Taedong River

Rising at the foot of Mt Rangnim (Hanthae Pass), the boundary between Taehung County, South Phyongan Province, and Jangjin County, South Hamgyong Province, the river flows through Pyongyang and empties into the West Sea of Korea.

It is 450.3km long, the fifth longest river in Korea. Its basin is 20 247 sq km and the navigable portion is 260km.

Its tributaries, including the Nam, Piryu and Pothong rivers, add up to 619.

It was called Phaegang, Phaesu or Wangsonggang, which means a river in the capital city.

The name of the river means a big river joined by various streams.

The slope is steep in the upper reaches and very gentle in the middle and lower reaches.

The basin of the river comprises low mountains and hilly plains, except some mountains, about 2 000m high, near its upper reaches. In addition there are Rungna, Yanggak, Ssuk, Turu, Tudan, Pyokji, Konyu and other islands, all composed of alluvial soils carried along by the river.

Paleozoic limestone, slate, sandstone and shale make up approximately 70% of the basin.

The basin is rich in mineral resources such as lead, zinc, gold and iron. Particularly, it has huge deposits of high-grade anthracite.

The main soils of the basin are orthic luvisols and brown forest soil. Alluvial soil and paddy soil occur in some of its parts.

The basin is abundant in forest resources, particularly needle-leaf and broad-leaf trees such as pine, oak, larch, fir, Korean pepper bush, Korean pine, poplar, Mongolian oak and cork oak.

On average, it receives 994.9mm of precipitation annually. The precipitation increases from the lower to upper reaches.

It is home to more than 60 species of fish. In the lower reaches there are carp, goldfish, sea bass, catfish, eel, mandarin fish, cornet fish and minnow, and in the upper reaches char and Brachymystax lenok.

Today, with the construction of the West Sea Barrage, Mirim Barrage, Ponghwa Barrage, Sunchon Barrage, Songchon Barrage and others, the Taedong River has been turned into an artificial lake.