Philip Iglauer

Local staff members from the United States Embassy in Korea with students from universities in Seoul celebrated Earth Day by picking up litter along a well-known hiking trail in Mount Bukhan, Friday.

It was an all-day environmental activity that started at the American Center in Seoul, and brought the group to Dulegil near Wooeuiryung Road in Mount Bukhan, Seoul’s largest park, to help clean Seoul’s most popular park clean.

They hiked the trail, taking in the scenic panoramas while picking up litter along the way. All organized by the U.S. Embassy.
Out of Mount Bukhan’s more than 20 hiking routes, Dulegil is regarded as one of the best.

Public access to this hiking course was blocked, however, for national security reasons. The area was a flash point in inter-Korean conflict.

North Korean guerrillas used it to launch a failed attack on Chong Wa Dae in December 1968.

Dulegil was reopened during the Roe Mu-hyun administration. Dulegil is currently open to the public by appointment only.

The event is part of the embassy’s Greening Diplomacy Initiative, which was launched by U.S. Secretary Hilary Clinton on Earth Day in 2009.

Earth Day is celebrated yearly on April 22 in some 175 countries around the world to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment.

Earth Day may have been first promulgated in 1969 by John McConnell at a UNESCO conference in San Francisco.