Pyongyang

Pyongyang (Korean: 평양; Hancha: 平壤) is the capital and largest city of North Korea. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about 109 km (68 mi) upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288. Pyongyang is a directly administered city (직할시; 直轄市; chikhalsi) with a status equal to that of the North Korean provinces.

Pyongyang is one of the oldest cities in Korea. It was the capital of two ancient Korean kingdoms, Gojoseon and Goguryeo, and served as the secondary capital of Goryeo. Following the establishment of North Korea in 1948, Pyongyang became its de facto capital. The city was again devastated during the Korean War, but was quickly rebuilt after the war with Soviet assistance.

Pyongyang is the political, industrial and transport center of North Korea. It is estimated that 99% of those living in Pyongyang are members, candidate members, or dependents of members of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). It is home to North Korea's major government institutions, as well as the WPK which has its headquarters in the Government Complex No. 1.

The name 'Pyongyang' derives from the Sino-Korean words 平 (flat) and 壤 (land). It is the McCune–Reischauer romanisation of the Korean term '평양', which translates to 'flat land', reflecting the smooth terrain of the city. In native Korean, the city was called "Buruna" (부루나) or less commonly "Barana" (바라나) which, using the idu system, was the pronunciation of the Chinese characters of "Pyongyang". "Buru" (부루) means "field" whereas "na" (나) means "land", therefore the meaning of Pyongyang in native Korean would be "Land of the field".

The city's other historic names include Ryugyong, Kisong, Hwangsong, Rakrang, Sŏgyong, Sodo, Hogyong, Changan, and Heijō (during Japanese rule in Korea). There are several variants. During the early 20th century, Pyongyang came to be known among missionaries as being the "Jerusalem of the East", due to its historical status as a stronghold of Christianity, namely Protestantism, especially during the Pyongyang Revival of 1907.

After Kim Il Sung's death in 1994, some members of Kim Jong Il's faction proposed changing the name of Pyongyang to "Kim Il Sung City" (Korean: 김일성시; Hanja: 金日成市), but others suggested that North Korea should begin calling Seoul "Kim Il Sung City" instead and grant Pyongyang the moniker "Kim Jong Il City". In the end, neither proposal was implemented. In North Korea, Pyongyang is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (혁명의 수도).

In 1955, archaeologists excavated evidence of prehistoric dwellings in a large ancient village in the Pyongyang area, called Kŭmtan-ni, dating to the Jeulmun and Mumun pottery periods. North Koreans associate Pyongyang with the mythological city of "Asadal", or Wanggeom-seong, the first second millennium BC capital of Gojoseon ("Old Joseon") according to Korean historiographies beginning with the 13th-century Samguk yusa.

Historians^[who?] deny this claim because earlier Chinese historiographical works such as the Guanzi, Classic of Mountains and Seas, Records of the Grand Historian, and Records of the Three Kingdoms, mention a much later "Joseon".^{[citation needed]} The connection between the two therefore may have been asserted by North Korea for the use of propaganda.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, Pyongyang became a major city in old Joseon.