Ryongyŏn County is a county in western

South Hwanghae South Hwanghae Province (Hwanghaenamdo; , lit. "south Yellow Sea province") is a province in western North Korea. The province was formed in 1954 when the former Hwanghae Province was split into North and South Hwanghae. The provincial capital i ...

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 ...

. Its

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour terms ...

coast is known for its natural environment and as an important habitat for plants and birds. Ryongyŏn was the first place in which

Protestant Christianity Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

was established in Korea, in the late 19th century.

Geography

Ryongyŏn is a coastal county of 463 km², facing the

to the south and northwest. It also borders Changyon county to the northeast, and Taetan county to the east. Its territory includes several islands to the south: Wollaedo ( ko, 월내도), Ojakdo (오작도), and Yukdo (육도). Ryongyŏn is separated from the South Korean

Baengnyeong Island Baengnyeong Island (sometimes spelled Baekryeong; ) is a , long and wide island in Ongjin County, Incheon, South Korea, located near the Northern Limit Line. The 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement which ended the Korean War specified that the fiv ...

by a strait 12 km wide, and can be clearly seen from South Korean resorts on clear days. The Pult'a Mountains (불타산맥) run through the county from east to west. The western part of the chain projects into the

, forming the Ryongyŏn Peninsula, with Changsan Cape at its western end (장산곶). The territory is mainly mountainous, with beaches and some lowland to the north and south of the mountains. There are two main inlets or harbors: Monggŭmp'o (몽금포) in the north, and Kumip'o (구미포) in the south. Two of North Korea's protected natural areas lie along the coastal strip. Changsan Cape contains a Protected Area covering 25.8 km², and another part of the cape has been established as a plant reserve. On the north side of the peninsula is Monggŭmp'o Sand Dune, a national monument of 0.1 km².

Climate

Administrative divisions

The county is divided into one ŭp and twenty ''ri'':

History

The first

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian church in Korea was founded at Sorae ( ko, 소래), on the southern coast of Ryongyŏn, in 1884 – before the beginning of foreign missionary activity in Korea. The church was founded by Suh Sang-Ryun (서상륜), who had been converted to Christianity while in Manchuria. The church was visited and supported by English, Scottish, and American Presbyterian missionaries in the following years, including Horace Underwood. A permanent church building was constructed by the local Christians in 1895. The territory of Ryongyŏn County lies just above the 38th parallel, and was included in the northern zone during the

division of Korea The division of Korea began with the defeat of Empire of Japan, Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allies of World War II, Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached ...

. The nearby Ongjin Peninsula and

fell within the southern zone. 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 ...

, the island Wollaedo was used as a base by pro-Southern partisans. This position was regularly bombarded by Northern artillery on the mainland of Cape Changsan. In 1952, a group of "White Tiger" partisans working together with United States

Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

landed on the cape. They successfully took control of and destroyed the artillery site, escaping with small losses. It has been reported by a former North Korean army officer that areas of the coast in Ryongyŏn are still defended by

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

s. The territory of Ryongyŏn County was previously part of Changyon County. In 1952, Changyon was split, and the new Ryongyŏn County was created.

Economy

During the

North Korean famine The North Korean Famine (), also known as the Arduous March or the March of Suffering (), was a period of mass starvation together with a general economic crisis from 1994 to 1998 in North Korea. During this time there was an increase in defec ...

of the 1990s and 2000s, relief agencies have reported near-starvation conditions in Ryongyŏn. Western aid organizations have supported a Ryongyŏn Sustainable Food Security Programme to bring about "environmentally friendly community development at a group of four collective farms covering over 7,000 acres." At an international conference on plans for a proposed Korea-China undersea tunnel, held in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

in 2008, Changsan was one of the locations considered for the terminus on the Korean side. Of the four suggested routes, the Ryongyŏn-

Weihai Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popula ...

line was the shortest, and the only one entering North rather than South Korea.

Footnotes

References

{{coord, 38, 09, N, 124, 53, E, display=title Counties of South Hwanghae