Meaning of Rasŏn | Babel Free

Definitions

A special city in North Korea.

Equivalents

Examples

“North Korea also opened a free-trade zone in Rason, at its northeastern corner, in the 1990s.”

“The most recent surge of reform is generally dated to January 2010. In rapid succession, North Korea announced the Strategic 10 Year Plan (2011-2020) for National Economic Development, created the Taepung International Investment Group and the National Development Bank, and elevated the Rason Economic and Trade Zone (luoxian jingji maoyi qu 罗先经济贸易区) to the new status of “special city” (tebie shi 特别市).”

“Reuters: I just wanted to follow up on my question earlier about the transport of cargo between China and North Korea. The report talked about the transport of cargo from the Chinese city of Hunchun to the North Korean city of Rason or Luoxian. So I just want to ask whether the foreign ministry can confirm that this particular crossing is indeed open as this report describes. Wang Wenbin: I just stated China’s position and have nothing further to share.”

“Two-thirds of the region’s 150,000 people inhabit Rajin and Sonbong, many working in Rajin’s port, Sonbong’s oil processing refineries and the iron, magnesium and ceramics industries on the cities’ outskirts. As such, it’s been promoted less for tourists than for businessmen, but even then the zone’s development is taking time, and the Rajin and Sonbong zone, collectively known as Rason, encloses an area of forested hills and wetlands, lakes and the Tuman River delta with an abundance of wildlife.[...]At the northern end of Rason is a series of shallow lagoons, including Korea’s largest, the metre-deep, 41km-round Lagoon Sonbong.”

“North Korea also opened a free-trade zone in Rason, at its northeastern corner, in the 1990s.”

“Rajin is one of two towns that make up the Rajin-Songbon, or Rason, special economic zone in the northeast corner of North Korea. Both Russia and China have access to Rajin as a port and have invested in updating infrastructure. The cycling race follows Sunday's completion of a Russian-operated train line that links Rason with the Russian Far East town of Khasan, part of a more ambitious plan to build a railway from Europe to Asia. First designated a special economic zone in the mid 1990s, Rason is popular among ethnic Korean Chinese businessmen looking to set up small factories and take advantage of cheap labour.”

“While North Korea is promoting the area — Rajin and the neighboring city of Sonbong are together known as Rason — as a special economic zone, previous efforts at opening have not gone far.[…] North Korea established Rason as a free-trade zone in 1991, modeled on zones that had powered the export-led explosion of growth in China.[…] A Washington Post reporter saw several trucks with Rason license plates entering China at the Quanhe border crossing near Hunchun. But being able to ship Chinese products out in the other direction, through Rajin port, would provide a huge boost to the region, proponents say.[…] “The problem is still Rason and getting to it,” said Cathcart, who has written reports about the region. “The relationship between China and North Korea with regards to the use of Rason is still problematic. It’s not unfettered access.””

“Additionally, with the development of border tourism, cooperative relations with China have been continuously deepened. In 2011, the self-driving tour from Yanbian, Jilin, China to Rason, North Korea started [5]. In 2016, a half-day landed tour from Dandong, Liaoning to Xinyizhou was opened [6]. In 2018, because of departure procedures have been simplified, the tourists can travel from Hunchun, Jilin to Rason in half day [7].”

CEFR level