history

The remains of Sojin Fort, a mud castle in the period of the Imjin Patriotic War, were unearthed and ascertained in Sangam-ri, Kangnam County, Pyongyang.

A research group of the Pyongyang Municipal Agency for National Heritage Conservation and the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Social Sciences deepened the survey and unearthing of historical remains.

In the course of it, the remains of Sojin Fort were found at the site about 1.2 km away northeast of the Sangam-ri seat.

The fort is a well-known combat position, in which the some 400-strong Rim Jung Ryang-led volunteer army of Korea killed thousands of Japanese aggressors when the latter invaded the Walled City of Pyongyang in 1592 during the Imjin Patriotic War.

Preserved in the township of Junghwa County, North Hwanghae Province, is a monument telling about the fort. Written on it are the combat merits of the Rim Jung Ryang-led volunteers who had taken up their position in the west of Junghwa district.

The fort was an earthen castle built along the edge of hills, and it was long and oval in its plane shape from the north to the south.

The present castle wall remains in the high eastern and northern parts of the hills and only traces are left in the low western and southern parts.

The castle remains are about 1 010m in circumference, and found there during the excavation were relics like porcelain and ceramic pieces used by the people at that time.

The then castle was a clay-filled earthen wall, and the present remains of it are located 200 metres away from a shrine in Kangnam, a historic site.

The remains of Sojin Fort are of high academic value and educational significance as they are associated with the proud combat feats of Korean ancestors who bravely defeated the Japanese invaders.

The Archaeology Society of the DPRK admitted that the remains of Sojin Fort dating back to the feudal Joson Dynasty (1392-1910) are of weighty historical significance. And the Non-permanent Tangible Heritage Examination and Appraisal Committee evaluated the remains' value and registered them as a preservation historic site.