Junghwa

Junghwa lay south of Pyongyang within the administrative and military world of northwestern Korea. Its county government had already risen in rank under Goryeo: in 1371 its chief official became a jigunsa, a fourth-rank appointment. Joseon reorganized that office as a gunsu in 1466, retaining Junghwa as a county governed by a centrally appointed magistrate.

The Japanese invasions brought a more conspicuous promotion. In 1593 Junghwa became a dohobu in recognition of local resistance to the invaders, with a third-rank dohobusa at its head. The magistrate also held military responsibilities within the Pyongyang command structure. The eighteenth-century Yeojidoseo describes a government staffed by clerks and attendants, with military and courier officers and enslaved men and women attached to it. Junghwa's place in the kingdom depended on this combination of civil administration and defence: the same office managed local affairs, maintained communications and answered to the military authorities of Pyongyang.