Hoeryŏng () is a city in

North Hamgyong Province North Hamgyong Province (Hamgyŏngbukdo, ) is the northernmost province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Hamgyong Province. Geography The province is bordered by China (Jilin) on the north, 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 shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. It is located opposite

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

Province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, with the

Tumen River The Tumen River, also known as the Tuman River or Duman River (), is a long river that serves as part of the boundary between China, North Korea and Russia, rising on the slopes of Mount Paektu and flowing into the Sea of Japan. The river has ...

in between. Sanhe (三合鎮), in Longjing City, is the closest Chinese town across the river. Hoeryŏng is the birthplace of

Kim Il Sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

's first wife and

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 ...

's mother, Kim Jong Suk. The Hoeryong Revolutionary Site commemorates the birthplace. The Hoeryŏng concentration camp (

Kwalliso North Korea's political penal labor colonies, transliterated ''kwalliso'' or ''kwan-ri-so'', constitute one of three forms of political imprisonment in the country, the other two being what David Hawk translated as "short-term detention/for ...

No. 22) is located from the city. Birthplace of Kim Jong-suk

History

Hoeryŏng was one of the six posts/garrisons ( Chosŏngŭl: 육진,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 六鎭) established under the order of

Sejong the Great of Joseon Sejong of Joseon (15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), personal name Yi Do (Korean language, Korean: 이도; Hanja: 李祹), widely known as Sejong the Great (Korean language, Korean: 세종대왕; Hanja: 世宗大王), was the fourth ruler of th ...

(1418 - 1450) to safeguard his people from the potentially hostile semi-nomadic

Jurchens Jurchen (Manchu language, Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian people, East Asian Tungusic languages, Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They ...

living north of the Yalu river. In 1952, some territories of Hoeryŏng (then a county), which included myoen of Poŭl and parts of myoens of Yonghung and Pyŏksŏng, were incorporated into the then newly created Yusŏn county. After the 1974 incorporation of Yusŏn county, the Yusŏn region became a up and was renamed as Yusŏn worker's region. In early May 2007, the newly appointed

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Kim Yong-il Kim Yong-il (; born 2 May 1944) is a North Korean politician who served as the Premier of North Korea from April 2007 to 7 June 2010. He was elected as Premier by the 5th session of the 11th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) in April 2007, repla ...

visited Hoeryŏng. At the time, the Prime Minister brought with him on his train one carriage worth of glass (made in South Korea) and 3 carriages worth of cement. After delivering the goods to the People's Committee of Hoeryŏng he ordered that the city of Hoeryŏng be decorated and adorned as much as a city where Mother Kim Jong Suk's birthplace should be.

Administrative divisions

Hoeryŏng-si is divided into 19 ''

tong Tong may refer to: Chinese *Tang Dynasty, a dynasty in Chinese history when transliterated from Cantonese *Tong (organization), a type of social organization found in Chinese immigrant communities *''tong'', pronunciation of several Chinese char ...

'' (neighbourhoods) and 28 '' ri'' (villages):

Economy

Hoeryŏng's main industries are mining machines and a paper mill. The area contains many mines. According to media reports, in 2017 ordinary residents in Hoeryong receive electricity for 3–4 hours per day. However, many people do not have electricity at all.

Civil unrest

It is reported that on 24 September 2008 only about 20% of Hoeryŏng's city residents attended a civilian defence-training programme held in Hoeryŏng City. The other 80% are thought to have stayed home or tended to private patch fields. As punishment, authorities from the Civilian Defence ordered non-attendees to pay KP₩5,000, however this fine was largely ignored.

2016 Flood

On August 29, 2016, as the result of Typhoon Lionrock, the Tumen River flooded, making many of the residents homeless and causing substantial property damage. The displaced residents moved to China.

Climate

Hoeryong 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 freezing ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Dwb'').

Notes

External links

''Hoeryong City'' picture album
at

Naenara Naenara () is the official web portal of the North Korean government. It was the first website in North Korea, and was created in 1996. The portal's categories include politics, tourism, music, foreign trade, arts, press, information technology, ...

Location of the four forts and the six postsHoeryong Hotel 회령려관 - the only hotel in Hoeryong that accommodates foreigners
* {{North Hamgyong Cities in North Hamgyong