Changsŏng County is a ''kun'', or county, in northern North Phyŏngan 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 is bordered by Pyŏktong to the east,

Tongchang Tongchang County is a ''kun'', or county, in the northeast of the far western North Pyŏngan province, North Korea. It borders Pyŏktong and Chagang's Usi county to the north, Unsan and Songwŏn (in Chagang province) to the east, Thaechŏn t ...

and Taegwan to the south,

Sakchu Sakju County is a Administrative divisions of North Korea, ''kun'', or county, in northern part of North Pyongan Province, North P'yŏngan province, in North Korea. It lies along the Yalu River bordering the People's Republic of China to the nor ...

to the west; to the north, it faces

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

across the Yalu (Amrok) River.

Name

Changsŏng appears as "Changseong" in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Revised Romanization Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Mi ...

and as Changcheng in Chinese records, as during its occupation by

Mao Wenlong Mao Wenlong (; 10 February 1576 – 24 July 1629), courtesy name Zhennan, was a Chinese military general of the Ming dynasty, best known for commanding an independent detachment based in Dongjiang, a strategically important island in the Yellow ...

's forces during the

Manchu conquest of China The transition from Ming to Qing (or simply the Ming-Qing transition) or the Manchu conquest of China from 1618 to 1683 saw the transition between two major Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasties in Chinese history. It was a decades-long conf ...

Geography

Changsŏng's terrain is steep and mountainous, sloping generally downward from the southeast toward the Yalu. 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 ...

and Pandŏk Mountains both pass through the county. The highest point is Piraebong, at 1470 m. The county is drained by various tributaries of the Yalu, including the Yŏngjuchŏn (영주천) and Namchangchŏn (남창천), as well as by the Changsŏng River, a tributary of the Taeryŏng. The Yalu itself has been blocked by the Suphung Dam to create Suphung Lake.

Administrative divisions

Changsŏng 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 15 '' ri'' (villages):

Climate

Annual rainfall in Changsŏng is 1000 mm, with an annual average temperature of 7.3 °C (the average fluctuating from -11.6 °C in January to 22 °C in August). Temperatures are of course much colder in the mountains, with the snows atop Piraebong not melting until late May. Fog is common near Suphung Lake. Some 80% of the county's land is forested, while only 6.1% is under cultivation.

Economy

Sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, the caterpillar of the Bombyx mori, domestic silkmoth is the most widely used and intensively studied silkwo ...

is widely practised; other crops include maize, rice, peanuts, gochu peppers, sweet potatoes, and various fruits. Changsŏng also leads the county in the production of sheep. Various products, including lumber and medicinal herbs, are harvested from the forests. In addition, gold, tungsten, and coal are mined from the hills. Local manufactured products include

gochujang ''Gochujang'' or red chili paste * is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking. It is made from '' gochugaru'' (red chili powder), glutinous rice, '' meju'' (fermented soybean) powder, ''yeotgireum'' (barley m ...

and alcohol.

Transportation

There are no railroads, but a road does connect Changsŏng to Sakchu, Tongchang, and Pyŏktong. Freight and passenger traffic is also carried by ships plying Lake Suphung; the lake is also used to transport raw lumber.

Notes

References

External links

* {{coord, 40.4216, N, 125.2455, E, source:wikidata, display=title Counties of North Pyongan