Paektu Mountain in the context of "Emblem of North Korea"

The Yalu River (Chinese: 鸭绿江; pinyin: Yālù Jiāng) or Amnok River (Korean: 압록강; MR: Amnokkang) is a river on the border between China and North Korea. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between China and North Korea. Its valley has been the scene of several military conflicts in the past centuries. It borders North Korea to the south and China to the north.

The Tumen River (Chinese: 图们江; pinyin: Túmén Jiāng, Russian: река Туманная, Korean: 두만강; Korean pronunciation: [tumaŋgaŋ]), also known as the Tuman River or Duman River, is a 521-kilometre (324 mi) long river that serves as part of the boundary between China (left shore), North Korea (right) and Russia (left), rising on the slopes of Mount Paektu and flowing into the Sea of Japan. The river has a drainage basin of 33,800 km (13,100 sq mi).

The river flows in northeast Asia, on the border between China and North Korea in its upper reaches, and between North Korea and Russia in its last 17 kilometers (11 mi) before entering the Sea of Japan. The river forms much of the southern border of Jilin Province in Northeast China and the northern borders of North Korea's North Hamgyong and Ryanggang provinces. Paektu Mountain on the Chinese-North Korean border is the source of the river, as well as of the Yalu River. The two rivers and the region of Paektu Mountain between their headwaters form the border between North Korea and China.

The Donghak Peasant Revolution (Korean: 동학 농민 혁명) took place between 11 January 1894 and 25 December 1895 in Korea. The peasants were primarily followers of Donghak, a Neo-Confucian movement that rejected Western technology and ideals.

The Revolution began in the province of Gobu-gun. In the early 1890s, Jo Byeong-gap [ko], nominated magistrate of the gun in 1892, enforced harsh, oppressive policies upon the local peasant population. Correspondingly, in March 1894, a group of peasants led by Jeon Bong-jun and Kim Gae-nam began an uprising against local authorities. The initial revolt was suppressed under Yi Yong-tae, and Jeon Bong-jun fled to nearby Taein. Jeon gathered an army in Mount Paektu and recaptured Gobu in April. The rebels then defeated governmental forces in the Battle of Hwangtojae and the Battle of the Hwangryong River. Jeon then captured Jeonju Fortress and fought in a siege against Hong Gye-hun's government forces. In May, the rebels agreed on a truce through the Treaty of Jeonju [ko]. However, an unstable peace continued throughout the summer.

The Tripiṭaka Koreana is a Korean collection of the Tripiṭaka (Buddhist scriptures), carved onto 81,352 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. They are currently located at the Buddhist temple Haeinsa, in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in Hanja script. It contains 1,496 titles, divided into 6,568 books, spanning 81,258 pages, for a total 52,330,152 Hanja characters. It is often called the Palman Daejanggyeong ("Eighty-thousand Tripitaka") due to the number of the printing plates that comprise it. It is also known as the Goryeo Daejanggyeong (Goryeo dynasty Tripitaka).

Each wood block (page) measures 24 centimetres in height and 70 centimetres (9.4 in × 27.6 in) in length. The thickness of the blocks ranges from 2.6 to 4 centimetres (1.0–1.6 in) and each weighs about three to four kilograms (6.61 - 8.81 lbs). The woodblocks would be almost as tall as Paektu Mountain at 2.74 km (1.70 mi) if stacked and would measure 60 km (37 mi) long if lined up, and weigh 280 tons in total. The woodblocks are in pristine condition without warping or deformation despite being created more than 750 years ago.

The Changbai Mountains (simplified Chinese: 长白山脉; traditional Chinese: 長白山脈; lit. 'long white mountain range') are a major mountain range in East Asia that extends from the Northeast Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, across the China-North Korea border (41°41' to 42°51'N; 127°43' to 128°16'E), to the North Korean provinces of Ryanggang and Chagang. They are also referred to as the Šanggiyan Mountains in the Manchu language, or the Great Paekdu in Korean. Most of its peaks exceed 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in height, with the tallest summit being Paektu Mountain at 2,744 m (9,003 ft), which contains the Heaven Lake, the highest volcanic crater lake in the world at a surface elevation of 2,189.1 m (7,182 ft). The protected area Longwanqun National Forest Park is located within the vicinity of the mountain range.

The Kim family, officially the Mount Paektu Bloodline (Korean: 백두혈통), named for Paektu Mountain, in the ideological discourse of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), and often referred to as the Kim dynasty after the end of the Cold War, is the three-generation lineage of North Korean leadership, descending from the country's founder and first leader, Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung came to rule the north in 1948, after the end of Japanese rule split the region in 1945. Following his death in 1994, Kim Il Sung's role as supreme leader was passed to his son, Kim Jong Il, and then in 2011 to his grandson, Kim Jong Un. The three have each served as leaders of the Workers' Party of Korea (titled as Chairman from 1948 to 1966, General Secretary from 1966 to 2012, First Secretary from 2012 to 2016, Chairman again from 2016 to 2021, and General Secretary again since 2021) and as North Korea's supreme leaders since the state's establishment in 1948.

The North Korean government denies that there is a personality cult surrounding the Kim family, describing the people's devotion to the family as a personal manifestation of support for their nation's leadership. The Kim family has been described as a de facto absolute monarchy or hereditary dictatorship.

The Sino-Korean Border Agreement (Chinese: 中朝边界条约; Korean: 조중 변계 조약) was signed by China and North Korea on October 12, 1962, in Pyongyang. This agreement and a subsequent agreement in 1964 define the modern border between the two countries. The agreement is widely viewed by both modern scholars and by contemporaries as being favorable to North Korea. As a result of the agreement, North Korea acquired 280 km of territory on and around Paektu Mountain, and 54.5% of the mountain's Heaven Lake. The previous practice of using the Yalu River and Tumen River for the rest of the border was affirmed.

A subsequent agreement followed on March 20, 1964, called the Protocols on the Sino-Korean Border (Chinese: 中朝边界议定书; Korean: 조중 변계 의정서). It was signed in Beijing and determined the sovereignty of 451 islands and islets (264 to North Korea, 187 to China).