Provinces of North Korea

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Updates: 

I acquired a three-volume world gazetteer in China. It gives 1992/1994 estimates of province populations that are an improvement on what I had before. I also used its area data for Namp'o-si and P'yŏngan-namdo.

I found areas for most of the primary subdivisions of Korea on the People's Korea  website. They appear to be more accurate than what I had before, so I've replaced the old areas with the ones from this site.

This report on North Korea  from the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (U.K.) is the basis for the Change history since 2000. There are other accounts of the same events.

Wikipedia  says that North Korea's provincial-level divisions are the nine provinces, two directly governed cities (chik'alshi), and three special administrative regions. The directly governed cities are P'yŏngyang chik'alshi (split in 1946 from P'yŏngan-namdo) and Najin-Sŏnbong chik'alshi (split in 1993 from Hamgyŏng-bukto). The special administrative regions are Shinŭiju T'eukpyŏl Haengjŏnggu (special administrative region, split in 2002 from P'yŏngan-bukto), Kaesŏng Kong-ŏp chigu (industrial region, split in 2002 from Kangwŏn-do - not the same as Kaesŏng chik'alshi), and Kŭmgang-san kwangwang chigu (tourist region, split in 2002 from Kangwŏn-do). The standards have not been listing special administrative regions at the province level, so I don't either.

Another Wikipedia  article gives this list of former directly governed cities. Ch'ŏngjin was a chik'alshi from 1960 to 1967 and from 1977 to 1985, but is now part of Hamgyŏng-bukto. Hamhŭng was a chik'alshi from 1960 to 1967, but is now part of Hamgyŏng-namdo. Kaesŏng was a designated region (chigu) from 1951 to 1955 and a chik'alshi from 1955 to 2003, but is now part of Hwanghae-bukto. Namp'o tŭkkŭpshi (special city) was a chik'alshi from 1980 to 2004, but is now part of P'yŏngan-namdo.

The National Geographic map of North and South Korea, dated July 2003, shows province-level borders around Ch'ongjin and Najin, formerly part of Hamgyong-bukto province. The area around Najin is labeled "Najin-Sŏnbong Free Trade Zone", and adjoins both the Chinese and Russian borders. The city of Najin itself is marked with the symbol for a "metropolitan, province capital". The 2002 CIA World Factbook lists "Najin Sŏnbong-si", but nothing like Ch'ongjin. The 2001 edition doesn't list either one.

Rajin is an alternate romanization of Najin. Unggi is a former name for Sŏnbong.

A report  from CountryWatch says that North Korea created a Special Economic Zone in the regions of Chongjin, Najin, and Sŏnbong in 1991. A current issues brief  from the library of the Australian Parliament adds even more complexity to the matter. It says that the Rajin-Sŏnbong SEZ was established in 1992; that the Mount Geumgang tourist SEZ and Kaesong industrial SEZ were added in November 2002 (this probably doesn't mean that they became part of the Rajin-Sŏnbong SEZ, because the three are not in geographical proximity); and in September [2002], Sinuiju (the capital of P'yongan-bukto province) became a Special Administrative Region (SAR).

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-4, dated 2002-12-10, shows the creation of Najin Sŏnbong-si.

Change Notice 8 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-06-28. It lists new codes resulting from the splitting of Najin Sŏnbong-si special city from Hamgyong-bukto province.

Najin Sŏnbong-si has the ISO code KP-NAJ and the FIPS code KN18. The FIPS code for Hamgyong-bukto has changed from KN16 to KN17. Accordingly, I've changed the HASC code for Hamgyong-bukto from KP.HB to KP.HG, and assigned KP.NJ to Najin Sŏnbong-si. I have some doubts as to the correctness of the standards, but I follow them for now.

Country overview: 

In 1900, Korea had only recently come out from under Chinese hegemony, and was soon to submit to that of Japan. It became a Japanese protectorate in 1905-12, then a colony on 1910-08-22. At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to partition Korea at the 38th parallel, with the Soviet Army occupying the north and the U.S. the south. This arrangement was intended to last only until a democratic government could be set up for a united Korea. Instead, the communist north invaded the south in 1950, and the Korean War ensued. It was fought to a standoff. On 1953-07-27, an armistice was signed. North and South Korea were to be separated by a demilitarized zone about a kilometer wide, running near the 38th parallel across the peninsula.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Nordkorea, Den Demokratiske Folkerepublik Korea (formal)
2. Dutch: Noord-Korea, Democratische Volksrepubliek Korea (formal)
3. English: Democratic People's Republic of Korea (formal)
4. Finnish: Pohjois-Korea, Korean demokraattinen kansantasavalta (formal)
5. French: Corée du Nord, République f populaire démocratique de Corée f (formal)
6. German: Nordkorea n, Demokratische Volksrepublik f Korea n (formal)
7. Icelandic: Norður-Kórea
8. Italian: Corea f del Nord
9. Korean: Chosun Minchu-chui Inmin Konghwa-guk (formal)
10. Norwegian: Den demokratiske folkerepublikk Korea (formal) (Bokmål), Den demokratiske folkerepublikken Korea (formal) (Nynorsk), Nord-Korea
11. Portuguese: Coreia do Norte, Coréia do Norte (Brazil), República f Popular Democrática da Coreia f (formal)
12. Spanish: Corea del Norte, República f Popular Democrática de Corea f (formal), República Democrática Popular de Corea (formal)
13. Swedish: Nordkorea
14. Turkish: Kuzey Kore, Kore Demokratik Halk Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Korean koryo, dynastic name, meaning high serenity.

Primary subdivisions: 

North Korea is divided into nine do (provinces) and four si (special cities). The final syllable of the name tells which type each division is. After "buk" (north), the -do changes to -to by assimilation. (Nam = south.)

Further subdivisions:

The provinces are further subdivided into 152 gun (counties).

Territorial extent: 

(The included entities ending in -do or -to are all islands.)

1. Hamgyŏng-bukto included Najin Sŏnbong-si before it became a special city.
2. Hamgyŏng-namdo includes Mayang-do.
3. Hwanghae-bukto included Kaesŏng-si before it became a special city.
4. Hwanghae-namdo includes Ch'o-do, Sŏk-to, Sunwi-do, and some other small islands along the Kyonggi-man.
5. Kangwŏn-do includes Yŏ-do.
6. P'yŏngan-bukto includes Sinmi-do, Sin-do, and Ka-do.
7. P'yŏngan-namdo included Namp'o-si and P'yŏngyang-si before they became special cities.

Origins of names: 

Most of these derivations come from the article "Physical Basis for Korean Boundaries", by Shannon McCune, in Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. V, No. 3, May, 1946 (reprinted in "Views of the Geography of Korea 1935-1960").

1. Hamgyŏng: Korean for "perfect mirror" or "complete view"
2. Hwanghae: named for the Hwanghae (Yellow Sea)
3. P'yŏngan: Korean for "peaceful quiet"
4. Yanggang: Korean for "both rivers", referring to the Amrok (= Yalu) and Tumen, which between them form almost all of the northern border of Korea

Change history: 

See South Korea for provinces of the Japanese colonial period.

1. 1946: P'yŏngyang-si split from P'yŏngan-namdo.
2. 1949-12: Chagang-do split from P'yŏngan-bukto.
3. 1954-10: Yanggang-do formed from parts of Chagang-do and Hamgyŏng-namdo.
4. 1955: Kaesŏng-si split from Hwanghae-bukto.
5. 1960: Chongjin-si split from Hamgyŏng-bukto; Hamhŭng-si split from Hamgyŏng-namdo.
6. 1967: Chongjin-si merged with Hamgyŏng-bukto; Hamhŭng-si merged with Hamgyŏng-namdo.
7. 1977: Chongjin-si split from Hamgyŏng-bukto.
8. ~1981: Hamhŭng-si split from Hamgyŏng-namdo for a short time, then merged with it again.
9. 1980: Namp'o-si split from P'yŏngan-namdo (KN10 changed to KN15 to reflect the partition).
10. 1985: Chongjin-si (KN02) merged with Hamgyŏng-bukto (KN04 changed to KN18 to reflect the acquisition).
11. 1993: Najin Sŏnbong-si split from Hamgyong-bukto.
12. 2000-08: Nasŏn designated as informal name for Najin Sŏnbong-si.
13. 2002-09: Sinŭiju became a special administrative region (split from P'yŏngan-bukto?). The reason for the question mark is that it's not clear whether this status is coequal with provinces and special cities, or subordinate to a province.
14. 2002-10: Kaesŏng became a special industrial zone (split from Kaesŏng-si?); Kŭmgang-san (Diamond Mountains) became a special tourism zone (split from Kangwŏn-do?).
15. 2003: Kaesŏng-si merged with Hwanghae-bukto.
16. 2004: Namp'o-si merged with P'yŏngan-namdo.

Other names of subdivisions: 

During the period of Japanese rule, Japanese names for the cities and provinces were in use. Some Korean phonemes are variously transliterated; for example, the Roman letters b and p are particularly likely to be interchanged. Therefore, -bukto is often spelled -pukto.

1. Chagang-do: Jagang (variant)
2. Hamgyŏng-bukto: Kankyo Hoku-do (Japanese); North Hamgyong (variant)
3. Hamgyŏng-namdo: Kankyo Nan-do (Japanese); South Hamgyong (variant)
4. Hwanghae-bukto: North Hwanghae, North Hwanghai (variant)
5. Hwanghae-namdo: South Hwanghae, South Hwanghai (variant)
6. Kaesŏng-si: Kaesŏng-chigu (variant)
7. Kangwŏn-do: Kogen-do (Japanese); North Kangwon (variant)
8. Najin Sŏnbong-si: Nasŏn (informal); Rajin, Rasŏn (variant)
9. P'yŏngan-bukto: Heian Hoku-do (Japanese); North Pyongan (variant)
10. P'yŏngan-namdo: Heian Nan-do (Japanese); South Pyongan (variant)
11. P'yŏngyang-si: Pjöngjang (German); P'yŏngyang-tŭkpyŏlsi (variant)
12. Yanggang-do: Ryanggang-do (variant)