Natural Monuments - Mysteriously-Shaped Rocks

In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, there are many fantastic rocks, which are registered as natural monuments.

Talgal (egg) Rock in Mt Kumgang

Granite rocks, which are different from each other in the intensity of hardness, have been weathered to form today’s egg-shaped rock. As an enormous rock sits on the corner of a flat, spacious rock bed, it looks as if it would roll down at once. It looks like an egg when it is seen from any side, hence the name Talgal (egg).

The oval-shaped rock is about 7 metres in height and 20 to 21 metres in the long circumference and about 15 metres in the short circumference.

The rock is not only singular in terms of scenery but also is of significance in the aspect of academic study.

Khokkiri (elephant) Rock in Monggumpho

This rock formed into an elephant-shaped one as the quartz porphyry in the Taebosan formation in the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic age was eroded by the sea along the vertical joint plane. It looks like an elephant with its trunk drooping in the sea for drinking water at high tide and the rock reveals at low tide.

The rock is about 15 metres high and some 10 metres long and around 3 metres round in the part of the trunk.

It adds more beauty to Monggumpho, a scenic spot in the West Sea of Korea, as it is in good harmony with the coastal cliffs and clear blue sea.

Makttae (stick) Rock

This rock is a fantastic monolith, which formed as its surrounding rocks disappeared and the red felsite dike in its interior revealed owing to the erosion by the sea and weathering action that happened through a long geological period.

It is 10 metres high, 16 metres round at the bottom and 20 metres round in the middle. Its body widens upward and then thinner, and again went straight upward. Apparently, it seems to fall down, but it is very safe for its good balance.

It is of great significance in studying the weathering action of red felsite and the erosion by the sea and coastal deposition that constantly happen at the boundary of sea and land.