Kapsan County is a ''kun'', or county, in

Ryanggang Province Ryanggang Province (Ryanggangdo; ko, 량강도, ''Ryanggang-do'', ) is a province in North Korea. The province is bordered by China (Jilin) on the north, North Hamgyong on the east, South Hamgyong on the south, and Chagang on the west. Ryangga ...

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 ...

. During the Chosŏn Dynasty, officials who had fallen into disfavour were often sent into internal exile there.

Geography

Kapsan lies on the eastern edge of the

Kaema Plateau The Kaema Plateau is a highland in North Korea. It is surrounded by the Rangrim Mountains, the Macheollyeong Mountains and the Bujeollyeong Mountains. Elevation varies between 700 and 2,000 meters and is approximately 40,000 square kilometers. ...

. The highest peak is Tongjomryongsan (동점령산, 2113 m). Although the majority of the county's area is mountainous, the terrain slopes downward toward the center and the Kapsan Basin. The county's chief stream is the

Hochon River Hŏch'ŏn County is a county in South Hamgyŏng province, North Korea. It was created after the division of Korea, from portions of Tanch'ŏn and P'ungsan. Geography Most of the county is steep and mountainous, particularly in the southeast. T ...

(허천강). Cultivation is largely restricted to the basin and river valley. Some 85% of the county's area is forestland. Due to its location on the Kaema Plateau, Kapsan has a severely cold

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...

Administrative divisions

Kapsan 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). 4 '' rodongjagu'' (workers' districts) and 20 '' ri'' (villages):

Economy

The chief local industry is agriculture; major crops include rice (raised along the Hochon), as well as potatoes, hops, and honey. The 5.1 Workers' District (오일로동자구) specializes in hops production; these "5.1 Hops" are exported to other countries. Lumbering also plays a role, thanks to the extensive forests. There are various mineral deposits in the county, including lodes of copper, coal and

copper pyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a hardness of 3.5 to 4 on the Mohs ...

Transportation

There is a cable car railway in the county with a length of ''70-ri'' (27.4 km); it is by this method that coal is brought from Kapsan mine to the train station in Kumdok to be loaded to be smelted. Kapsan County has a ''10-ri'' (3.9 km) long trolleybus line at a mining village, however it is not specified which particular area it is in.

History

During the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

(1950-1953), South Korean guerrillas passed word to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

forces that a large number of top North Korean

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

leaders planned to gather in Kapsan in October 1951. Based on this information, eight

AD Skyraider The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly known as the AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft in service from 1946 to the early 1980s. The Skyraider had an unusually long career, remaining in front-line service well into the Jet Age ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s from

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Fighter Squadron 54 (VF-54) attacked their meeting place with 1,000-pound (454-kg) bombs and

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated al ...

. Intelligence evaluation indicated that the attack killed 500 Communists.Isenberg, Michael T., ''Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962'', New York: St. Martin's Press, , p. 176.

References

External links

* {{Ryanggang Counties of Ryanggang