 아름다움 속에 웅장한 경관들이 있고, 문화와 역사적인 중요성도 함께 안고 있다.
그래서 신앙적이고 신성한 추종자들은 (이런 요소를) 물질적이고 영적인 존재로 만들어가고 있다.
그런 것들이 한반도에 사는 모든 국민들이 민족과 국가에 대한 경외감을 가지게 만든다.
또한 백두대간은 본질적인 삶의 에너지원을 공급해 주고 한반도의 모든 강과 내의 원천이 되고 있다 다시 말하면 산행길은 어떤 강이나 내도 가로질러 갈 필요가 없다는 뜻이다.
백두대간은 한국정부가 인정하는 훌륭한 국제적인 산행길로 승인받을 가능성이 커져가고 있다.
최근에는 정부에서 국가 또는 세계유산으로서 산행길을 보호,장려하는 방향으로 적극 검토하고 있다.
과거에서 미래로 나아가는 우리들의 이번 백두대간 산행에 동참하여 위대한 이 땅의 소중한 문화와 역사를 되새겨 보지 않으시겠습니까?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Its great to see people doing exciting things here in Korea.
I look forward to following your progress. Good Luck from here in Gwangju.

Anonymous said...

Good luck guys! It's about time this great walk got some recognition outside Korea. I've been serving in the US military for 3 years in Korea. We've lead numerous expeditions for charity on this trail. As amazing as it was, our experience would have been enhanced by a guidebook like yours. Go for it!

The team said...

Randy
-Thanks a lot for your support, we hope you continue to follow our progress along the way.
A question - do the US military have detailed topographical maps printed in English here?
We will be using Korean maps, which we prefer for our walk but we will need English maps for our publication, which seem hard to find.
- Cheers

Anonymous said...

We've always had a couple of Korean soldiers leading us, who have done the walk many times before. They used their own maps. Great route finders, but they couldn't speak much English. That's why your book would've been useful.
I only work as an MP, so I don't know much about what we carry in the way of maps. I presume we have most things covered. Whether the US military is prepared to relase such material, I just don't know.

The team said...

Cheers Randy, we'll look into it
-thanks again