The Multilayered Construction of Modern Mountain Tourism and Mt. Jiri Tourism Space: From 1920s to the 1960s

Abstract

This study examines the multi-layered construction of the tourism space of Mt. Jiri by tracing how various actors spatially constructed both tourism in Mt. Jiri (starting in the 1920s) as well as the designation of Jirisan National Park in 1967. Modern tourism was introduced to Mt. Jiri in the 1920s, and Mt. Jiri tourism took shape between the mid-1930s and the late 1940s. As mountaineering resumed in the mid-1950s after the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion and the Korean War, the foundation for full-scale mountain tourism was laid. The Corea Alpine Club (CAC) and scholars’ academic research played a significant role in driving mountaineering movements, complemented by the development of hiking trails by Gurye Yeonhaban, an alpine club in the area of Mt. Jiri. By the late 1960s, Jirisan became a major travel destination, due in part to the publication of mountaineering magazines, mountaineering movements supported by the CAC and the Chosun Ilbo, and the designation of Jirisan National Park in 1967.