Rason (formerly Rajin-Sŏnbong; ) is a North Korean special city and ice-free port in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

in the

North Pacific Ocean North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' ...

on the northeast tip of

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 in the

Kwanbuk Kwanbuk, or Gwanbuk (), is a region of Korea now comprising the northeast provinces of Ryanggang, North Hamgyong, South Hamgyong, and the Rajin-Sonbong Special Economic Zone. It borders the Kwansŏ region to the west and the Kwandong region ...

region and location of the

Rason Special Economic Zone The Rason Special Economic Zone, earlier called the Rajin-Sonbong Economic Special Zone, was established by the North Korean government at Rason, bordering China and Russia, in 1991 to promote economic growth through foreign investment. It is sim ...

. 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 ...

pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. To This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or all language in a specific dialect—"correct" or "standard" pronunciation—or si ...

, the initial "R" of the name is pronounced as "N", (나선, ''Naseon'') as per standard Korean phonology. In 2000, the name was shortened from "Rajin-Sŏnbong" to "Rason". During the 1930s, the Japanese called it Rashin; at that time, it was an important port at the end of a railroad line. It fell under the control of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

on 14 August 1945. Before 1991, Rason was used by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

as an alternative warm-water port in case

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

was unavailable. The Soviet naval facilities were built starting in 1979. From 1993 to 2004, it was administered separately from North Hamgyŏng as the directly governed city (''chikhalsi'') of Rason. Prior to 1993 and from 2004 to 2009, the city had been part of the North Hamgyŏng Province. Since 2010, the city is a "special city", again breaking from provincial control, but different from its older designation as a directly governed city. What this means in practice is unclear. Rason borders Hunchun county in Jilin province of

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 ...

and

Khasansky District Khasansky District () is an administrativeLaw #161-KZ and municipalLaw #187-KZ district (raion), one of the twenty-two in Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the krai, wedged between the Tumen River and the Peter the Great ...

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. China is making investments in the port as it gives it access to the Sea of Japan. In July 2011, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) gave a green light for China's domestic trade cargo to be shipped via its port of Rajin from northeast to east China. Coal is shipped from nearby Chinese mines to Shanghai. A casino by the sea caters to Chinese visitors. Rason City

Administrative divisions

Rason is divided into two district (''kuyŏk'').

Rajin-guyŏk (라진구역; 羅津區域)

* Anhwa-dong (안화동 / 安和洞) * Anju-dong (안주동 / 安住洞) * Jigyŏng-dong (지경동 / 地境洞) * Junghyŏn-dong (중현동 / 中峴洞) * Changphyŏng-dong (창평동 / 倉坪洞) * Chŏnggye-dong (청계동 / 淸溪洞) * Hahyŏn-dong (하현동 / 下峴洞) * Haebang-dong (해방동 / 解放洞) * Kwangok-dong (관곡동 / 寬谷洞) * Namsan-dong (남산동 / 南山洞) * Tongmyŏng-dong (동명동 / 東明洞) * Sanghyŏn-dong (상현동 / 上峴洞) * Sinan-dong (신안동 / 新安洞) * Sinhae-dong (신해동 / 新海洞) * Sinhŭng-dong (신흥동 / 新興洞) * Songphyŏng-dong (송평동 / 松坪洞) * Yŏkchŏn-dong (역전동 / 驛前洞) * Yuhyŏn-dong (유현동 / 踰峴洞) * Muchang-ri (무창리 / 武倉里) * Huchang-ri (후창리 / 厚倉里)

Sŏnbong-guyŏk (선봉군; 先鋒郡)

* Sŏnbong-ŭp (선봉읍 / 先鋒邑) * Tuman'gang-rodongjagu (두만강로동자구 / 豆滿江勞動者區) * Ungsang-rodongjagu (웅상로동자구 / 雄尙勞動者區) * Chosal-li (조산리 / 造山里) * Hahoe-ri (하회리 / 下檜里) * Hayŏp'yŏng-ri (하여평리 / 下汝坪里) * Hongŭi-ri (홍의리 / 洪儀里) * Kulp'o-ri (굴포리 / 屈浦里) * Paekhang-ri (백학리 / 白鶴里) * Pup'o-ri (부포리 / 鮒浦里) * Sahoe-ri (사회리 / 四會里) * Uam-ri (우암리 / 牛岩里) * Wŏnjŏng-ri (원정리 / 元汀里)

Climate

Rason has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''Dwb'').

Port

The

Korean People's Navy The Korean People's Army Navy (KPANF; ) or the Korean People's Navy (KPN) is the Navy, naval component of the Korean People's Army, the North Korean armed forces. There are some 780 vessels including 70 midget submarines (including the Yono-cla ...

maintains a naval training base at the Rajin Port in the city of Rason. In addition, a Chinese company in 2017 leased a dock for 10 years at the port. This port may also be known as the Port of Rajin.

Military activity

Since North Korea joined the Russo-Ukrainan war, Rason and the wider area surrounding it which borders

has been used as a way to transfer arms shipments and

manpower Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ...

to Russia.

Tourism

Since 2025, North Korea has allowed tourism for everyone except American and South Korean citizens to visit the area. The YPT 's plans were to immediately open the entire city with Chinese tourists expected first. Given the recent opening, there is no tourism data. However it is confirmed that there are large amounts of Russian and Chinese tourists.

Economy

Foreign investments

The Rason Emperor Hotel and Casino is a

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

and

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

in Rason owned by the Emperor Group, a diversified

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

based commercial group.

Oil refinery

Rajin Oil Refinery is the largest

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

in North Korea. Although North Korea itself lacks

oil wells An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsatur ...

, they can and do import oil from other countries to supply their

refineries A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries a ...

. Large oil tankers are spotted multiple times unloading at the Rajin port.

Mining

Rason has a number of

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

resources within the locality, including

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

magnesite Magnesite is a mineral with the chemical formula ( magnesium carbonate). Iron, manganese, cobalt, and nickel may occur as admixtures, but only in small amounts. Occurrence Magnesite occurs as veins in and an alteration product of ultramafic r ...

, and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

Ship building

Rason is home to No 28 Shipyard Najin, a shipbuilder and supplier to the

Transport

Rail

Rajin Station is on the

Pyongra Line The P'yŏngra Line is an electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the Korean State Railway in North Korea, running from Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang to Rason, where it connects with the Hambuk Line.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Te ...

and Hambuk Line. The Hongui Line was opened in 1959, connecting Rason with the Russian Khasan on the Tumen River; the river is the natural North Korea–Russia border.

Road

The Tumen River Bridge connects between Hunchun and Rason.

Sister cities

* Hunchun, China

References

Bibliography

External links

360 degree panorama of Rajin Port in RasonNorth Korea Uncovered
(North Korea Google Earth) Maps out Rason's economic infrastructure, including railways, hotels, tourist destinations, cultural facilities, ports, electricity grid, and electrified perimeter fence on Google Earth.
City profile of Rason
{{Coord, 42, 20, 40, N, 130, 23, 04, E, display=title, region:KP_type:adm1st_source:dewiki Cities in North Hamgyong Directly Governed Cities and Special Administrative Regions of North Korea Port cities and towns in North Korea Ports and harbours of the Sea of Japan