Evergreen Forest on Mokdo Island, Ulju

Mokdo is a small island off the coast of Ulju. It takes its name Mokdo (Eye Island) from the island's shape, which resembles an eye; it is also called Chundo (Camellia Island) for its abundance of beautifully flowering camellias, and Jukdo Island, after the bamboo grown there in Silla times to make arrows. The evergreen forest is spread evenly across the whole island, its main component species including camellia, Japanese black pine, spindle tree, Machilus thunbergii, oriental photinia, cherry, hackberry, silk tree, angelica tree, coral berry, kudzu, Korean raspberry, honeysuckle vine, wisteria, persimmon and Chinese wolfberry, among many other kinds of tree. The Evergreen Forest on Mokdo Island, Ulju, is the only evergreen forest on Korea's East Coast. By providing a habitat suitable for fish, it also serves as an eobu-rim, a coastal forest that draws shoals of fish towards the shore, making it valuable material offering a glimpse into the lives of our ancestors; it also holds great biological value as marking the distributional limit for the natural growth of evergreens on the East Coast, and it is accordingly designated and protected as a natural monument. Mokdo Island in Ulju is currently designated a restricted-access area to protect the evergreen forest, and anyone wishing to enter for management, research or similar purposes must obtain the permission of the Administrator of the Korea Heritage Service.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Ulju, Ulsan

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물