Ryanggang Province (Ryanggangdo; , ) is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

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 province is bordered by

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 ...

(

Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...

) to the north, North Hamgyong to the east,

South Hamgyong South Hamgyong Province (, ''Hamgyŏngnamdo''; ) is a Administrative divisions of North Korea, province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former Hamgyong Province, Hamgyong Province, remained a provin ...

to the south, and Chagang to the west. Ryanggang was formed in 1954, when it was separated from South Hamgyŏng. The provincial capital is Hyesan. 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 ...

n usage, "Ryanggang" is spelled and pronounced "Yanggang" (, ).

Description

Along the northern border with China runs 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 ...

and the Tumen River. In between the rivers, and the source of both, is Paektu Mountain, revered by both the Koreans and Manchurians as the mythic origin of each people. The North Korean government claims that Kim Jong-il was born there when his parents were at a Communist anti-Japanese resistance camp at the mountain. The North Korean-Chinese border for east of the mountain is "dry, remote and mountainous, barely patrolled," making it one of the crossing areas for

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

from North Korea into China, although most, including refugees from Ryanggang itself, prefer to cross over the Tumen River. The information cited in this footnote comes from the captions to the large illustrated map published with the newspaper article and available online with it. Although all of North Korea is economically depressed after Soviet dissolution, Ryanggang province, along with neighboring North Hamgyong and South Hamgyong provinces, are the poorest, forming North Korea's "Rust Belt" of industrialized cities with factories now decrepit and failing. The worst hunger of the 1990s famine years occurred in these three provinces, and most refugees into China come from the Rust Belt region.

Ryanggang explosion

An explosion and

mushroom cloud A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped flammagenitus cloud of debris, smoke, and usually condensed water vapour resulting from a large explosion. The effect is most commonly associated with a nuclear explosion, but any sufficiently e ...

was reportedly detected in

Kimhyŏngjik Kimhyŏngjik County is a ''kun'' of Ryanggang Province, North Korea. Formerly known as Huch'ang County, it was renamed in 1988 in honour of Kim Hyŏng-jik, the leader of the anti-Japanese liberation movement of Korea. The 2004 Ryanggang explosio ...

-gun on 9 September 2004, the 56th anniversary of the creation of North Korea. This was reported a few days later on 12 September.

Power supply issues

In recent years, power supply problems have become prevalent in Ryanggang.

Administrative divisions

Ryanggang is divided into 2 cities ( ''si'') and 10 counties ( ''kun''). Each entity is listed below in English,

Chosŏn'gŭl The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...

, and

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

References

External links

행정 구역 현황 (''Haengjeong Guyeok Hyeonhwang)''
(in Korean only) {{Authority control Provinces of North Korea