P‘yŏngsan County is a county in

North Hwanghae Province North Hwanghae Province (Hwanghaebuk-to; , lit. "north Yellow Sea province") is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1954 when the former Hwanghae Province was split into North and South Hwanghae. The provincial capital is Sari ...

, North Korea.

Administrative divisions

P'yŏngsan 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), 2 '' rodongjagu'' (workers' districts) and 20 '' ri'' (villages):

History

Pyongsan County was called Pyeongju () during the Goryeo period. 4 warlords were from Pyeongju during the Later Three Kingdoms period. Yu Geumpil, who greatly contributed to the unification of the Later Three Kingdoms, was from Pyeongju. Wang Geon married 3 women from Pyeongju.

Industry

Uranium mine and milling plant

Pyongsan is home to one of two declared uranium milling plants within North Korea. The plant processes coal from a nearby mine to concentrate the uranium found in the coal into yellowcake. The plant was declared to the international community in 1992. Estimates place the plant's annual uranium production capacity at 300 tons. Reporting by a US-based researcher in August 2019 showed that the plant was leaking waste materials, leading to health concerns over those that live near the plant and fears that the pollution would travel down the Ryesong river to South Korean waters. The leaks were independently verified by

38 North ''38 North'' is a website devoted to analysis about North Korea. Its name refers to the 38th parallel north which passes through the Korean peninsula and from 1945 until the start of the Korean War in 1950 divided the peninsula into North and Sou ...

. On 28 August 2019, the South Korean Ministry of Unification announced that testing of a portion of the Han River along the Northern Limit Line was underway to determine the level of pollution and if any substantial radiation risk existed.

Nuclear Waste Dump

In 2013 the North Korean Central Government and Taipower began negotiations about shipping nuclear waste to P‘yŏngsan. The deal was "worth US$75.66 million envisaged shipping 60,000 barrels of nuclear waste, and a further 14,000 barrels in the second stage, with a total value of $150 million and that the North Koreans were after the deal as a source of foreign exchange" but has run into difficulty when Taipower could not get an "export permit for the waste from the Taiwanese Atomic Energy Council". According to Huang Tien-huang, a Taipower official, North Korea blocked Taipower from viewing the processing site at P‘yŏngsan. Due to several issues, the final contract was not signed. However, North Korea (through its attorney, Tsai Hui-ling) is suing Taipower for breach of contract.

Transport

P‘yŏngsan county is served by the following

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

of the Korean State Railway: * P‘yŏngsan Station, P'yŏngbu and Ch'ŏngnyŏn Ich'ŏn lines; * Mulgae Station, P'yŏngbu Line * Taebaeksansŏng Station, P'yŏngbu Line * Kyejŏng Station, P'yŏngbu Line

Notable people

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...

, the first president of South Korea

References

Counties of North Hwanghae {{NorthKorea-geo-stub