5 Korean Mythological Creatures

Folklore and mythological creatures exists all around the world. But this article will talk about 5 Korean mythological creatures from both the South and North Korea. Note that the mythology in Korea, Japan and China usually coincide with each other. So you may get a few similarities in their mythology.

5. Bulgasari

It is an iron eating monster, it can also destroy nightmares and smallpox. As most myths and legends, they tend to be changed and would vary from one place to the other. But what remains of the description of its looks is that it has a bear like body and a nose of an elephant. This somewhat reminds me of the Japanese Baku because of the nose and nightmare destroying trait. Scary.

This creature is also known as Bu Ke Sa (不可殺) in Chinese Mandarin language which means “can’t be killed”. From that name you know that this monster is invincible. In one of the legend, people tried killing it by all the means necessary. They even tried to burn it alive but to no avail. Lastly, only with a mysterious amulet given to a fortune teller who was also mysterious was the monster able to be killed.

There’s a movie called the Pulgasari which is loosely referenced to the Bulgasari and apparently the movie was made in North Korea after Kim Jong Il, that is Kim Jong Un’s father. So he kidnapped Shin Sang Ok and wife Choi Eun Hee who was a director and actress respectively to make movies for him.