Anbyŏn is a ''kun'', or county, in Kangwŏn 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 shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. Originally included in South Hamgyŏng province, it was transferred to Kangwŏn province in a September 1946 reshuffling of local government.

Physical features

The southwest portion of the county is bounded by the Masingryŏng (마식령산맥) and

Taebaek Taebaek () is a city in Gangwon province, South Korea. Its name is shared with that of the Taebaek Mountains. Situated at an elevation of , Taebaek is the highest city in South Korea. Attractions Manggyeongsa Temple in Hyeol-dong, at an elevation ...

mountains, which meet at the pass of Ch'ugaryŏng (추가령). The highest point is Paegamsan. Anbyŏn's major streams include the Namdaech'ŏn and the Hakch'ŏn. The Anbyŏn Plain is situated along the Namdaech'ŏn's course. The temperature is warmer in the north than in the south.

Administrative divisions

Anbyŏn 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 (administrative division), myeon", an "eup" is one of the divisions of a county ("County#Kore ...

'' (town), 2 '' rodongjagu'' (workers' districts) and 28 '' ri'' (villages):

Economy

;Agriculture In the Anbyŏn Plain, rice-farming is the predominant industry. Orcharding also plays an important role. ;Manufacturing Tile manufacturing also takes place. ;Mining There are local deposits of gold, silver, copper and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

, but they are not widely exploited. ;Electricity generation In 2000, construction of the Anbyŏn Youth Power Station, a hydroelectric facility, was completed. The workers were honored with a personal communique from

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

. ;Film-making Anbyŏn is the setting for many North Korean films. Thus it has been dubbed the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

of North Korea. ;Chemicals A chemical weapons storage facility is believed to be located in the county's Chiha-ri precinct. The facility is said to include numerous tunnels dug deep into the mountains, and may also host some biological weapons.

Transport

The Kangwŏn and Kŭmgangsan Ch'ŏngnyŏn lines of the

Korean State Railway The Korean State Railway (), commonly called the State Rail () is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea and has its headquarters at P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song. History 1945–195 ...

pass through the county, which is also served by road.

Wildlife

Anbyŏn contains a 1000 ha site, Anbyŏn Field, that has been identified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it is a wintering ground for

red-crowned crane The red-crowned crane (''Grus japonensis''), also called the Manchurian crane or Japanese crane (; the Chinese character '丹' means 'red', '頂/顶' means 'crown' and '鶴/鹤' means 'crane'), is a large East Asian crane among the rarest cran ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 39, 01, 48, N, 127, 30, 00, E, type:adm2nd_source:frwiki, display=title Counties of Kangwon Province (North Korea)