Evergreen Forest on Kkamakseom Island, Gangjin

Kkamakseom is made up of two small islands, known as Keun Kkamakseom (Big Kkamakseom) and Jageun Kkamakseom (Small Kkamakseom); at low tide it is possible to walk there from Maryang-ri village. The island's name is said to have originally been Gamakseom, which later became Kkamakseom. Evergreen trees are distributed evenly across the whole of Kkamakseom, and the forest is dominated in particular by Machilus thunbergii trees 10–12m tall. Besides Machilus thunbergii, the evergreen forest is made up of evergreen broadleaf trees such as Ardisia japonica, Japanese spindle tree, Actinodaphne lancifolia, Neolitsea sericea, Zanthoxylum planispinum, Eurya japonica, Japanese privet, Ilex integra and Cinnamomum yabunikkei; evergreen vines such as Stauntonia hexaphylla, Korean ivy and Asian jasmine; deciduous broadleaf trees such as hackberry, Chinese cork oak, sawtooth oak, Japanese pepper tree, border privet, Cudrania tricuspidata, multiflora rose, wild raspberry, Rubus corchorifolius, kousa dogwood, silk tree, wax tree, Grewia biloba, Mallotus japonicus and muku tree; deciduous vines such as skunk vine, Oriental bittersweet, Solanum lyratum, Cocculus trilobus, China root greenbrier, a related greenbrier, porcelain berry and Japanese honeysuckle; and the evergreen conifer Korean red pine. The evergreen forest on Kkamakseom Island, Gangjin, provides a suitable environment for fish habitats and functions as an eoburim — a coastal forest planted to draw shoals of fish toward the shore. As one of Korea's representative evergreen forests, it is recognised for its cultural and biological conservation value and is designated and protected as a natural monument. Kkamakseom is currently designated a restricted-access area to protect the evergreen forest, and entry for management or academic purposes requires permission from the Administrator of the Korea Heritage Service.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gangjin, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물