Korea has many Korean mountains of wide ranging levels of difficulty. If you have hiked a few, you may have noticed that some of the names of mountains have the sound “ak” in them. For example, Seoraksan, also called Seorak Mountain, has “ak” in it. A popular mountain in Seoul is Kwanaksan, or Kwanak Mountain, which also has the sound “ak.”

In Korean “san” means “mountain.” The Korean sound, “san” can actually be represented by the Chinese character 山 . Likewise, the Korean sound “ak” has a corresponding Chinese character, 岳 .

Depending on the context, “ak” could have different meanings (and corresponding different Chinese characters). Usually, when used in the context of mountains, ak-san (岳山) means large and difficult mountain. Many of these mountains are indeed more rocky, steep, and difficult than other Korean mountains.

Here’s a list of some of the mountains with “ak” in their name.

• Seoraksan
• Woraksan
• Chiaksan
• Gwanaksan
• Samaksan
• Unaksan