Kosŏng County () 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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. It lies in the southeasternmost corner of North Korea, immediately north of the

Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Demilitarized Zone ( Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ...

. Prior to the end of 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:{ ...

in 1953, it made up a single county, together with what is now the South Korean county of the same name. In a subsequent reorganization, the county absorbed the southern portion of Tongch'ŏn county.

Physical features

Kosŏng is largely mountainous, but there is flat land along the coast of 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, i ...

to the county's east. The mountains here are part of the Taebaek range. A portion of Kŭmgangsan mountain is included in the county.

Climate

Administrative divisions

Kosŏng county is divided into 1 '' ŭp'' (town) and 23 '' ri'' (villages):

Economy

The local economy is dominated by agriculture, although fishing also plays a role, together with the harvesting of

brown seaweed Brown algae (singular: alga), comprising the class Phaeophyceae, are a large group of multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in colder waters within the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and p ...

and clams. Significant local crops include rice, maize, soybeans, wheat, and barley. It is particularly well known as a source for

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

handicrafts.

Transport

;Rail Nearly half the length of the Kŭmgangsan Ch'ŏngnyŏn 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 1945–19 ...

is in Kosŏng county. It is operational as far south as Kŭmgangsan Ch'ŏngnyŏn station. From there. the line continues south to Samilp'o and Kamho stations (both in North Korea, but not in regular use), thence across the DMZ to connect to

Korail The Korea Railroad Corporation ( Korean: 한국철도공사, Hanja: ), branded as KORAIL (코레일, officially changed to in November 2019), is the national railway operator in South Korea. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, manag ...

's Tonghae Pukpu line at Jejin.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), The section between Kŭmgangsan Ch'ŏngnyŏn and Jejin stations was out of service from the partition of Korea until 2007, when it was reopened for passenger trains from the South to the Mount Kŭmgang Tourist Region; it was closed again after the shooting of a South Korean tourist by a KPA soldier.ROK woman tourist shot dead at DPRK resort
''

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. ...

''. July 12, 2008 ;Sea The nearest major port is

Wŏnsan Wŏnsan (), previously known as Wŏnsanjin (), Port Lazarev, and Genzan (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 38, 40, 05, N, 128, 19, 05, E, type:city_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Counties of Kangwon Province (North Korea) Port cities and towns in North Korea