P‘yŏngsan County is a county in

North Hwanghae Province North Hwanghae Province (Hwanghaebuk-to; , lit. "north Yellow Sea province") is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1954 when the former Hwanghae Province was split into North and South Hwanghae. The provincial capital is S ...

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 ...

Etymology

During the

Japanese occupation of Korea From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

, the county was called Heizan () and was a part of the now-defunct Kokai Province.

Administrative divisions

P'yŏngsan 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), 2 ''

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 20 '' ri'' (villages):

History

Pyongsan County was called Pyeongju () during the

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

period. 4 warlords were from Pyeongju during the

Later Three Kingdoms The Later Three Kingdoms period (; c. 890s – 936 AD) of ancient Korea saw a partial revival of the old three kingdoms which had dominated the peninsula from the 1st century BC to the 7th century. After the Unified Silla kingdom had ruled Kor ...

period. Yu Geumpil, who greatly contributed to the unification of the Later Three Kingdoms, was from Pyeongju. Wang Geon married 3 women from Pyeongju.

Industry

Uranium mine and milling plant

Pyongsan is home to one of two declared uranium milling plants within North Korea. The plant processes coal from a nearby mine to concentrate the uranium found in the coal into

yellowcake Yellowcake (also called urania) is a type of powdered uranium concentrate obtained from leach solutions, in an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ores. It is a step in the processing of uranium after it has been mined but before ...

. The plant was declared to the international community in 1992. Estimates place the plant's annual uranium production capacity at 300 tons. Reporting by a US-based researcher in August 2019 showed that the plant was leaking waste materials, leading to health concerns over those that live near the plant and fears that the pollution would travel down the Ryesong river to South Korean waters. The leaks were independently verified by

38 North ''38 North'' is a website devoted to analysis about North Korea. Its name refers to the 38th parallel north which passes through the Korean peninsula and from 1945 until the start of the Korean War in 1950 divided the peninsula into North and So ...

. On 28 August 2019, the South Korean

Ministry of Unification The Ministry of Unification () is an executive department of the South Korean government aimed at promoting Korean reunification. It was first established in 1969 as the ''National Unification Board'', under the rule of Park Chung Hee. It gaine ...

announced that testing of a portion of the Han River along the

Northern Limit Line The Northern Limit Line or North Limit Line (NLL) – 북방한계선 (in ROK) – is a disputed maritime demarcation line in the Yellow (West) Sea between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the north, and the Republic of Kore ...

was underway to determine the level of pollution and if any substantial radiation risk existed.

Nuclear Waste Dump

In 2013 the North Korean Central Government and

Taipower The Taiwan Power Company (), also known by the short name Taipower (), is a state-owned electric power industry providing electricity to Taiwan and its off-shore islands. History Taipower was established on 1 May 1946. Its origins can be trace ...

began negotiations about shipping nuclear waste to P‘yŏngsan. The deal was "worth US$75.66 million envisaged shipping 60,000 barrels of nuclear waste, and a further 14,000 barrels in the second stage, with a total value of $150 million and that the North Koreans were after the deal as a source of foreign exchange" but has run into difficulty when

could not get an "export permit for the waste from the Taiwanese Atomic Energy Council". According to Huang Tien-huang, a Taipower official, North Korea blocked Taipower from viewing the processing site at P‘yŏngsan. Due to several issues, the final contract was not signed. However, North Korea (through its attorney, Tsai Hui-ling) is suing Taipower for breach of contract.

Transport

P‘yŏngsan county is served by the following

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle stat ...

of the

Korean State Railway The Korean State Railway is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea (), commonly called the State Rail () and has its headquarters at Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun-song. History 19 ...

: * P‘yŏngsan Station, P'yŏngbu and Ch'ŏngnyŏn Ich'ŏn lines; * Mulgae Station, P'yŏngbu Line * Taebaeksansŏng Station, P'yŏngbu Line * Kyejŏng Station, P'yŏngbu Line

Notable people

Jo Young-nam Jo Young-nam (; born April 2, 1945), also known as Cho Youngnam, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, painter, writer, and television personality. He started his singing career in 1968. More recently, he was known for his art fraud case, where ...

, South Korean singer *

Nelson Shin Shin Neung-kyun (; born 1939), also known as Nelson Shin, is a South Korean animation director who is the founder and president of Akom Production Co., Ltd., in Seoul, South Korea. He founded Akom in 1985. Career In the 1970s, Shin worked as an ...

, animator, director and producer *

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965), also known by his art name Unam (), was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisiona ...

, the first president of South Korea

References

{{Coord missing, North Korea Counties of North Hwanghae