Tag: Mt. Seorak

Environment Ministry Gives Conditional Approval to Constructing Additional Cable Car Up Mt. Seorak

This cable car project will probably turn Osaek into the same madhouse that the current Seoraksan National Park entrance is. I have taken the cable car before at the National Park entrance and it was a long line with a packed cable car; so I understand why they are trying to create another cable car to distribute the demand. However, Osaek is a quieter area compared to the park’s entrance since this is where hikers stay to ascend the mountain from. That may change in the near future if a cable car is built there as well:

The environment ministry on Monday gave a conditional nod to a controversial project to build and operate a cable car system over a natural reserve area on Mount Seorak near South Korea’s east coast.

The project, pursued since the 1980s, seeks to build a 3.3-kilometer-long cable car system between the Seoraksan National Park’s Osaek area in the county of Yangyang and near the mountain’s summit. 

Once completed as planned, the system will service 53 cable cars to carry up to 825 passengers per hour. 

The site is within a state-designated natural reserve as well as a biosphere reserve designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The environment ministry’s regional office in Wonju gave “conditional consent” to an environmental impact assessment report submitted by Yangyang County on the project, saying it carries measures to reduce negative environmental effects.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Picture of the Day: Group Protests Installation of Another Cable Car on Mt. Seorak

Protest against installation of cable car system
Protest against installation of cable car system
A group of environmentalists takes part in a pilgrimage in Wonju, Gangwon Province, southeastern South Korea, on Feb. 1, 2023, as part of their efforts to voice their objection to the installation of a new cable car system on Mount Seorak, a scenic tourist attraction on South Korea’s east coast. The group will complete the 135-km pilgrimage on foot the next day after launching it from Hangye Pass on the mountain in the province’s Yangyang on Jan. 26. (Yonhap)