Rangrang-guyok

Rangnang-guyŏk
Korean transcription(s)
• Hangul	락랑구역
• Hanja	樂浪區域
• Revised Romanization	Nangnang-guyeok
• McCune–Reischauer	Rangnang-guyŏk
Country	North Korea
Administrative divisions	9 dong, 9 ri

Rangnang-guyŏk or Rangnang District is one of the 19 kuyŏk that constitute the city of Pyongyang, North Korea. It is located south of the Taedong River, and is bordered to the north by Songyo-guyok, to the east by the Ryokpo-guyok, and to the south by Chunghwa and Kangnam counties.

History

The Lelang Commandery was, according to the Book of Han, composed of 27 districts and had a population of over 406,748 people. Located on the Taedong River at the approximate location of modern Pyongyang, archeological evidence suggests that the seat of the commandery had been moved to this district here after the destruction of Wanggeom-seong, the old Koguryo capital at Pyongyang and is claimed to have been original seat of the lelang commandery.^[1]

During the Japanese colonial period, the area was part of Taedong County. As Pyongyang grew and annexed many former parts of Taedong County, the area was later split up Pyongyang's Dong-guyok, Kangnam-gun, and Chunghwa-gun. Nakrang-guyok was officially created as a separate district in 1959.

The district is famous for the large number of Han and Koguryo tombs which litter the area, many of which were first discovered by the Japanese in the early 1910s (see Nakrang Tombs). Japanese archaeologists Torrii Ryuzo and Imanishi Ryu, in particular, were instrumental in the tomb excavations and in identifying the Nakrang Earthen Castle in Tosong-ri as the seat of the commandery Over 1,500 tombs in all have been located, with sixty-three alone located in just one district (Chongbaek-dong).^[2] However, North Korea claims that all tombs are in fact of the Koguryo period, as it denies the existence of the Chinese settlement of Lelang, claiming it was a Koguryo city-state, and that the thousands of Chinese artifacts merely represent the burgeoning trade that the State of Nakrang had with the Han.^[3]

Administrative divisions

Nakrang-guyok is divided into nine administrative districts known as dong, as wells as nine villages ("ri"). The larger five dong (Chongbaek, Chongo, Kwanmun, Nakrang, and Tongil) are further divided in two parts for administrative purposes, which Chungsong-dong is divided into three.^[4]

	Chosŏn'gŭl	Hanja
Jongbaek-dong	정백동	貞栢洞
Jongo-dong	정오동	貞梧洞
Chungsong-dong	충성동	忠誠洞
Kwanmun-dong	관문동	關門洞
Rangnang-dong	락랑동	樂浪洞
Tongil-dong	통일동	統一洞
Tongsan-dong	동산동	東山洞
Tudan-dong	두단동	斗團洞
Wonam-dong	원암동	猿岩洞
Chungdan-ri	중단리	中端里
Kingol-ri	긴골리	긴골里
Kumdae-ri	금대리	今大里
Namsa-ri	남사리	南寺里
Posong-ri	보성리	甫城里
Pyokjido-ri	벽지도리	碧只島里
Ryongho-ri	룡호리	龍湖里
Ryuso-ri	류소리	柳巢里
Songnam-ri	송남리	松南里

References

1. Pai, Hyung Il (2000). Constructing Korean Origins: A critical review of archaeology, historiography, and racial myth in Korean state-forming theories. Harvard University Press. p. 160. ISBN 0-674-00244-X.
2. http://north.nricp.go.kr/nrth/kor/cul/cul_view.jsp, search 정백동제62호묘
3. ROBERT WILLOUGHBY (2008). BRADT TRAVEL GUIDE NORTH KOREA, THE. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 7. ISBN 1-84162-219-2. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
4. http://nk.joins.com/map/view.asp?idx=i018.htm

Coordinates: 38°57′36″N 125°41′24″E / 38.96000°N 125.69000°E