National Baekdu-daegan Arboretum, Conservation garden in Bonghwa County, South Korea

The National Baekdu-daegan Arboretum covers 5,179 hectares in Seobyeok-ri, Chunyang-myeon, Bonghwa County, split into a 4,973-hectare ecological exploration zone and a 206-hectare core development zone. The core zone holds the entrance and community area, themed display and education gardens, a forest biology research area, and a conservation and restoration area. Among the plantings are a maze garden of oriental arborvitae, a textbook garden, an adventure forest, a world cultural plant garden, and colour and flowering-tree gardens. The exploration zone keeps natural forest of Korean red pine, with a 550-year-old royal azalea colony and a Korean azalea colony.

Construction of the arboretum was contracted in December 2011, with the groundbreaking held in April 2012 and building work beginning that June. The site was completed in December 2015 and opened to the public in 2018, managed by the Korea Forest Service in Seobyeok-ri, Chunyang-myeon, Bonghwa County.

The name comes from the Baekdu-daegan, a traditional Korean concept of the mountain range running through the peninsula, and this idea shapes how the gardens are laid out. You can feel this geographic connection as you walk through the different plant zones.

The arboretum is closed on Mondays, January 1, and the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays. From March to October gates are open 9:00–18:00 with last entry at 17:00; from November to February 9:00–17:00 with last entry at 16:00. Strollers, wheelchairs and walking aids can be borrowed on site, and there is a nursing room and disabled parking.

The Seed Vault is Asia's first facility of its kind, built as a tunnel 40 metres underground where constant temperature and humidity allow storage of two million seed samples. It is a working conservation site rather than a display, so visitors see the arboretum's plant collections above ground while the long-term storage lies below.