Walking the Edge of Korea: Where One Trail Ends and Another Begins

The Korea Dulle-gil, a long-distance trail circling the Korean Peninsula at a total length of 4,500 kilometers, is a journey that traces every capillary of the nation's land.

The trail links broken coastal footpaths, rice paddy ridges and harbor embankments all the way north to the demilitarized zone, carrying within it the deep history and humanistic value the land has accumulated over centuries. Among its vast stretches, the sections of the Namparang-gil passing through Gangjin and Haenam — and the Seohaerang-gil where a new trail begins — stand out as a symbolic passage where endings and beginnings interlock.

The Korea Dulle-gil is a daunting undertaking. Completing the full circuit demands considerable time and expense, yet more than 200 people have walked every kilometer of it — a testament to the trail's enduring pull. Its value, however, does not lie in completion alone. Choosing a single stretch and walking it slowly, as if in quiet conversation with the earth, is more than enough to make the journey worthwhile.

Route 83 of the Namparang-gil, stretching roughly 17.5 kilometers, passes through a place where one scholar's isolation and intellectual labor are layered into the landscape. The backbone of this route is Mandeoksan (408 meters), a mountain thick with wild tea trees. According to a local cultural tourism guide, the mountain is intimately bound to one man's life.

"From the top of Mandeoksan you can see all of Gangjin Bay," the guide said. "It's a low mountain, only 400 meters, but wild tea trees have grown here in abundance since ancient times, so it was nicknamed 'Dasan' — meaning 'mountain of many tea trees.' That name became the pen name of Jeong Yak-yong, who lived on the slopes of Mandeoksan during his exile in Gangjin."

In the spring of 1805, the fourth year of his exile, Dasan Jeong Yak-yong visited Baengnyeonsa Temple for the first time after gaining somewhat greater freedom of movement. There he met the head monk Hyejang. The two men were struck by each other's depth of learning, and an intellectual exchange began that transcended the divide between Confucian scholar and Buddhist monk. For an exile cast aside by the court and hemmed in on all sides, Hyejang became both an intellectual companion and a material and spiritual anchor.

When Dasan moved to Dasan Grass Cottage near Baengnyeonsa in 1808, the two men's visits grew even more frequent. The roughly 800-meter mountain path connecting the two sites is known today as the "Friendship Path of Dasan and Hyejang." One story holds that Hyejang would arrive without notice at any hour, so Dasan kept his door open deep into the night.

During the 11 years Dasan spent at the modest, unadorned cottage, he wrote approximately 500 volumes of work, including "Mongminsimseo," "Gyeongse Yupyo" and "Heumheumsinseo." Walking through Dasan Grass Cottage, it is hard to believe the place was a site of exile — an ease and elegance pervade every corner. The space quietly proves that physical confinement could not imprison the depth of thought.

Leaving Gangjin and entering Haenam, the trail transitions to Route 90 of the Namparang-gil, which begins at Mihwangsa Temple on Dalmasan and runs all the way to Ttangkkeut Tower. A detour along this stretch leads to Dosolam Hermitage, renowned as a prime spot where both the sunrise over the South Sea and the sunset over the West Sea can be seen from a single vantage point.

Dosolam was destroyed by retreating Japanese forces during the Jeongyu War and lay in ruins for some 400 years, with only its foundation stones remaining, before being restored in 2002. According to local accounts, a monk from Woljeongsa Temple on Odaesan had the same dream three nights in a row, then found this site — a place he had never visited — and completed the building, including its decorative paintwork, in just 32 days.

The terrain was so rugged that neither vehicles nor helicopters could reach it. The builders overcame the challenge through prefabrication: timber was cut to size and painted at a lumber mill at the foot of the mountain, then carried up and assembled on site.

The hermitage is barely a single room in size, yet jagged rock formations encircle it like a stone fortress wall, lending the scene a striking grandeur. Standing in the small courtyard against the force of sea winds, one looks out over the South Sea with nothing to obstruct the view. On days when sea fog or clouds roll in along the Dalmasan ridge, Dosolam appears to float above a sea of clouds, conjuring an almost otherworldly atmosphere. Its small scale holds within it a narrative of contemplation and spiritual practice — a quiet dignity that leaves a lasting impression.

Ttangkkeut Village in Haenam, included in Route 90 of the Namparang-gil, is regarded as a symbolic pilgrimage site for those journeying across the national territory. No land on the Korean Peninsula's mainland extends further south. Seen from another angle, this is equally the starting point of the nation — a place layered with meaning.

The southernmost point can be reached by monorail or on foot. Following a barrier-free deck path designed for visitors with limited mobility, walkers arrive at a skywalk that juts straight out toward the sea. Beneath its transparent tempered-glass floor, blue waves roll visibly below. Each step delivers a vertiginous thrill and a sweeping sense of openness — equal parts tension and delight.

Beyond the skywalk stands Ttangkkeut Tower, a 9-meter triangular pyramid that announces, unmistakably, that one has reached the end of the Korean Peninsula. Within the context of the Korea Dulle-gil, it carries particular significance.

Standing at the tower and facing the sea, the jagged coastline curving to the left traces the South Sea territory the Namparang-gil has just traversed, while the long horizon stretching to the right marks the West Sea where the Seohaerang-gil begins. The spot is accordingly prized for both sunrise and sunset views.

The sea stretching beyond has no boundary, but the Korea Dulle-gil turns north again from this very point. It is here, at the land's end, that the symbolism of a geographic turning point and the cyclical meaning of a new beginning come into sharpest focus. Every ending leads to another beginning — and in that way, this trail mirrors the arc of a life.

Heading north from Ttangkkeut Tower along Route 14 of the Seohaerang-gil, walkers reach Osiano Tourism Complex — a full-service resort with a hotel, beachside campground and golf course. The Haenam 126 Osiano Hotel within the complex has built a word-of-mouth reputation as the place to recover from the rigors of long-distance walking. Its design quality earned an excellence award at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Korea Public Architecture Award, giving it the feel of a premium brand hotel — yet it is a public facility operated by the Korea Tourism Organization.

"We get a lot of people asking whether it's really a public institution building," an official at the Korea Tourism Organization's Gwangju and South Jeolla Province branch said. "We take that as a great compliment. Occupancy tends to be high because the price is reasonable relative to the quality of the facility."

All 120 rooms face the West Sea, offering unobstructed ocean views. The infinity pool has become one of the most talked-about photo spots. Designed as an overflow pool, it creates the visual effect of the water's surface merging seamlessly with the West Sea horizon. Passenger ferries and car-carrier vessels bound for Mokpo and Jeju pass in front of the hotel, and watching their lights from the infinity pool as evening falls is a gentle way to let the day's fatigue dissolve.

Continuing along the Seohaerang-gil from Osiano leads to Mokpo. Route 18 covers 18.3 kilometers, taking in Peace Square, Gatbawi Rock, Samhakdo Park, the Kim Dae-jung Nobel Peace Prize Memorial Hall, Mokpojin Historic Park and the Modern History and Culture Street. The salt-tinged harbor air, red-brick colonial-era streets and quiet mountain paths alternate to create a compressed tour through Korea's modern and contemporary history.

After passing through the lanes of the Modern History and Culture Street — which includes the former Japanese consulate building, now the Mokpo Modern History Museum Building 1 — the trail turns back toward the sea. Walking along a strip of land connecting to an island, visitors arrive at Samhakdo Park, which holds the legend of three cranes that descended and became islands.

Cutting through the park, walkers reach a memorial hall dedicated to the life and peace philosophy of former President Kim Dae-jung, Korea's first Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Nearby, in Nanyeong Park, trees planted in memory of singer Lee Nan-young — who performed the beloved song "Tears of Mokpo" — cast quiet shade, offering passing walkers a moment of rest.

Along the way, several hikers wearing Korea Dulle-gil badges passed by. One elderly walker, asked why he was taking on such a long trail, answered without missing a beat: "I can't walk the whole thing. Still, I want to go as far as I can."

That unhurried reply may be the truest description of what the Korea Dulle-gil is. Not chasing the grand punctuation mark of a full completion, but simply moving forward, step by step — that itself is already a complete purpose. When your gaze shifts from a distant goal to the ground beneath your feet and the world around you, the landscapes and stories along the trail begin to come into view. A slow walk in conversation with the earth becomes a way of stepping into the countless stories layered upon it — a vast classroom for encountering the time this land has passed through and the lives of the people who flickered within it.