Wonsan
port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea
Wonsan (Korean pronunciation: [wʌn.san]), previously known as Wonsanjin (元山津), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwon Province, North Korea, on the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan. It is the provincial capital. The port was opened by Japanese forces in 1880.
Before the 1950–1953 Korean War, it fell within the jurisdiction of the then South Hamgyong province, and during the war, it was the location of the Blockade of Wonsan. The population of the city was estimated at 329,207 in 2013. Notable people from Wonsan include Kim Ki-nam, a diplomat and former Vice Chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
In 2013, it was announced that Wonsan would be converted into a summer destination with resorts and entertainment. Having spent his childhood years there, Kim Jong Un has expressed significant interest in developing the region, with the construction of new infrastructure such as Kalma Airport, a dual-use civilian international airport and military proving ground. A state corporation, the Wonsan Zone Development Corporation, has been established with feasibility studies for a wide variety of hotels and commercial and industrial development.
Name
Wonsan has also been known as Yonghunghang, Yuanshan in Chinese, Genzan or Gensan in Japanese, and Port Lazareva or Port Lazarev in Russian.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Wonsan” as port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn Province, North Korea. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q109374. VIAF identifies the subject as 141912630. The Library of Congress control number is n82041144. Authority coordinates are 39.148, 127.446. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1880, 1950, 1953 and 2013.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wonsan”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wonsan primary sources, Wonsan archive and Wonsan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wonsan”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wonsan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.