The earliest records of Tokchon point to a Goryeo period founding of around with scriptures mentioning a fort named Bajung (바중) owned by a local lord c.950 A.D.

On April 28, 2017, a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile launched from near Pukchang Airport reportedly crashed into Ch'ŏngsin-dong, Tokchon, damaging several structures in the city.

[1] Tŏkch'ŏn-si is divided into 22 tong (neighbourhoods) and 10 ri (villages): The Sŭngri Motor Plant (with associated workshops) has been one of the few domestic sources of both low-cost replicas of foreign passenger cars and military-service trucks in North Korea since it was established in 1950, and developed through the massive militarization campaigns of Kim Il Sung in the 1970s and 80s.

However, the total depletion of foreign credit by the end of the 1980s caused the manufacturing industry to implode; the supply of steel for metalworking at Sŭngri slowed to a trickle, and even when available, the production lines had regular power outages.

The severe famine in the countryside also caused an exodus of starving peasants to the cities, further straining food supplies and worker productivity.