“Four Seasons of the Gaema Plateau Into the Primitive Mystery”

For the first time, the four seasons of the Gaema Plateau will be broadcasted on television. MBC will put a joint nature documentary program produced with parties of the two Koreas, “Roof of Korea, Gaema Plateau” at 11:10 p.m. on March 15.

The documentary program was filmed after the MBC asked the Chosun Science Movie Studio to shoot it.

The North’s shooting team filmed 150 30-minute video tapes from October 2003 to the end of the last year, and MBC will reduce them to 60 minutes and broadcast it.

Kim Myeong-kwang, a producer who led the North Korean shooting team, is a distinguished artist in North Korea and has been making nature documentary programs over the last 30 years including “Korean Woodpecker,” “Korean Birds under International Protection,” and “Propagation of Animals.”

The changes in seasons of the Gaema Plateau were also first shot in North Korea.

The Gaema Plateau, surrounded by the Nangnimsan Range and Bujeon Pass of the Aprok River, has an average elevation of about 1,340 meters above sea level and a width of 14,300 km, which is 1,700 times greater than the Yeouido. The Gaema Plateau was formed from a volcanic eruption about one million years ago and plays as a shelter for wild animals with its untouched virgin forests.

The animals that already went extinct or are endangered in the South, such as the leopard, Manchurian brown bear, fox, wolf, and lynx, can be found on the Gaema Plateau.

The playing Manchurian brown bear, lynx operating in daylight, and a fox stealing a pheasant’s egg were vividly filmed on camera.

In addition, a rare specimen worldwide, the “crying rabbit” that only lives in areas higher than 1,000 meters, demonstrates its strange crying sounds in front of the camera.

The program features not only animals but also the rich vegetation ecosystem in the virgin forests. Surpassing 2,000 years, the “Geumya ginko tree” (natural monument 271 of North Korea) with its under girth of 16.2 meter and a bunch of yew trees that is older than 1,000 years exist. Viewers can also enjoy the unique “stone river” that runs under the piles of stones connected to each other.

Producer Choi Sam-kyu said that seeing the videotapes, he was surprised at the fact that the Korea Peninsula still has the primitive mystery and that the Gaema Plateau is a treasure house of the Korean ecosystem.

Jung-Bo Suh suhchoi@donga.com