Hoeryong

Hoeryong 회령시
Municipal City
Korean transcription(s)
• Hanja	會寧市
• McCune-Reischauer	Hoeryŏng-si
• Revised Romanization	Hoeryeong-si
Hoeryong City Centre
Country	North Korea
Province	North Hamgyong Province
Population
• Total	134,524

Hoeryŏng (Korean pronunciation: [hø.ɾjʌŋ]) is a city in North Hamgyŏng Province, North Korea. It is located opposite Jilin Province, China, with the Tumen River in between. Sanhe (三合鎮), in Longjing City, is the closest Chinese town across the river. Hoeryŏng is claimed to be the birthplace of Kim Il Sung's first wife and Kim Jong Il's mother, Kim Jong Suk. It was known as "Kainei" during Japanese rule.

The Hoeryŏng concentration camp (Kwalliso No. 22) is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the city.

Hoeryŏng was one of the six post/garrisons (Chosŏngŭl: 육진, Hanja: 六鎭) established under the order of Sejong the Great of Joseon (1418 - 1450) to safeguard his people from the potentially hostile semi-nomadic Jurchens living north of the Yalu river.

In early May 2007, the newly appointed Prime Minister Kim Yong-il visited Hoeryŏng. At the time, the Prime Minister brought with him on his train, one carriage worth of glass (made in South Korea) and 3 carriages worth of cement. After delivering the goods to the People’s Committee of Hoeryŏng he ordered that the city of Hoeryŏng be decorated and adorned as much as a city where Mother Kim Jong Suk’s birthplace should be.

Later that month, there was a public protest in Hoeryŏng, the first in recent history anywhere in North Korea. A guard named Ahn Myong-chol was forced to leave Hoeryŏng concentration camp, for the safety of his family, when someone caught him giving food to one of the prisoners in the concentration camp.