Coordinates: 40°57′43″N, 129°20′12″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

Kilchu, also variously romanized as Gilju or Kilju, is a county in North Hamgyong province, North Korea. It is composed of 1 ŭp and 26 villages. The county seat is Kilchu-ŭp. Hangul also refers to a word processing application widely used in Korea. ... It has been suggested that Sino-Korean be merged into this article or section. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean (Korean: 국어의 로마자 표기법; 國語의 로마字 表記法) is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... There are three commonly used romanization schemes for the Korean Hangul script, namely: Revised Romanization of Korean: official in South Korea since 2000 and quite common on the Internet; McCune-Reischauer: formerly official in South Korea and a variation of which is currently official in North Korea, and common in... Administrative divisions of North Korea As of 2004, North Korea consisted of two directly-governed cities (Chikalshi; 직할시;直轄市), three special administrative regions with various designations, and nine provinces (Do, singular and plural; 도; 道). These 14 regions are, in turn, divided into a Special... North Hamgyŏng (Hamgyŏng-pukto) is a province of North Korea. ...

Geography

Kilchu is located in the southern part of North Hamgyong. It borders Myŏngch'ŏn on the east, Kimch'aek and Hwadae to the south, Myŏnggan and Ŏnang to the north. To the west it borders Tanch'ŏn in South Hamgyŏng and Paegam in Ryanggang. Kimchaek, formerly Sŏngjin (성진), is a city in North Hamgyong Province, North Korea. ... South Hamgyŏng (Hamgyŏng-namdo) is a province of North Korea. ... Ryanggang (Ryanggang-do) is a province in North Korea. ...

Kilchu stands at the junction of the Hamgyŏng Mountains and the Maryŏng Mountains, and its northwestern region is mountainous.

The average annual temperature is 7.5 °C (-7.6 °C in January and 22.2 °C in August).

Military

A number of military facilities are known or believed to be located in Kilchu. These include the Hwadae-ri atomic weapons training facility. This was first built with Soviet assistance in 1958, and rose to international prominence when the 2006 North Korean nuclear test was reported to have been held there. The Musudan-ri missile facility is located in nearby Hwadae county, and a separate Scud facility has been reported in the area. The 2006 North Korean nuclear test was the first test detonation of a nuclear device, which was claimed to be carried out successfully on October 9, 2006, by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). ... Musudan-ri is a rocket launching site in North Korea at 40°51′N 129°40′E. It lies in southern North Hamgyong province, near the northern tip of the East Korea Bay. ...

External links

• Global Security profile, with extensive background information