| Sinpo | |
| Native Name Lang: | ko |
| Settlement Type: | Municipal City |
| Translit Lang1: | Korean |
| Translit Lang1 Type: | Chosŏn'gŭl |
| Translit Lang1 Info: | 신포시 |
| Translit Lang1 Type1: | Hancha |
| Translit Lang1 Info2: | Sinp'o si |
| Translit Lang1 Info3: | Sinpo-si |
| Pushpin Map: | North Korea |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Map of North Korea showing the location of Sinpo |
| Coordinates: | 40.0347°N 128.1856°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | North Korea |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | South Hamgyong Province |
| Population As Of: | 2008 |
| Population Total: | 152,759 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Dialect |
| Population Blank1: | Hamgyŏng |
| Parts Type: | Administrative divisions |
| Parts: | 16 tong, 6 ri |
| Timezone: | Pyongyang Time |
| Utc Offset: | +9 |
Sinpho (pronounced as /ko/) is a port city on the coast of the Sea of Japan in central South Hamgyŏng province, North Korea. According to the last available census, approximately 152,759 people reside there.
Sinp'o is divided into 16 tong (neighbourhoods) and 6 ri (villages):
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It is an important base for fishing, with a recent government emphasis on aquaculture. The DPRK has created aquacultural cooperatives and a central aquaculture office in the city.
In 1985 or 1986, the Soviet Union announced it would build a nuclear power plant, in an effort to persuade North Korea to join the International Atomic Energy Agency. According to South Korean sources, the plant was to be located in the Sinpo District, and construction began in 1990, but later ended due to pressure from IAEA, and economic difficulties in the Soviet Union.[1]
In the 1990s, the Kumho area of Sinpo was the site of two planned reactors which were to have been built by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) with international support. The project was later cancelled by the United States in 2002, amidst claims of a breach in a 1994 agreement on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.[2]
Preparation work on the site began in 1996, and a groundbreaking ceremony took place in 1997, with construction originally expected to be completed in 2003.[2] Workers were removed from the area in January 2006, and the project was officially terminated in May that same year.[3]
Sinpo is a major hub of the defense industry of North Korea, and the Sinpo South Shipyard, its shipyards, have produced the Sinpo-class submarine, and is adjacent to the Mayang-Do Naval Base and a land-based SLBM launch platform.[4] Also, the SINPO-C ballistic missile submarine (SSB)[5] and the SINPO-class experimental ballistic missile submarine (SSBA)[5] were built in the shipyard.
Sinp'o is reportedly close to the site of a severe railroad accident in 1995, with over 700 civilians killed. Those who died were passengers from the lower classes, packed into standing-room only cars. The survivors, mostly party elites and their relatives, were in safer cars at the front of the train.[6]
Sinp'o Station is on the P'yŏngra Line of the Korean State Railway.
Sinpo has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dwa).[7]