Chungju Lake

Where is Chungju Lake?

Countries on its shores: South Korea.

Largest body of water of: South Korea.

Middle of the lake: 37.01° N, 128.01° E

The story behind it

Chungju Lake did not exist before 1985. From 1978 to 1985, workers built the Chungju Dam across the Namhan River. The dam is about 98 metres tall and 447 metres long. Behind it, the water filled a long valley and made a lake that stretches for about 65 kilometres through three areas: Chungju, Jecheon and Danyang. Many villages disappeared under the water, including most of the old centres of Cheongpung and Danyang. Today a cultural heritage park at Cheongpung helps to keep old treasures from the flooded land. The dam protects towns from floods, sends water to the region around Seoul and makes electricity. Tourist boats cruise on the lake. The lake has several names: many people in Jecheon call it Cheongpung Lake. Most lakes in Korea are man-made, and South Korea has no natural lake of this size, so its largest lakes are reservoirs – and Chungju Lake is often called the biggest of them.

Find it on the globe

Chungju Lake is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.