The Geumgangsan (or Kumgangsan) mountains, literally "diamond mountains", take their name from their appearance at sunrise. According to tradition, this name changes according to the time of day or the time of year: in the morning it is Kumgangsan, in the summer Bongnaesan (green mountains), in autumn Pungaksan (mountains with autumn leaves), and finally in winter Gaegolsan or Seolbongsan (bare mountains or snowy mountains). A major source of inspiration for Korean poets and artists since the Middle Ages, the Geumgangsan Mountains are also a symbol of the country's dream unity and unification. The government has designated 60,000 hectares as a national park around the Geumgangsan Mountains, and many birds nest there between spring and late fall.This tourist area is a special administrative division, one of three in the country (with Kaesong and Rason). Called "Wonsan-Mt. Kumgang International Tourist Zone" (KITZ), "Special International Tour Zone" (ZSTI) or "Special International Tour Zone" (SZIT), this region was created thanks to the warming relations between the two Koreas (notably the Sunshine Policy conducted from 1998 to 2008). During this period, it welcomed more than 1.9 million tourists, mostly South Koreans. Access to the area was blocked several times, during Typhoon Rusa in 2002, the deadly outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in China in the same year, and again in August 2003. Since 2008, inter-Korean tensions have prevented development in the Kumgang Mountains area, despite relations between South Korean private organizations (Hyundai) and the State of North Korea. In July, the guards in the tourist area shot a tourist who had gotten lost in a prohibited area. A few months later, in November, North Korea announced that it was temporarily closing down South Koreans, in addition to the tourist site of Kumgangsan, the Kaesong industrial zone, and rail links. The area is still closed to visitors from the South.

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