Sinuiju

Sinuiju is a city in the far northwest of North Korea, standing on the southern bank of the Amnok River, which Chinese maps call the Yalu, directly across from the Chinese city of Dandong in Liaoning. It is the capital of North Pyongan province. The name means New Uiju, after the older town of Uiju about eleven kilometres to the northeast, and the modern city grew as a settlement at the end of the railway bridge built across the river during the Japanese colonial period. It became an open port and a centre of the timber trade, floated down the river, and a chemical industry followed once the Supung hydroelectric dam was built upstream. During the Korean War the government of Kim Il Sung briefly moved its seat here after the fall of Pyongyang, and in November 1950 American bombing destroyed most of the city, which was then rebuilt. Today it is a light industry centre, with enamelware, textile and paper plants, a shipyard and recycling works, and much of North Korea's legal and illegal trade with China crosses here. Part of the city lies within the Sinuiju Special Administrative Region proclaimed in 2002. The city sits about one metre above sea level and has a monsoonal humid continental climate.