The Changja River () is a river in
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 ...
. The river originates near Sobaeksan Mountain in the Nanglim Mountains east of Ganggye-gun, North Pyongan Province and flows northwest into the
Yalu River
The Yalu River () or Amnok River () is a river on the border between China and North Korea. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between China and North Korea. Its valle ...
.
Until 1976, the river was called Tongno-gang. It is 239 km long, has a catchment area of 207 km².
The area was the scene of fierce fighting during both the guerrilla war against the
Japanese occupation and also during the
Korean War
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
. These events were later processed in numerous books and films, for example “On the Banks of Tongro-gang” ( ''Tongro-gang kisŭlgesŏ'') by Kim Hak-yŏn from the Year 1951.
During the first five-year plan (1957–1961), a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 90 megawatts was built on Tongro-gang. Construction had already begun in 1937, but the systems were dismantled again in 1943.
In the northern interior of the country there is hardly any land that can be used for agriculture. The Tongro-gang valley is the region's most important growing area. Mainly
corn
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...
is harvested here.
References
Rivers of North Korea
{{NorthKorea-river-stub