Kŭmya County is a county in South Hamgyŏng 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 ...

. It borders the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

(East Sea of Korea) to the east.

History

The area was settled at least since the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, revealed by excavations of relics in the county. During the Three Kingdoms era, the area became controlled by

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 most ...

, then taken over by

Balhae Balhae ( ko, 발해, zh, c=渤海, p=Bóhǎi, russian: Бохай, translit=Bokhay, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom whose land extends to what is today Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East. It wa ...

. Eventually, it became a domain of

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

and renamed Hwaju. When the

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

dynasty came to power, it was renamed to Yonghung, due to belief that this was the hometown of the maternal grandmother of

Taejo of Joseon Taejo of Joseon (4 November 1335 – 27 June 1408), born Yi Seong-gye (), was the founder and first ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. After ascending to the throne, he changed his name to Yi Dan (), and reigned from 1392 to 1398. He was ...

. In January 1974, when Inhung-gun (Inhung County) was abolished, much of its ri (villages) were transferred to Yonghung-gun, along with Inhung-up, which was downgraded to a rodongjagu, in total placing 1 up, 3 rodongjagu and 48 ri under its jurisdiction. In March 1977, ''Y''onghung-gun was renamed to Kumya-gun and a number of villages and Yonghung-up were renamed.

Administrative divisions

Kŭmya county is divided into 1 '' ŭp'' (town), 4 '' rodongjagu'' (workers' districts) and 50 '' ri'' (villages):

Economy

Agriculture and fishery

The chief form of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

in the county is

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

cultivation. In addition,

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...

s, and

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

are produced; there are also

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

s. There are no ports, although some

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

is done along the coast with the main fishery bases at Kwangmyongsong-rodongjagu, Andong-ri, Hodo-ri and Chongbaeng-ri. An aquaculture business at Kwangmyogsong-rodongjagu produces seaweed, kelp and oysters. Similar businesses exist in Chinhung-ri and Andong-ri. Various fruits, vegetables and meat are produced in the county.

Mining and manufacturing

Machine industry has been well-developed in the region. There are also mines exploiting the local deposits of

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...

, and

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. The Kumya youth coal mine, a major coal mine. The

produced at this mine is supplied to

South Hamgyong South Hamgyong Province (, ''Hamgyŏngnamdo''; ) is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former Hamgyong Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Kore ...

and Kangwon Province. The manufacturing industry in the county produces products used in agriculture and construction, with a prominent production of tractor accessories and trailers. Other products manufactured in the county include bricks, textiles, cloth and roofing.

Electricity generation

The Kumyagang Power Station No.2 is located in the county. It was ceremoniously opened on 30 October 2020, built in a series of many small scale hydropower plants in North Korea, although it was built on the initiative of the county, which

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...

praised, and in return, decided to send generators and

transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...

, which had not yet been installed. The completed power station will supply power to the farming co-ops and industries in the area. As Kumyagang Power Station No.2 can also draw water from the larger Kumyagang Army-People Power Station, it guarantees a stable generation even in the dry season. The total installed capacity is 7.5 MW, from 3 generators of 2.5 MW each manufactured by Ryongsong Machine Complex. The Kumyagang Army-People Power Station was inaugurated in August 3, 2016 after a 14 year build time. It was reported to be near completion in 2010, while construction began in 2003.

Transport

The county is served by rail and road. Kŭmya Youth Station is on the P'yongra Line 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 ...

. The road system is well-developed, thanks to the level terrain.

Environment

To the west, there are high mountains but the eastern portion of the county is flat. The majority of the county are mountains, with only 19.6% of the area being below 500 metres elevation. The highest peak is Chŏngamsan (정암산). The chief river is the Ryonghŭng with around 50 rivers flowing through the county in total. Several islands are situated around the Songjŏn Bay (송전만). Forestland makes up about 89% of the county's area. The north of the county is the Bujongmyon mountain range, in the east, the Taedok mountain range and in the south and in the west, the Geobong mountain range. The county has extensive underground resources, such as copper, gold, zinc, iron, graphite and

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

. The Kumya River estuary Important Bird Area and Kumya Bay Important Bird Area are in the county.

Claim by South Korea

Due to the specific nature of inter-korea relationship, the subdivision is not recognized by its current assignment that is happening in North Korea by the South Korean government. South Korea claims the name of the North Korean county is Yŏnghŭng(永興) county(the former name of the subdivision) through the

Committee for the Five Northern Korean Provinces The Committee for the Five Northern Korean Provinces (, literally "The North's Five Provinces Committee") is a South Korean government body under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. History Established in 1949, the committee is officially ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 39.545, 127.240, type:adm3rd_globe:earth_region:KP, display=title Counties of South Hamgyong