The modern name comes from a corruption of the old name "Paikju(白 州)" which originated from the region's role as a silver mine.The syllable ju was replaced with chon following the name convention at the time.

The region was also called Unsan(銀山, silver mountain) because of this.

[2] The region was called Toraphyeon(The word Torap had the meaning of a big town in the local language) during the time of Goguryeo, and was historically known as Paikju since 940.

[2] Paech'ŏn county is divided into 1 ŭp (town), 1 rodongjagu (workers' district) and 26 ri (villages): Paech'ŏn county is served by the Paech'ŏn Line of the Korean State Railway.

This North Korea location article is a stub.