[custom_adv] Pyongyang is the capital and largest city of North Korea. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about 109 kilometres (68 mi) upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. [custom_adv] According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288. The city was split from the South Pyongan province in 1946. It is administered as a directly-administered city with equal status to provinces, the same as special cities in South Korea, including Seoul. [custom_adv] The city's other historic names include Kisong, Hwangsong, Rakrang, Sŏgyong, Sodo, Hogyong, Changan, and Heijō (during Japanese rule in Korea). There are several variants. [custom_adv] During the early 20th century, Pyongyang came to be known among missionaries as being the "Jerusalem of the East", due to its historical status as a stronghold of Christianity, namely Protestantism, especially during the Pyongyang revival of 1907. [custom_adv] After Kim Il-sung's death in 1994, some members of Kim Jong-il's faction proposed changing the name of Pyongyang to "Kim Il-sung City", but others suggested that North Korea should begin calling Seoul "Kim Il-sung City" instead and grant Pyongyang the moniker "Kim Jong-il City", and in the end neither proposal was implemented. [custom_adv] In 1955, archaeologists excavated evidence of prehistoric occupation in a large ancient village in the Pyongyang area, called Kŭmtan-ni, dating to the Jeulmun and Mumun pottery periods.
