Administrative Division
Over the half-century period since the partitioning of the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, North Korea's administrative divisions have undergone considerable changes in shape, size and names.
The government has conducted about fifty administrative revisions to date, artificially changing the names of some one thousand areas. Many of the new names in use today are different from those used at the time of Korea's liberation from Japan, with quite a few names renamed in connection with the personality cults of the elder and junior Kims.
Notable examples include Eundok-kun (meaning Grace County恩德郡) in the southern part of former Kyungheung County（庆兴郡）, which was named in 1977 to commemorate the "grace" of Kim Il Sung's communization. In other examples, the northern part of the former Kyunghung-kun was renamed Saetbyol-kun (meaning New Star County新星郡、赛别儿郡) in 1977 after the pen-name of Kim Jong-Il to honor the new leader, and Huchang-kun （厚昌郡）was renamed as Hyungjik-kun （金亨稷郡）in 1988 after Kim Il Sung's father, Kim Hyong Jik.
Before the end of the Japanese rule on August 15, 1945, there were six provinces (do), nine ordinary cities (si), 89 counties (kun) and 810 districts (eup and myon) in what has now become North Korea. In December 1952, North Korea removed the "myon" unit out of the four-level system of administrative units consisting of the following: provinces (do); cities (si) or counties (kun); districts (eup or myon); and traditional villages (ri) or blocks (dong). The new three-level system consists of the following: provinces (do); cities (si), counties (kun) or districts (kuyok); and villages (eup), towns (ri), blocks (dong) or workers' districts.
∝ Workers' Districts: Administrative units equating to the administrative unit of village (ri) located in areas with a high concentration of working population (i.e., farms, factories, mines, fishing villages, etc.). They are designed for collective management of labor force to achieve high labor productivity and efficiency.
As a result, the present administrative map is comprised of four provincial-level cities under direct central authority (Pyongyang, Nampo, Kaesong and Nason), 9 provinces, 24 ordinary cities, 146 counties, 31 districts, 2 subdistricts/2 zones, 3,255 villages(ri), 146 towns (eup), 1,137 blocks (dong) and 255 workers' districts.
http://www.nis.go.kr/eng/north/society23.html
