화암동굴

Hwaamdong-gul - Hwaam Cave - 畫岩洞窟 - Hwaam Gul - Jeongseon Hwaam Cave - Jeongseon Painted Rock Cave

Useful Information

Location:	12-1 Hwaamdonggul-gil, Hwaam-myeon, Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do. Halfway up Gakhee mountain, Hwaam 2-ri Dong-myeon. 21 km from Jeongseon-eup. Follow local road No. 424 (Deoku~Baekjeon). (37.349232, 128.793752)
Open:	All year daily 9:30-16:30. Last entry 30 minutes before closing. [2024]
Fee:	Adults KRW 7,000, Children (11-18) KRW 5,500, Children (6-10) KRW 4,000, Children (0-5) free, Seniors (65+) free, Disabled free. Groups (30+): Adults KRW 6,500, Children (11-18) KRW 5,000, Children (6-10) KRW 2,500. Reduced: Adults KRW 5,500, Children (11-18) KRW 4,500, Children (6-10) KRW 3,500. Groups (30+): Adults KRW 5,000, Children (11-18) KRW 4,000, Children (6-10) KRW 3,000. Monorail: Adults KRW 3,000, Children (11-18) KRW 2,000, Children (6-10) KRW 1,500. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave Gold Mine
Light:	Incandescent Coloured Light
Dimension:	L=730 m, VR=50 m.
Guided tours:	self guided, L=1,803 m, D=90 min, VR=90 m, St=365.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no, many steps
Bibliography:
Address:	Jeongseon Hwaam Cave, 12-1 Hwaamdonggul-gil, Hwaam-myeon, Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do, Tel: +82-33-562-7062. Tourism and Culture Bureau of Jeongseon-gun, Tel: +82-33-560-2365. Hwaam Tourist Attraction Control Office, Tel: +82-33-560-2578.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1922	start of mining operations at Cheonpo mine.
1934	cave discovered during mining activities in the gold mine.
1945	mining ended.
26-FEB-1980	designated Gangwon-do Regional Monument No. 33.
2002	opened to the public.

Description

화암동굴 (Hwaamdong-gul, Hwaam Cave) is a karst cave with speleothems, and colourful light. Quite exceptional is that it was discovered during mining activities. Normally the soluble sedimentary rock which is essential for karst caves does not contain valuable ores. But in this case the 천포금광촌 (Cheonpo Gold Mine, Quanpu Mine) produced gold, it was the 5th largest gold producer in Korea at the time. And so the mining of the gold is a main topic at the cave tours. We were actually not sure if we should classify the site as a show cave or show mine, it obviously both.

A Monorail brings the visitors up into a side valley where the mine entrance is located. It’s also possible to walk to the mine entrance, the monorail has a separate fee. The mine is entered through the upper tunnel, which is a 515 m long mine tunnel. It was equipped with the 역사의장 (Chairman of History) exhibition, which displays dioramas and animatronic miners who explain the mining of the gold. There is also a stop where four compressed air rock drills are installed, so the visitors can experience how the daily work of the miners actually was, though we guess they were toned down for security reasons. At the end of the tunnel the huge shaft is reached, and the visitors descend 365 steps on a huge staircase tower built into the vast shaft, to the 676 m long lower tunnel through which the mine is left. This tunnel contains the 동화의나라 (Fairy Tale Land), which is intended for children to explain gold ore mining, processing, smelting and the production of bullions and coins. All this is part of a story of goblins with a lot of plastic and coloured light. The whole story is told by Geumkkaebi and Eunkkaebi, the gold and silver goblin! Sounds silly, and is silly, but they insist it works, at least with Korean children. Finally, the 금의세계 (World of Gold) is reached, a more traditional museum about gold and its uses.

At the end of the tour, the show cave is reached, which is a single huge chamber with an area of 2,975 m². A 392 m long trail leads in a circle once around the chamber. The cave is noteworthy for extraordinary speleothems. There are numerous huge stalactites, stalagmites, frozen waterfalls and so on, and as this is Asia, it’s all named and colorfully lighted, and the number of scenes which can be seen is counted and proudly presented to the visitors. However, a group of three massive stalagmites with a height of 8 m and a circumference of 5m is quite impressive. 유석폭포 (Yuseok Falls) are a frozen waterfall or flowstone which is 28 m high. There are also numerous aragonite minerals forming white incrustations, twig like structures, bubbles, or balloons. The extraordinary minerals are obviously a result of the same geology which also created gold deposits in a limestone sedimentary rock. Also, the cave has numerous troglobiont inhabitants, spiders, millipedes and niphargus. At the end, the cave is left through the mine tunnel which opens almost at the parking lot.

The former area of the mine buildings on the valley floor was transformed into a huge parking lot, numerous restaurants and exhibitions. There is the 천포금광촌 (Cheonpo Gold Mine Village), which is an open air museum with the reconstruction of the miner’s city between 1920 and 1945. The open air museum is free. We recommend visiting the 정선향토박물관 (Jeongseon Local Museum) which is also located on the former mine grounds. It exhibits the history and cultural heritage of Jeongseon, starting with various agricultural tools, clothing, food, and livelihood. They also have a collection of donated gold-themed potteries and an exhibition on the history of gold mining in Korea. The museum is free.

We list thousands of tourist venues, and there is a big group where the open times or the fees are quite complicated. This is definitely one of them, they have reductions for a long list of things, and we had real difficulties understanding what they mean.

Residents of abandoned mine areas: how do you prove this? Bring a picture of a salg heap from home? Or do they check your address on the id card with the internet register of abandoned mines? Actually it’s much easier, they are talking about Korean mines, namely Jeongseon-gun, Taebaek-si, Samcheok-si, Yeongwol-gun, Boryeong-si, Hwasun-gun, Mungyeong-si.
Honorary military residents: probably a Korean specialty, I guess those get some kind of id to prove whatever this is.
Citizens of sister cities: ah, a fine thing to be loyal to the idea of sister cities. Again they are talking only about Korean sister cities, namely Incheon Namdong-gu, Boryeong-si, Daegu Jung-gu, Seoul Nowon-gu, Ansan-si, Cheorwon-gun.
Tourists staying in Jeongseon-gun: that’s quite common, but as it is impossible or time-consuming to check this at the ticket office. Most tourist towns issue a guest card for this reason.
Middle and high school students and same age youth Soldier (sergeant and below): we have no idea how old children are in Korean schools, but as far as we understand, children have to pay the full fee if they neither go to school nor the army?
Voters: we are not aware who votes whom and what for.

Recent events like the pandemic and the energy crisis raised prices and caused inflation. Why they actually decided to raise the entrance fees by 2,000 Won remains unclear though. Even for adults, this meant an increase of 40 %, which is far more than inflation justifies. But for children which were much cheaper, the price tripled.