VOL.93/2026.04

Hallasan: A Peak Shaped by Nature and History

2026.01.05

About 70 percent of Korea’s land area is mountainous. One of the most prominent ranges is the Taebaek Mountain Range (태백산맥; 太白山脈), which stretches from the northeast to the southeast and includes many famous peaks such as Geumgangsan, Seoraksan, Odaesan, and Taebaeksan. However, the highest mountain in Korea is located on Jeju Island at the southernmost tip of the country: Hallasan, which topped this month’s K-Book Trends poll as “Korea’s representative mountain.” Rising 1,947 meters above sea level, Hallasan is an active volcano formed by repeated eruptions of basaltic lava. It was designated a Natural Monument of Korea in 1966, and in 2007, it was recognized as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, gaining recognition as a natural treasure of global significance. At its summit lies Baengnokdam (백록담; 白鹿潭), which means “the crater pond where a white deer drinks,” though it is not easy to catch the spectacular sight of the crater filled with water. Despite its height, Hallasan is considered relatively easy to climb, and visitors can enjoy a total of seven official hiking trails.
Even as Hallasan is widely known for its distinctive location, geology, ecology, and natural heritage, it is also a place that bears painful historical scars. This is because the Jeju uprising, which took place on Jeju Island between 1947 and 1954, is closely tied to this mountain. The uprising was ignited by a complex entanglement of factors: excessive police suppression and violence by far-right groups directed at civilians suffering from post-liberation famine and food shortages, as well as conflicts surrounding elections. Its name comes from the large-scale uprising that began on April 3, 1948. The officially confirmed number of victims is around 14,000, but actual casualties are estimated to exceed 25,000. Hallasan was the place where Jeju residents fled to and where they were surrounded during that period. Hallasan also appears as an important setting in We Do Not Part (Munhakdongne Publishing), a novel by Han Kang that deals with the Jeju uprising. There are other works of fiction that address the incident as well - one of them is Aunt Suni (Changbi Publishers) by Hyun Ki-Young, which is featured in this issue.

Aunt Suni is a work that, after forty years of silence, brings to light the tragedy of the Jeju uprising. The narrator, “I,” returns to the hometown of Jeju upon hearing the obituary of “Aunt Suni,” whom he had known since childhood. Through the testimonies of those around him, he gradually comes to understand the past wounds that Aunt Suni suffered. After losing her family and surviving by fleeing to Hallasan, Aunt Suni became mute from fear of death and the aftereffects of violence; even within Jeju society, she was forced into silence. At the time, simply mentioning the incident itself was taboo. In the end, the narrator realizes that Aunt Suni’s life and death are not just an individual tragedy, but a scar that belongs to Jeju society as a whole. He feels a sense of responsibility to record this forgotten history. He believes that the wounds left by society and the state must be remembered and written down so that such events will not be repeated. The title Aunt Suni is like a name that calls out to everyone still living within the pain of history, telling them all, “Do not remain silent.”

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