Rasŏn

See also: Räson and rason

English

Alternative forms

• Rason, Raseon, Naseon

Etymology

Borrowed from Korean 라선(羅先) (Raseon), from 라진(羅津) (Rajin) + 선봉(先鋒) (Seonbong), the two districts that form the city.

Proper noun

Rasŏn

1. A city in North Korea.
   • 2012 August 13, Choe Sang-hun, “North Korea Reported to Be Pursuing Industrial Project With China”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on August 14, 2012, Asia Pacific‎^[2]:

     North Korea also opened a free-trade zone in Rason, at its northeastern corner, in the 1990s.

   • 2012, Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga, “Prospects for Economic Reform in North Korea”, in China Perspectives‎^[3], →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on June 16, 2019‎^[4]:

     The most recent surge of reform is generally dated to January 2010. In rapid succession, North Korea announced the Strategic 10 Year Plan (2011-2020) for National Economic Development, created the Taepung International Investment Group and the National Development Bank, and elevated the Rason Economic and Trade Zone (luoxian jingji maoyi qu 罗先经济贸易区) to the new status of “special city” (tebie shi 特别市).

   • 2023 May 25, Adam Cathcart, “Bridges, Anti-Corruption, and Minerals: Sino-North Korean Borderland News”, in Sino-NK‎^[5], archived from the original on May 25, 2023, Borderlands‎^[6]:

     Reuters: I just wanted to follow up on my question earlier about the transport of cargo between China and North Korea. The report talked about the transport of cargo from the Chinese city of Hunchun to the North Korean city of Rason or Luoxian. So I just want to ask whether the foreign ministry can confirm that this particular crossing is indeed open as this report describes.
     Wang Wenbin: I just stated China’s position and have nothing further to share.

Usage notes

• The initial "R" is replaced with "N" (or with nothing or other consonants in other examples) in the South Korean standard, which is also reflected in the spelling, the jamo ㄹ (l) is replaced with ㄴ (n). The modern standard South Korean romanisation does not use ŏ to romanize the vowel [ʌ̹] (jamo: ㅓ (eo)) as is still done in North Korea, a digraph eo is used instead.

Synonyms

• Rajin-Sŏnbong
• (from Mandarin Chinese) Luoxian

Translations

a city in North Korea

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 羅先 / 罗先 (Luóxiān)

• Japanese: 羅先 (らそん, Rason)
• Korean: (North Korea) 라선(羅先) (Raseon), (South Korea) 나선(羅先) (ko) (Naseon)
• Russian: Расо́н m (Rasón)

Anagrams

• Arons, saron, orans, sorna, Sanor, sonar, roans, arson, SONAR, Naros