Major South Korean Drainage Divisions

Dae-Min Kim

    Herein, I would like to suggest that South Korea can be divided into 16(or a little less) major biogeographical drainages, based on freshwater fish fauna, climate and landscape. You may take a look at the brief discriptions of each drainage division when following the name on the list presented below.
    A lot of people I have met out of Korea(especially in the U.S.) asked me if South Korea consists of richly developed tropical rainforest or if it snows in winter. Well, the discriptions are literally brief, but they are big enough to answer those questions:)  The climate is temperate with hot, wet summer(highest daytime temp. ranges 16~40C, 60~104F on AUG) and cold, dry winter(lowest nighttime temp. ranges  -33~-10C, -27~14 F on JAN)in inland region and warm, humid winter(lowest nighttime temp. ranges -7~-4C,  19~25F on JAN)in southern islands. Rain fall is usually associated with tropical typhoons, during the summer wet season, typically originated from Southeast Asia. From the mountains with 2.0 C(35.6F) of average annual temperature(in Han River Division) to the Island with evergreen forest and seldom snow(in Geoje Island Division), South Korea is small in size but rich for ecological diversity.

The Major River Systems of South Korea

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