Gyeongsangbuk-do Geography & Climate

Gyeongsangbuk-do is the largest province in South Korea and one of the most mountainous.

The mountains

The Taebaek range runs down the eastern edge and the Sobaek range curves along the north-west, enclosing the province on two sides. Peaks reach around 1,500 metres, the slopes are forested, and the historic passes through them — Mungyeong Saejae above all — were the routes between the capital and the south-east for centuries, with their gates still standing.

The Nakdong basin

Between the ranges, the Nakdong river and its tributaries drain a basin of hills and small plains that holds most of the population and the farmland. Andong sits on a stretch of it dammed into a long reservoir.

Gyeongju’s basin

A broad valley in the south-east, ringed by low hills, which is why the Silla capital could be built on an undefended plain — the mountains did the work.

The east coast

Steep, rocky and straight, with few natural harbours and deep water close inshore. There is almost no continental shelf here, and the drop-off is abrupt.

Why the tombs survived

Gyeongju sits on soft alluvium, and Silla royal burials were made by building a wooden chamber at ground level, heaping river cobbles over it and then covering the whole thing in earth. The stone mound collapsed inward as the timber decayed, sealing the contents under many tonnes of rock that grave robbers could not tunnel through — which is why the gold came out intact in the twentieth century when almost every other royal tomb in Korea had been emptied centuries earlier.

Ulleungdo and Dokdo

Ulleungdo is the eroded top of a volcano rising from deep water about 120 kilometres offshore, with no flat land, a coast road cut into cliffs and a caldera basin at its centre. The Dokdo islets further east are administered from it and are the subject of a long territorial dispute with Japan.

The province has a temperate monsoon climate, made drier and more extreme than the west coast by the mountains that shelter it.

Winter

December to February is cold and dry, with inland averages between minus 5 and plus 5°C, clear skies and frequent frost. The mountains get substantial snow; the coast is milder but windy. The Siberian high produces alternating cold snaps and milder spells.

Spring

March to May warms fast, with cherry blossom at the start of April. Spring also brings yellow dust from the Asian mainland, and air quality warnings are common.

Summer

June to August is hot and humid, with the jangma front delivering prolonged rain from late June to late July, then a sticky August around 25 to 32°C. Daegu and the inland basin, just south of here, are famously the hottest part of Korea, and the enclosed valleys of this province share that — the mountains trap the heat.

Typhoons

The east coast is the most exposed part of South Korea to typhoons, which arrive between July and September and have caused serious flooding and landslides in the province.

Autumn

September to November is the finest season: dry, stable and clear, with colour on the mountains from mid-October.

Rainfall

Around 1,000 to 1,300 millimetres a year, lower than the west and south of the country because the mountains take the moisture out of the summer monsoon before it arrives. That relative dryness, combined with long autumn sunshine, is why the province grows Korea’s best apples and persimmons.

Ulleungdo

Wetter and snowier than the mainland, with metres of winter snow and frequent ferry cancellations.