Is Sinuiju safe?
North Korea · Asia · data updated 2026-09-04
Sinuiju is a city in North Korea, home to about 267k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. For Sinuiju there is not enough published data for an honest score - fewer than half of the ranking's factors are measured here, so it is listed as "no data" rather than guessed at.
- UK FCDO advises against all but essential travel to this countryOfficial UK government travel advice, updated 2025-12-10.
No official source names specific areas to avoid here: travel advisories for North Korea are country-level, and no published dataset covers neighborhood-level crime - so this briefing does not invent it.
How safe is Sinuiju really?
Neither Sinuiju nor North Korea has a published homicide rate in the sources this site uses (UNODC and the Igarapé Homicide Monitor), so the strongest single indicator of city safety is simply missing here.
What the travel advisories say
The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to this country. Both advisories are country-level: no official source publishes verified neighborhood-level crime guidance for individual cities, which is why this page reports named areas only where an official source names them.
What to watch out for in North Korea
Terrorism in North Korea · Nuclear and missile tests · Crime · Fire safety · Arrests and trials · Taking photos or videos · LGBT+ travellers · Travel outside Pyongyang · Road travel · Air travel · Extreme weather and natural disasters
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for North Korea — country-level, not specific to Sinuiju. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- no data
- Conflict deaths
- 0within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- no datacountry,
- Human development
- no datacountry,
- Income
- no dataGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 267kurban centre · 14,845/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 24.2 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 71/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 31/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 15/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 3.6/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- no dataGeorgetown WPS Index · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 21.8 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- 67%of the population, 2023 · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 3.6 doctors /1k12.8 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 1 /1k at riskWHO, 2024 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in North Korea
- Flood
- 6.5/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Cyclone
- 5.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Earthquake
- 4.4/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 3.7/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 1.0/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe North Korea as a whole, not Sinuiju specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in North Korea (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in North Korea; none of them affect the safety score.
How the score works
One fixed, calibrated mix for every city: 40% homicide · 25% peace · 25% equality · 10% HDI. Homicide and conflict deaths are measured outcomes; income inequality carries the structural share because it predicts real city violence far better than national income (which is shown above but scored at zero). Each factor maps to 0-100 against fixed anchors, missing data drops out and is never estimated, and cities with data behind less than half the weighting get “no data” instead of a score. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Sinuiju compared with Dandong
| Measure | Sinuiju | Dandong | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | no data | 82.7 | — |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | no data | 0.5 /100k | — |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 0 | 0 | ±0 |
| Income inequality (Gini) | no data | 36.0 | — |
| Human development (HDI) | no data | 0.797 | — |
| Road deaths | 24.2 /100k | 17.4 /100k | +6.8 /100k — better for Dandong |
| Rule of law | 31/100 | 47/100 | −16/100 — better for Dandong |
| Corruption perceptions | 15/100 | 43/100 | −28/100 — better for Dandong |
| Air quality (PM2.5) | 21.8 µg/m³ | 32.0 µg/m³ | −10.2 µg/m³ — better for Sinuiju |
| Natural-hazard risk | 3.6/10 | 2.9/10 | +0.7/10 — better for Dandong |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Country-level rows describe the two countries, not the cities themselves. Full report for Dandong →
Nearby cities
- 락원1동 n/a
- Dandong, China 82.7
- Ryongchon n/a
- Donggang, China 82.7
- Tongrim n/a
- Fengcheng, China 82.7
- Sonchon n/a
- Kusong n/a
See Sinuiju on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Asia → · Full travel briefings →