The Koryo Colosseum:
Heaven Lake vs.
Atomic Lake

A Saturday showdown between Chagan Lake of Kazkhstan and Heaven Lake of North Korea

There is nothing like a good old fashion showdown over the weekend to keep the plebs happy. And the best face-offs are between two well-matched contenders, like Tyson vs. Holyfield (the Bite Fight!), Travolta vs.Cage (see what I did there?), 'Cleganebowl', 'The Rumble in the Jungle', and, of course, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Watch Godzilla take on his evil mechanical counterpart below for an amazing piece of cinema.

If that's not enough for you, today Koryo Tours brings you a match-up between two enigmatic crater lakes. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present to you in this corner, an old Koryo classic contender, 'Heaven Lake' of North Korea! And in the other corner, a newcomer to the Koryo circuit, Lake Chagan of Kazakhstan, aka 'The Atomic Lake'!

Contender #1: Lake Chon

Name: Lake Chon or ‘Heaven Lake’

Birthdate: 946 AD ± 20 years

Biography: Formed from one of the largest eruptions in recorded human history, which decapitated the mountain peak and cooled global temperatures, causing in a ‘year without summer’.

Surface Area: 9.82 sq km

Max Depth: 384 m

Volume: 2.09 km sq

Special abilities: Pyroclastic flows, tufa bombs, ash clouds, purported Lake Monster

Film Appearances: Lake Chon appears in Werner Herzog's Into the Inferno (2016).

Contender #2: Lake Chagan

Name: Lake Chagan or ‘The Atomic Lake’

Birthdate: January 15, 1965

Biography: Formed by a 140 kiloton underground nuclear test as part of the Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy (i.e. peaceful use of nuclear explosions) programme. The explosion created a crater and dammed a river forming a larger reservoir, now filled with radioactive water.

Surface Area: -

Max Depth: 100 m

Volume: 100,000 sq m

Special abilities: Radiation

Film Appearances: The creation of Lake Chagan appears in this 1960's Soviet documentary.

THE WINNER: Despite the newcomer's radioactive punch, the Soviet Atomic Lake is no match for the Korean heavyweight in size and the strength of its explosive origins over a millennia ago.

Interested in visiting either Lake Chon or Lake Chagan? Our Liberation Day Long Tour (August 14-23/4; from 2,390 EUR), National Day Mega Tour (September 1-22/23; from 4,590 EUR), and Unseen Korea Tour (September 11-11/23; from 2,890 EUR) all visit Lake Chon, while our Kazakhstan May Tour (May 2-11; tour full) and Kazakhstan September Tour (September 19-28; from 2,100 USD) both visit the Atomic Lake.

The Koryo Colosseum features big time face offs between, well, just about anyplace, anyone, and anything.

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