Mount Kumgang
mountain range in North Korea
Mount Kumgang (Korean: 금강산; lit. 'Diamond Mountain') or the Kumgang Mountains is a mountain massif, with a 1,638-metre-high (5,374 ft) peak, in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea. It is located on the east coast of the country, in an area of Kangwŏn Province formerly known as the Mount Kumgang Tourist Region, and is part of the Taebaek mountain range which runs along the east of the Korean Peninsula. The mountain is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the South Korean city of Sokcho in Gangwon Province. In 2025, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Seasonal names
Mount Kumgang has been known for its scenic beauty since ancient times and is the subject of many different works of art. Including its spring name, Kŭmgangsan (금강산; 金剛山; [kɯmɡaŋsʰan]), it has many different names for each season, but it is most widely known today in the Korean language as Kŭmgangsan. In summer, it is called Pongraesan (봉래산; 蓬萊山; lit. 'Penglai Mountain'); in autumn, Phung'aksan (풍악산; 楓岳山; 楓骨山; lit. 'great mountain of colored leaves'); in winter, Kaegolsan (개골산; 皆骨山; lit.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Mount Kumgang” as mountain range in North Korea. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as mountain range in North Korea. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q495501. VIAF identifies the subject as 53145602546101362291. The Library of Congress control number is sh85037559. Authority coordinates are 38.657, 128.105. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Mount Kumgang” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.