Kowŏn 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 lies at the southern tip of the province.

Physical features

The highest point is Palbongsan. The western reaches of the county are high and mountainous, while the east is a low-lying plain. Major rivers and streams include the Chŏnt'an River (전탄강), Tŏkchi River (덕지강), Sabakch'ŏn (사박천), and the Kuryongch'ŏn (구룡천). 54% of the county's area is forested. The climate is generally continental, but is moderated by

foehn A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...

winds blowing from the mountains. This makes it one of the warmer parts of the province.

Administrative divisions

Kowŏn 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), 1 '' rodongjagu'' (workers' district) and 18 '' ri'' (villages):

Economy

Agriculture

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 ...

is the predominant local industry.

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 ...

ing and

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

raising are also carried out, as is

sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, ''Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively studie ...

(silk farming).

Mining and manufacturing

There are deposits of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

in the county, and mining and construction-materials manufacturing also contribute to the local economy.

Transport

Kowŏn is connected to the rest of North Korea by rail and road. The P'yŏngra and Kangwŏn lines 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 ...

run through the county.

External links

* {{coord, 39.44049, 127.23848, type:adm3rd_globe:earth_region:KP, display=title Counties of South Hamgyong