Kanggye

Infobox Korean name|context=north
hangul=강계시
hanja=江界市
rr=Ganggye-si
mr=Kanggye si

Kanggye is the provincial capital of Chagang, North Korea and has a population of 209,000. Because of its strategic importance, derived from its topography, it has been of military interest from the time of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

Geography

Kanggye is located at the merging point of four rivers, including the Changja River.

Transportation

Kanggye is a transportation hub, connected to other cities by road, rail and air. It lies at the junction of the Kanggye and Manpo Lines. In addition, highways connect it to Pyongyang and other locations. The city is located near a military and civilian dual-purpose air station.

Culture

Kanggye University of Education is located in the city.

Places of tourist interest include Inphung Pavilion and Mount Ryonhwa.

Industry

From 1945, the manufacturing industry developed rapidly.

Kanggye has a mining industry producing copper, zinc ore, coal and graphite.

Kanggye hosts one of the main timber processing factories of Chagang province and North Korea.

Kanggye Timber Processing Factory

Kanggye Timber Processing Factory is a state-run factory located in Kanggye City. At the time when it started operation, it produced only two kinds of furniture—dining table and sterilized chopsticks—through manual labour. It has now developed into a comprehensive furniture producer, producing woodwork with a hundred and dozens of modern facilities in production and auxiliary buildings which are 27,000 square metres in total floor space.

In recent years, the factory have had its facilities remolded. These efforts had resulted in modernization of the production processes ranging from lumber cutting to furniture assembly in only a few years.

At present, the factory uses three- and four-faced automatic planes, all-purpose polishers, joining machines, grooving saws and other modern facilities.

Meanwhile the factory has directed an effort into the programme of modernizing the drying job, which is an important part of the woodworking process. The boiler-induced drying process in a spacious area was replaced with three modern drying ovens, which resulted in boosting the seasoning capacity many times as compared with the old facility, fed with a substitute fuel for coal.

By making technical innovations the factory has increased the comprehensive utility of timber considerably, thereby putting the production on a higher level and consuming far less manpower per product.

These days the primary attention is directed to ensuring standard operation of the modern facilities and elevating the workers’ technical and skill levels.

ee also

*Geography of North Korea
*List of cities in North Korea
*List of Korea-related topics