#2: [01-Apr-12]

#1: [24-Jun-01]

15-Feb-2025 --

Since my last confluence visit in December, I had been waiting for the weather to get a bit warmer so that I could plan my next visit. The opportunity finally came around mid-February, this time with a second confluence hunter, who immediately showed interest in the DCP upon being introduced to it. 38°N 127°E, located in Yeoncheon-gun approx. 50 km north of Seoul, is the closest confluence to where I live. It is also one of the easier ones to reach using public transit, which is why we chose it as Gyumin’s first confluence visit as well as my (Junwon’s) second.

We first took Seoul Subway Line 1 to get from Seoul to Dongducheon, and then got on a bus that took us to Hwangu village, a couple kilometers west of the confluence. It was interesting to see quite a few army bases along the way, a reminder that the confluence used to lie precisely on the 38th parallel and is still pretty close to the North Korean border. So close, in fact, that everything north of the confluence was blurred out on the satellite image of the area, presumably for security reasons.

We took a path through the village which eventually led to the nearby mountains. By then the path was no longer paved, though still wide enough for cars to pass through. However, we started to realize that it had snowed quite a lot recently in the area near the confluence, which left the path covered in snow and mud.

After hiking for about 50 minutes through mountain paths and past a large elevated bridge above the Imjin river, we came within about 300 meters of the confluence. It was there that we came across a point marked with a stone, along with a sign that read “Central origin(중부원점),” or 38°N 127°E. The reading on my GPS, however, said we were 315m north of the actual confluence. Moreover, the location of the stone marker seemed (at first glance) to fit the description from the previous visit, which left us even more confused. It took a few careful observations of the photos from that visit and the nearby terrain for us to conclude that this was a completely different point, a discrepancy that I think was caused by different geodetic datums.

Right next to the marker was a tall structure symbolizing the “center” of Korea and a viewing platform facing the Imjin river. This confluence claiming to be the “center” of the country was especially interesting to me since I had read about its Japanese equivalent, Nihon Heso Park(meaning “Japan’s navel”, 35°N 135°E), and was unaware that we had a similarly marked point back at home. For such a large structure, it didn’t seem to be marked on any online maps, nor did we see any signs leading to it along the trail, which was weird.

Now to find the actual (WGS84) confluence point. After some searching, we decided to take a route through a valley that starts on the opposite side of the trail from the marker, which we thought was the easiest way. Upon leaving the path and entering the valley, we began to realize how much of a challenge this was going to be due to all the snow covering the area. Combined with the leaves fallen on the ground and the fact that it sloped upward, the snow made our approach to the confluence much slower (and more dangerous: both of us almost fell over several times along the way) than it had to be. We eventually approached within 100 meters of the confluence and found that the confluence was on the other side of the mountain ridge to the south. With no way to climb the steep slope or find a way around it, we decided to record the closest point we could reach (49m) and head back.

On our way back to the path, though, we luckily discovered another part of the mountain that looked relatively easy to climb. More importantly, it was marked with some old fence posts and rusty barbed wire just scattered on the ground. As we climbed upwards we became more and more certain it was supposed to be a trail going up the mountain, which would have been much easier to distinguish without the leaves covering the ground. We were ecstatic to find a concrete marker on the exact confluence point, about 10 meters south of the trail just as the previous visitors had described it.

On our way back, we got to see a transmission tower (the ones holding up power lines) up close, about 50m from the confluence point. We even stood directly under it, which let us realize how tall those things actually were.

Overall this wasn’t an easy confluence to reach, especially without proper hiking equipment. With better conditions (i.e. no snow or leaves) and prior knowledge of the route to take, though, I imagine it wouldn’t pose too much of a challenge even for beginners like us.