Korea, North
Korea, North: Travel tips, articles, photos, gallery, cities database, population, pics, flags, statistics, free maps online
Back to Countries, Click to read the whole article: Korea, North
| Introduction - Korea, North: | Country | Korea, North | | Background | An independent kingdom for much of its long history, Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War. Five years later, Japan formally annexed the entire peninsula. Following World War II, Korea was split with the northern half coming under Soviet-sponsored Communist domination. After failing in the Korean War (1950-53) to conquer the US-backed Republic of Korea (ROK) in the southern portion by force, North Korea (DPRK), under its founder President KIM Il-song, adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and economic self-reliance as a check against excessive Soviet or Communist Chinese influence. The DPRK demonized the US as the ultimate threat to its social system through state-funded propaganda, and molded political, economic, and military policies around the core ideological objective of eventual unification of Korea under Pyongyangs control. KIMs son, the current ruler KIM Jong Il, was officially designated as his fathers successor in 1980, assuming a growing political and managerial role until the elder KIMs death in 1994. After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of 1 million. North Koreas long-range missile development, as well as its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and massive conventional armed forces, are of major concern to the international community. In December 2002, following revelations that the DPRK was pursuing a nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement with the US to freeze and ultimately dismantle its existing plutonium-based program, North Korea expelled monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In January 2003, it declared its withdrawal from the international Non-Proliferation Treaty. In mid-2003 Pyongyang announced it had completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods (to extract weapons-grade plutonium) and was developing a nuclear deterrent. Beginning in August 2003, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the US have participated in the Six-Party Talks aimed at resolving the stalemate over the DPRKs nuclear programs. North Korea pulled out of the talks in November 2005. It test-fired ballistic missiles in July 2006 and tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006. In October 2006, the DRPK announced that it would return to the Six-Party Talks. The Talks reconvened in December 2006. | |
|
|
| Location - Korea, North: | Location | Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea | | Geographic coordinates | 40 00 N, 127 00 E | | Map references | Asia | | Area | total: 120,540 sq km
land: 120,410 sq km
water: 130 sq km | | Area comparative | slightly smaller than Mississippi | | Land boundaries | total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km | | Coastline | 2,495 km | | Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
note: military boundary line 50 nm in the Sea of Japan and the exclusive economic zone limit in the Yellow Sea where all foreign vessels and aircraft without permission are banned | | Climate | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer | | Terrain | mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east | | Elevation extremes | lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m | | Natural resources | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower | | Land use | arable land: 22.4%
permanent crops: 1.66%
other: 75.94% (2005) | | Irrigated land | 14,600 sq km (2003) | | Natural hazards | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall | | Environment current issues | water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation | | Environment international agreements | party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea | | Geography note | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated | |
| People - Korea, North: | Population | 23,301,725 (July 2007 est.) | | Age structure | 0-14 years: 23.3% (male 2,758,826/female 2,679,093)
15-64 years: 68.1% (male 7,852,282/female 8,024,429)
65 years and over: 8.5% (male 709,599/female 1,277,496) (2007 est.) | | Median age | total: 32.4 years
male: 30.9 years
female: 33.8 years (2007 est.) | | Population growth rate | 0.785% (2007 est.) | | Birth rate | 15.06 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | | Death rate | 7.21 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | | Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | | Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.979 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.555 male(s)/female
total population: 0.945 male(s)/female (2007 est.) | | Infant mortality rate | total: 22.56 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 24.2 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 20.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) | | Life expectancy at birth | total population: 71.92 years
male: 69.18 years
female: 74.8 years (2007 est.) | | Total fertility rate | 2.05 children born/woman (2007 est.) | | Hiv aids adult prevalence rate | NA | | Hiv aids people living with hiv aids | NA | | Hiv aids deaths | NA | | Nationality | noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean | | Ethnic groups | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese | | Religions | traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)
note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom | | Languages | Korean | | Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% | |
| Government - Korea, North: | Country name | conventional long form: Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea
conventional short form: North Korea
local long form: Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk
local short form: Choson
abbreviation: DPRK | | Government type | Communist state one-man dictatorship | | Capital | name: Pyongyang
geographic coordinates: 39 01 N, 125 45 E
time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) | | Administrative divisions | 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 4 municipalities (si, singular and plural)
provinces: Chagang-do (Chagang), Hamgyong-bukto (North Hamgyong), Hamgyong-namdo (South Hamgyong), Hwanghae-bukto (North Hwanghae), Hwanghae-namdo (South Hwanghae), Kangwon-do (Kangwon), Pyongan-bukto (North Pyongan), Pyongan-namdo (South Pyongan), Yanggang-do (Yanggang)
municipalities: Kaesong-si (Kaesong), Najin Sonbong-si (Najin), Nampo-si (Nampo), Pyongyang-si (Pyongyang) | | Independence | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) | | National holiday | Founding of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948) | | Constitution | adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998 | | Legal system | based on Prussian civil law system with Japanese influences and Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | | Suffrage | 17 years of age; universal | | Executive branch | chief of state: KIM Jong Il (since July 1994); note - on 3 September 2003, rubberstamp Supreme Peoples Assembly (SPA) reelected KIM Jong Il chairman of the National Defense Commission, a position accorded nations highest administrative authority; SPA reelected KIM Yong Nam president of its Presidium also with responsibility of representing state and receiving diplomatic credentials
head of government: Premier KIM Yong Il (since 11 April 2007); Vice Premiers KWAK Pom Gi (since 5 September 1998), JON Sung Hun (since 3 September 2003), RO Tu Chol (since 3 September 2003)
cabinet: Naegak (cabinet) members, except for Minister of Peoples Armed Forces, are appointed by SPA
elections: last held in September 2003 (next to be held in September 2008)
election results: KIM Jong Il and KIM Yong Nam were only nominees for positions and ran unopposed | | Legislative branch | unicameral Supreme Peoples Assembly or Choego Inmin Hoeui (687 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 3 August 2003 (next to be held in August 2008)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; ruling party approves a list of candidates who are elected without opposition; some seats are held by minor parties | | Judicial branch | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme Peoples Assembly) | | Political parties and leaders | major party - Korean Workers Party or KWP [KIM Jong Il]; minor parties - Chondoist Chongu Party [RYU Mi Yong] (under KWP control), Social Democratic Party [KIM Yong Dae] (under KWP control) | | Political pressure groups and leaders | none | | International organization participation | ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO | | Diplomatic representation in the us | none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York | | Diplomatic representation from the us | none; note - Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power | | Flag description | three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue; the red band is edged in white; on the hoist side of the red band is a white disk with a red five-pointed star | |
| Economy - Korea, North: | Economy overview | North Korea, one of the worlds most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and shortages of spare parts. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. Due in part to severe summer flooding followed by dry weather conditions in the fall of 2006, the nation has suffered its 12th year of food shortages because of on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and chronic shortages of tractors and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the people of North Korea to escape mass starvation since famine threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In 2004, the regime formalized an arrangement whereby private farmers markets were allowed to begin selling a wider range of goods. It also permitted some private farming on an experimental basis in an effort to boost agricultural output. In October 2005, the regime reversed some of these policies by forbidding private sales of grains and reinstituting a centralized food rationing system. By December 2005, the regime terminated most international humanitarian assistance operations in North Korea (calling instead for developmental assistance only) and restricted the activities of remaining international and non-governmental aid organizations such as the World Food Program. External food aid now comes primarily from China and South Korea in the form of grants and long-term concessional loans. Firm political control remains the Communist governments overriding concern, which will likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations. | | Gdp purchasing power parity | $40 billion
note: North Korea does not publish any reliable National Income Accounts data; the datum shown here is derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP estimates for North Korea that were made by Angus MADDISON in a study conducted for the OECD; his figure for 1999 was extrapolated to 2006 using estimated real growth rates for North Koreas GDP and an inflation factor based on the US GDP deflator; the result was rounded to the nearest $10 billion (2006 est.) | | Gdp official exchange rate | NA (2006 est.) | | Gdp real growth rate | 1.8% (2006 est.) | | Gdp per capita ppp | $1,800 (2006 est.) | | Gdp composition by sector | agriculture: 30%
industry: 34%
services: 36% (2002 est.) | | Labor force | 9.6 million | | Labor force by occupation | agriculture: 36%
industry and services: 64% | | Unemployment rate | NA% | | Population below poverty line | NA% | | Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% | | Inflation rate consumer prices | NA% | | Budget | revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA | | Agriculture products | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs | | Industries | military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, limestone, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism | | Industrial production growth rate | NA% | | Electricity production | 21.71 billion kWh (2004) | | Electricity consumption | 20.19 billion kWh (2004) | | Electricity exports | 0 kWh (2004) | | Electricity imports | 0 kWh (2004) | | Oil production | 138.5 bbl/day (2004 est.) | | Oil consumption | 25,000 bbl/day (2004) | | Oil exports | NA bbl/day | | Oil imports | 23,520 bbl/day (2004 est.) | | Oil proved reserves | 0 bbl | | Natural gas production | 0 cu m (2004 est.) | | Natural gas consumption | 0 cu m (2004 est.) | | Exports | $1.34 billion f.o.b. (2005) | | Exports commodities | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products | | Exports partners | China 35%, South Korea 24%, Thailand 9%, Japan 9% (2005) | | Imports | $2.72 billion c.i.f. (2005) | | Imports commodities | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain | | Imports partners | China 42%, South Korea 28%, Russia 9%, Thailand 8% (2005) | | Debt external | $12 billion (1996 est.) | | Economic aid recipient | $NA; note - approximately 350,000 metric tons in food aid, worth approximately $118 million, through the World Food Program appeal in 2004, plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations | | Currency code | North Korean won (KPW) | | Exchange rates | official: North Korean won per US dollar - 141 (2006), 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), market: North Korean won per US dollar - 2,500-3,000 (December 2006) | |
| Communications - Korea, North: | Fiscal year | calendar year | | Telephones main lines in use | 980,000 (2003) | | Telephone system | general assessment: NA
domestic: NA
international: country code - 850; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Russian (Indian Ocean region); other international connections through Moscow and Beijing | | Radio broadcast stations | AM 17 (including 11 stations of Korean Central Broadcasting Station; North Korea has a national intercom cable radio station wired throughout the country that is a significant source of information for the average North Korean citizen; it is wired into most residences and workplaces and carries news and commentary), FM 14, shortwave 14 (2006) | | Television broadcast stations | 4 (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) (2003) | | Internet country code | .kp | | Internet users | NA | |
| Transportation - Korea, North: | Airports | 77 (2006) | | Airports with paved runways | total: 36
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 22
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 3 (2006) | | Airports with unpaved runways | total: 41
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 20
914 to 1,523 m: 13
under 914 m: 7 (2006) | | Heliports | 22 (2006) | | Pipelines | oil 154 km (2006) | | Railways | total: 5,214 km
standard gauge: 5,214 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2006) | | Roadways | total: 31,200 km
paved: 1,997 km
unpaved: 29,203 km (1999 est.) | | Waterways | 2,250 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2007) | | Merchant marine | total: 232 ships (1000 GRT or over) 983,182 GRT/1,370,104 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 14, cargo 176, chemical tanker 1, container 4, livestock carrier 3, passenger/cargo 5, petroleum tanker 17, refrigerated cargo 3, roll on/roll off 8, vehicle carrier 1
foreign-owned: 60 (British Virgin Islands 1, China 1, Denmark 1, Egypt 2, Greece 1, India 1, Lebanon 6, Lithuania 1, Marshall Islands 1, Pakistan 3, Romania 11, Russia 1, Singapore 1, Syria 14, Turkey 4, UAE 6, US 3, Yemen 2)
registered in other countries: 5 (Belize 2, Mongolia 3) (2006) | | Ports and terminals | Chongjin, Haeju, Hungnam (Hamhung), Kimchaek, Kosong, Najin, Nampo, Sinuiju, Songnim, Sonbong (formerly Unggi), Ungsang, Wonsan | |
| Military - Korea, North: | Military branches | North Korean Peoples Army: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force; civil security forces (2005) | | Military service age and obligation | 17 years of age (2004) | | Manpower available for military service | males age 17-49: 5,851,801
females age 17-49: 5,850,733 (2005 est.) | | Manpower fit for military service | males age 17-49: 4,810,831
females age 17-49: 4,853,270 (2005 est.) | | Manpower reaching military service age annually | males age 18-49: 194,605
females age 17-49: 187,846 (2005 est.) | | Refugees and internally displaced persons | IDPs: 50,000-250,000 (government repression and famine) (2006) | | Military expenditures percent of gdp | NA | | Trafficking in persons | current situation: North Korea is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; North Koreas own system of political repression includes forced labor in a network of prison camps where an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 persons are incarcerated; the illegal status of North Koreans in China and other countries increases their vulnerability to trafficking schemes and sexual and physical abuse; North Koreans forcibly returned from China may be subject to hard labor in prison camps operated by the government
tier rating: Tier 3 - North Korea does not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so | | Disputes international | risking arrest, imprisonment, and deportation, tens of thousands of North Koreans cross into China to escape famine, economic privation, and political oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers; Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic incidents in the Yellow Sea with South Korea which claims the Northern Limiting Line as a maritime boundary; North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japans claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima) | |
This page was last updated on 16 September, 2007
Source: CIA >>> |
