Changgang County is a ''kun'', or county, in north-central

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 ...

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 ...

. Originally part of

Kanggye Kanggye (; ) is the provincial capital of Chagang, North Korea and has a population of 251,971. Because of its strategic importance, derived from its topography, it has been of military interest from the time of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). H ...

, it was made a separate county in 1949. It borders Hwapyong and Rangrim to the east,

and

Sijung Sijung County is a ''kun'', or county, in Chagang province, North Korea. It borders Kanggye and Changgang to the east, Manpo to the north and west, and Wiwon to the south. Formerly part of Kanggye, Sijung became a separate county in 1952 as part ...

to the west,

Songgan Songgan County is a ''kun'', or county, in central Chagang province, North Korea. It borders Rangrim to the east, Wiwon to the west, Kanggye to the north and Chonchon and Ryongrim to the south. It was formed in 1952 from parts of Chonchon and C ...

to the south, and Chasong to the north. The terrain of Changgang is rugged and mountainous, with the

Kangnam Mountains The Kangnam Mountains () are a mountain range of North Korea, in the central part of the country's northern region. They run parallel to the Amnok River which forms the border with China. They lie west of the Rangrim Mountains, which is the drain ...

in the northeast and the Chogyuryong Mountains in the southwest. The highest peak is Kumpasan (금파산, 1918 m) along the northern border.

History

Early history

No artefacts from the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

periods have been found, but human existence during these periods is suspected based on discoveries from the neighboring Chasong County. Human existence during the Bronze Age is attested from the pottery from the

Mumun pottery period The Mumun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 1500-300 BC. This period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery ...

. Black pottery, stone axes Bronze daggers, and crescent stone knives found in Gongwidong and Pungryongdong (the dongs that existed when it was still part of greater Kanggye county. Modern day. Kanggye City and Sijung County). In the early Iron Age,

knife money Knife money is the name of large, casting, cast, bronze, knife-shaped commodity money produced by various governments and kingdoms in what is now China, approximately 2500 years ago. Knife money circulated in China between 600 and 200 B.C. duri ...

from the Ancient Chinese state of Yan was found in Nonamdong (Dong which was part of Kanggye county, modern day Ronam-ri, Sijung County.)

Kanggye county

Changjin county

Birth of Changgang County to current day

Changgang county was born from the merger of Changjin county and Kanggye county in 1949.In 1952, Dong mun myeon of Changgang county became part of the newly created Rangrim County, Gokhamyeon and Oroimyeon became part of the newly created Sijung County, and part of Gongbuk myeon became part was divided between the administration of Kanggye city and Songgan County.

Administrative divisions

Changgang 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), 3 ''

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' districts) and 10 '' ri'' (villages):

Economy

There are soft-drink, clothing and pharmaceutical factories in the county. Rice is grown along the Chongsong River (종성강); various other agricultural produce are grown in the large areas of land which

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

suggested be cleared in a 1974 letter. 75% of the county is for agricultural purposes, most of which are fields. Animals are raised in the county, utilising mountains and fields for grazing. Logging takes place in the county, with production and processing of the wood taking place in the county. The largest industry in the county is

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

generation, followed by mining.

Zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...

fluorite Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs scal ...

and

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

is mined. The county has a number of small to medium-sized hydropower stations, fed by larger hydropower stations such as the Kanggye Youth Power Plant.

Transport

Changgang is served by road and rail, with the

Kanggye Line The Kanggye Line is an electrified narrow-gauge line of the Korean State Railway in North Korea running from Kanggye on the Manp'o Line to Rangrim,Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), primarily hauling forest product ...

passing through the southeast. Roads from Kanggye and

Hyesan Hyesan () is a city in the northern part of Ryanggang province of North Korea. It is a hub of river transportation as well as a product distribution centre. It is also the administrative centre of Ryanggang Province. As of 2008, the population o ...

, Kanggye and Rangrim, Changgang and

Manpo Manpo () is a city of northwestern Chagang Province, North Korea. As of 2008, it had an estimated population of 116,760. It looks across the border to the city of Ji'an, Jilin province, China. History Manp'o was incorporated as a city in Octob ...

, Kanggye and

Taehung Taehŭng County is a Administrative divisions of North Korea, ''kun'', or county, in the northeastern corner of South Pyongan Province, South P'yŏngan province, North Korea. It is bordered to the north by Ryongrim County, Ryongrim and Changjin C ...

, Changgang and Wonpyong run through the county.

References

External links

Satellite view
* {{coord, 41.1247, N, 126.7790, E, source:bgwiki_region:KP_type:city, format=dms, display=title Counties of Chagang