* βeta

Korea North

X

Background :

An independent kingdom for much of its long history, Korea was occupied by Japan beginning 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 control. 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 Sung, adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and economic "self-reliance" as a check against outside 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 Pyongyang's control. KIM's son, the current ruler KIM Jong Il, was officially designated as his father's successor in 1980, assuming a growing political and managerial role until the elder KIM's 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. North Korea's history of regional military provocations, proliferation of military-related items, long-range missile development, WMD programs including tests of nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009, and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community. 

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 Center :

40 00 N, 127 00 E  (Latitude, Longtitude)

Geographic Coordinates Rectangle :

West 124.32
North 43.01
East 130.67
South 37.67

Area :

total 120 538 square km
land 120 408 square km
water 130 square km

Land boundaries :

total 1 673 km
China (cn) 1 416 km
South Korea 238 km
Russia (ru) 19 km

Coastline :

2495.00 km

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 0 metres
highest point 2 744 metres

Natural resources :

coal copper
fluorspar gold
graphite hydropower
iron ore lead
magnesite pyrites
salt tungsten
zinc

Land use :

arable land 22.40 %
permanent crops 1.66 %
other 75.94 %

Irrigated land :

14 600 square km

Natural hazards :

droughts flooding
typhoons

current issues :

water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation 

international agreements :

Antarctic Treaty Biodiversity
Climate Change Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Desertification Environmental Modification
Hazardous Wastes Law of the Sea
Ozone Layer Protection Ship Pollution

Population :

22 665 345 

Indicators :

Growth rate 0.42 %
Birth rate 14.82 births/1,000 population
Total fertility rate 1.96 children born/woman
Death rate 10.52 deaths/1,000 population
Net migration rate -0.09 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Age structure :

0-14 years 21.30 %
15-64 years 69.40 %
65 years and over 9.40 %

Median age :

total 33.50 years
male 32.10 years
female 34.90 years

Sex ratio :

at birth 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over 0.63 male(s)/female
total population 0.95 male(s)/female

Health :

Infant mortality rate 51.34 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth - total population 63.81 years
Life expectancy at birth - male 61.23 years
Life expectancy at birth - female 66.53 years

Languages :

Korean  

Literacy :

total population 99.00 %
male 99.00 %
female 99.00 %

Country name :

conventional long form Democratic People's Republic of Korea
conventional short form North Korea
local long form Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk
local short form Choson

Country Codes :

ISO 3166 KP
ISO Numeric 408
ISO3 PRK
FIPS KN
ccTLD kp
English Korea North

Administrative divisions :

9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 2 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), P'yongan-bukto (North P'yongan), P'yongan-namdo (South P'yongan), Yanggang-do (Yanggang)||municipalities:|Nason-si, P'yongyang-si 

Capital :

name Pyongyang
geographic coordinates 39 01 N, 125 45 E
time difference 9.00

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

Independence :

1945-08-15 

National holiday :

Foundation Day

1948-09-09

Executive branch :

Prime Minister KIM Yong Il

GDP - Gross Domestic product :

PPP - Purchasing Power Parity 41 730 000 000 $
Official Exchange Rate 27 820 000 000
RGR - Real Growth rate 3.70 %
PPP - per capita 1 800 $

GDP Composition by sector :

agriculture 23.30 %
industry 43.10 %
services 33.60 %

Labor force - by occupation :

agriculture 37.00 %
services 63.00 %

Other Indicators :

Labor force 20 000 000 people
Debt external 12 500 000 000 $

Budget :

revenues 2 880 000 000 $
expenditures 2 980 000 000 $

Agriculture - products :

cattle corn
eggs pigs
pork potatoes
pulses rice
soya

Industries :

chemicals copper
electric power food processing
graphite iron ore
lead limestone
machine building magnesite
metallurgy military products
mining precious metals
textiles tourism
zinc

Energy :

Electricity Production 20 900 000 000 kWh
Electricity Consumption 17 490 000 000 kWh
Oil Production 121 bbl/day
Oil Consumption 16 000 bbl/day
Oil Imports 13 890 bbl/day

Value :

2 061 999 999 $

Partners :

China (cn) 42.00 %
South Korea 38.00 %
India (in) 5.00 %

Commodities :

agricultural and fishery products manufactures
metallurgical products minerals
textiles

Value :

3 574 000 000 $

Partners :

China (cn) 57.00 %
South Korea 25.00 %
Russia (ru) 3.00 %
Singapore (sg) 3.00 %

Commodities :

coking coal grain
machinery and equipment petroleum
textiles

Currency-name :

North Korean won 

Communications :

Telephons Main lines in use 1 180 000
FM Radio broadcast stations 14
Television broadcast stations 4
Internet Country code (ccTLD) kp
Internet Hosts 3

Transportation :

Airports with paved runways 37
Heliports 22
Pipelines - oil 154 km
Roadways - total 25 554 km
Roadways - paved 724 km
Roadways - unpaved 24 830 km
Railways 5 235 km
Waterways 2 250 km

Photos

=  
Powered by Google App Engine  | Photos provided by Panoramio Logo are under the copyright of their owners   | 
♦ geognos.com ©®™2010 ♦ Visualizations by Google Visualization API  | Dynamic maps by Google Maps API v3  | Dynamic translations by Google AJAX Language API