Pyongyang, July 17 (KCNA) -- Thirty-five years has passed since the area of Mt Paektu was registered as the World Network of Biosphere Reserves for the first time in the DPRK.

The biosphere sanctuary of Mt Paektu covers Mt Paektu and its vast areas, including the city of Samjiyon in Ryanggang Province. Its total area is 132 000 hectares.

Under the policy of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government on protecting nature, the area of Mt Paektu was set as the Plant Sanctuary of Mt Paektu in April Juche 35 (1946). Since then it had been regarded as the Nature Reserve of Mt Paektu and the Special Reserve of Revolutionary Battle Sites of Mt Paektu. And it was registered as the World Network of Biosphere Reserves in April 1989.

As a result, the protection of biodiversity in the area of Mt Paektu has been conducted under the interest of our country and the world.

The sanctuary is peculiar in its history of formation and natural and geographical features and rich in biodiversity.

Strata of different ages, from the Lower Proterozoic to the Cenozoic were developed in the sanctuary.

On the top of Mt Paektu, high peaks like Janggun Peak (2 750m), the highest one of the country, form steep cliffs and surround Lake Chon, revealing their peculiar natural beauty.

The natural elements of Mt Paektu, including the geological and topographical features, formed by several rounds of volcanic eruptions and their evolution and development processes, plants and animals and the hydrologic movement originated from Lake Chon, present peculiar natural environment that is rare to be seen in the country and other parts of the world.

The mountain is the highest in the country, and the composition of plant species according to the climatic factors is various in this area.

The sanctuary is like a natural zoo as it has hundreds of kinds of vertebrates and one thousand and hundreds of kinds of invertebrates.

In the DPRK, various units in the field of scientific research and land and environmental protection are conducting regular monitoring, research, management and protection on the biosphere sanctuary of Mt Paektu. -0-