The Ch'ŏngch'ŏn is a river 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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

having its source in the

Rangrim Mountains The Rangnim Mountains are a mountain range stretching from north to south, west of the Kaema Highlands, in central North Korea. They are the source of several major rivers of North Korea, such as the Taedong and the Ch'ŏngch'ŏn. The mount ...

Chagang Chagang Province (Chagangdo; ) is a province in North Korea; it is bordered by China's Jilin and Liaoning provinces to the north, Ryanggang and South Hamgyong to the east, South Pyongan to the south, and North Pyongan to the west. Chagang was ...

Province and emptying into the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour ter ...

Sinanju Sinanju is the name of a region (신안주) in Anju city, South Pyongan Province, North Korea. The name literally means "Comfortable New Village." When Anju County was raised to the status of a city in August 1987, Sinanju Workers' District was ...

. The river flows past

Myohyang-san The Mount Myohyang (Hangul: 묘향산 - "''Mysterious Fragrant Mountain''") is a mountain in North Korea. It is named after the mystic shapes and fragrances found in the area. It is a sacred site as, according to legend, it was the home of Kin ...

and through the city of Anju, South P'yŏngan Province. Its total length is 217 km (135 mi), and it drains a basin of 9,553 km² (3,688 sq mi).

Important Bird Area

The river's estuary has been identified by

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 ...

as an 8000 ha (19,768 acre)

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 Inte ...

(IBA) because it supports significant numbers of the populations of various bird species. These include

swan geese The swan goose (''Anser cygnoides'') is a large goose with a natural breeding range in inland Mongolia, northernmost China, and the Russian Far East. It is migratory and winters mainly in central and eastern China. Vagrant birds are encounter ...

bean geese The taiga bean goose (''Anser fabalis'') is a goose that breeds in northern Europe and Asia. This and the tundra bean goose are recognised as separate species by the American Ornithological Society and the International Ornithologists' Union, ...

whooper swan The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/) (''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, pronounced ''hooper swan'', is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type speci ...

Oriental stork The Oriental stork (''Ciconia boyciana''; Japanese: コウノトリ ''Konotori'') is a large, white bird with black wing feathers in the stork family Ciconiidae. Taxonomy The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1873. It is close ...

black-faced spoonbill The black-faced spoonbill (''Platalea minor'') is a species of wading bird in the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae, found in eastern Asia. This species has the most restricted distribution of the six spoonbill species, and it is the ...

Chinese egret The Chinese egret or Swinhoe's egret (''Egretta eulophotes'') is a threatened species of egret from east Asia. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1860. Description The Chinese egret averages 68 cm in height. The plumage ...

great bustard The great bustard (''Otis tarda'') is a bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus ''Otis''. It breeds in open grasslands and farmland from northern Morocco, South and Central Europe, to temperate Central and East Asia. European po ...

s, white-naped cranes,

hooded crane The hooded crane (''Grus monacha'') is a crane native to East Asia and a frequent migratory bird in Japan. Description It has a grey body. The top of the neck and head is white, except for a patch of bare red skin above the eye. It is one of t ...

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 ...

s, Far Eastern curlews and spotted greenshanks. The site includes the 800 ha (1,977 acre) Mundok Nature Reserve.

Hydroelectric dams

North Korea is building 10 new hydroelectric dams on the Chongchon River to spur rapid development.

Incidents

*In 612,

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled mos ...

massacred the Sui army at the Battle of Salsu (Ch'ongch'on) River in the Goguryeo-Sui Wars. *In late November 1950, the Chinese army decisively defeated the UNC forces at the

Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River The Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River (), also known as the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on, was a decisive battle in the Korean War, and it took place from November 25 to December 2, 1950, along the Ch'ongch'on River Valley in the northwestern part of ...

, ensuring the existence of

during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. *

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

defector

Joseph T. White Joseph T. White (November 5, 1961 August 17, 1985) was a United States Army soldier who defected to North Korea on August 28, 1982. Life and career Born to Norval and Kathleen White, he had four siblings and volunteered for the 1980 Reagan p ...

was reported to have drowned in the Ch'ongch'on River, according to a letter dated 22 August 1985 which had been sent to his family.

References

External links

Appearance of Chongchon River basin changes beyond recognition
.

KCNA The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946 and now features onl ...

, May 29, 2002. {{Coord, 39, 36, 00, N, 125, 25, 00, E, display=title Rivers of North Korea South Pyongan Important Bird Areas of North Korea Wetlands of North Korea

Important Bird Area

Hydroelectric dams

Incidents

See also

References

External links