Tongchang County is a ''kun'', or county, in the northeast of the far western North Pyŏngan province,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. It borders Pyŏktong and

Chagang Chagang Province (; ) is a province of North Korea; it is bordered by China's Jilin and Liaoning provinces to the north, Ryanggang and South Hamgyong to the east, South Pyongan to the south, and North Pyongan to the west. Chagang was formed ...

's Usi county to the north, Unsan and Songwŏn (in Chagang province) to the east, Thaechŏn to the south, and Changsŏng and Taegwan to the west.

Geography

The Pinandŏk Mountains pass through northern and eastern Tongchang, contributing the county's highest point, Tanphungdŏksan (단풍덕산, 1159 m). The Changsŏng River flows from the northwest to the southeast, on its way to join the Taedong. Some 80% of the county's land is forested (of which 40% is coniferous, with mixed pine-oak woods predominating).

Administrative divisions

Tongchang county is divided into 1 ''

ŭp An ''eup'' or ''ŭp'' () is an administrative unit in both North Korea and South Korea similar to the unit of town. In South Korea Along with " myeon", an "eup" is one of the divisions of a county ("gun"), and of some cities ("si") with a pop ...

'' (town), 1 ''

rodongjagu A Workers' District ( in North Korea, in South Korea) is a third-level administrative division of North Korea, meaning it lies below a city or county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. ...

'' (workers' district) and 16 '' ri'' (villages):

Climate

The year-round local temperature is 7 °C, with an average of -10 °C in January and 22.8 °C in August. The average annual rainfall is quite high, at 1440 mm.

Industry

The dominant local industry is mining. The first gold mine there was opened in Taeyu-dong in 1896 by a French concern. In addition, silver and

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of Hydroxide, OH−, Fluoride, F− and Chloride, Cl− ion, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of ...

are now mined. Tongchang has the least cultivable land of any county in the province, at 6.5% of its total area; most of that (80%) consists of dry fields unsuitable for rice. The chief local crop, therefore, is maize. There are numerous small-scale hydroelectric power stations.

References

External links