MYNYDDOEDD Y BYD – MYNYDDOEDD COREA: STEPHEN EVANS

S4C, Sunday, 8pm

BBC Seoul correspondent Stephen Evans ventures out of South Korea’s capital to explore the country’s mountainous regions which have a special significance for local people.

The mountains run along the Korean peninsula, ignoring the Demilitarized Zone between the communist North and the South. And although 60 years have passed since the Korean civil war, the North and South are two completely separate worlds.

Bukhansan mountain is easily accessible from Seoul and is within easy reach of the subway. Every weekend, thousands of citizens flock to the mountains to escape the daily grind. But the fact people have left the mountains to live in the city in the first place has had an adverse effect on rural areas.

“The mountainous areas are struggling and facing problems similar to those in rural Wales – unemployment, talented young people moving away, political power centralised in the faraway city. Only a few people venture back to the countryside from the city to live and work,” says Stephen.

But on his journey, Stephen meets Choi Sunho, a man who has done exactly this. After working in Seoul for 23 years at one of the largest firms in Korea, he decided to return to work on the land with his mother.

Stephen also meets some of those who look to the mountains for inspiration, such as Heo Daljae, one of the country’s most famous artists. Last in series.