history

The Walled City of Pyongyang lying in Central and Phyongchon districts of Pyongyang was the capital of Koguryo (277 BC-AD 668). It was also called Jangan castle.

Koguryo, which had used Kungnae castle in Ji’an, Jilin Province of China, as its capital, moved the capital to Pyongyang with more favourable conditions in 427.

At that time, like in Kungnae castle, the Koguryo people built a royal palace (Anhak Palace) on flatlands with a mountain fortress (Taesongsan Fort) nearby so that in case of emergency all inhabitants could go into the fort to resist invaders.

As its national strength grew, Koguryo built between 552 and 586 the large-scale Walled City of Pyongyang encompassing the whole of the city in order to defend the capital against the enemy’s invasion more effectively.

The Koguryo people erected the walled city as a combination of flatland and hill forts on the basis of their experience in war.

The walled city occupied a long terrain extending north and south at the point where the Taedong and Pothong rivers join.

The terrain was a favourable place adequately covering fields and hills in the Pyongyang peneplain and the walled city was advantageous as they surrounded both flatlands and hills. The Taedong and Pothong rivers surrounding the city on three sides served as natural moats greatly contributing to strengthening the defence capability of the city.

The walled city was about 16km in circumference.

The inside of the city was partitioned by walls into inner, middle, outer and northern forts. The walls of the city were approximately 23km in total length including those of the four forts.

The inner fort was for the royal palace, the middle one for the government offices and the outer one for residential quarters.

There were seven commanding posts in the walled city.

Typical of them are the Ulmil Pavilion in the inner fort and the Choesung Pavilion in the northern one.

The Walled City of Pyongyang showcases the history and culture of Koguryo, the form of the walled capital city in its late period and its development and the resourcefulness and talents of the Koguryo people.