River
Taedong River
439 km from source to mouth · North Korea.
North KoreaFlows into Korea Bay2nd longest in North Korea
In numbers
Length
439km
Average flow
310m³/s
Basin
20,344km²
Drop
813m
from 815 m to 2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
439 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 6 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmRangrim Mountainsat 815 m
- 145 kmKŭmsŏng-ho22 km²
- 258 kmSunch’ŏn437,000 people
- 353 kmChongryu Bridge
- 355 kmRungra Bridge
- 356 kmPyongyang3,222,000 people
- 356 kmOngryu Bridge
- 358 kmTaedong Bridge
- 360 kmYanggak Road Bridge
- 360 kmTaedonggang Railway Bridge
- 363 kmChungsong Bridge
- 366 kmTwimoraet’ŏ13,050 people
- 369 kmMan’gyŏngdae-ri321,690 people
- 369 kmPotong Rivertributary
- 380 kmKangsŏn102,436 people
- 426 kmChaeryong Rivertributary
- 436 kmNampo366,815 people
- 439 kmKorea Bayat 2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in North Korea
At the mouth it carries 313 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.0 seconds. It drops from 815 m to 2 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 20,344 km², about the size of SI. 7.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from December to March. Its dams hold back little of its water (4.3% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- PyongyangLargest city on its banks · 3,222,000 people
- Pyongyang Sunan International Airport (FNJ)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 22 km from the cityCar hire in SeoulDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water23 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to June and SeptemberThe best months to visit
Taedong River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from May to June and September.
From about 47 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,000 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Taedong River: the basin in numbers
19,404 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 418/km²people per km²
- 334maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,092mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.1°Caverage air temperature
- 0.6%covered by lakes
- 0.4km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 57% Forest
- 40% Cropland
- 2% Pasture
- 16% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Taedong River: what you find on the way
- 16Weirs
- 1Boat ramps
- 20Ferry piers
- 1Marinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Taedong River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Kŭmsŏng-hokm 12422km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount Langlim6.8 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Taedong River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (2)
Also: Potong River, Chaeryong River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
North Korea217 km120 m³/s98 km awayImjin River
South Korea274 km180 m³/s137 km awayYalu River
China813 km600 m³/s180 km awayBukhan RiverSouth Korea482 km200 m³/s201 km awayGeum RiverSouth Korea395 km210 m³/s316 km awayLiao RiverChina1,345 km630 m³/s406 km awayNakdong RiverSouth Korea506 km300 m³/s494 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q330618) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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