Mount Paektu, Baekdu, or Changbai is an active volcano on the border between North Korea and China. At 2,744 m (9,003 ft), it is the highest mountain of theChangbai and Baekdudaegan ranges. North and South Koreans consider the volcano and its caldera lake to be their countries' spiritual home.[2]
It is also the highest mountain on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast China.[3] Formed by a huge volcanic eruption, a large crater lake, called Heaven Lakeis in the caldera atop the mountain. The 940-1000 AD eruption of Baektu Mountain has been dubbed the "Millennium eruption" or the "Tianchi eruption", and erupted about 100–120 kilometres (62–75 mi)3 tephra. This eruption was about a Volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 7. This was one of the largest and most violent eruptions in the last 5000 years (alongside the Hatepe eruption of Lake Taupo at around 180 AD and the 1815 eruption of Tambora).