World Atlas: Korea, North

Information about Korea, North

Here you can find online selected information about the geography, inhabitants, government, economy and history of Korea, North. Included are selected statistics, an overview map and the detailed map of Korea, North. But let's start with the flag of Korea, North here:

Korea, North - Overview:

What you should know about Korea, North? Let's start with this: 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 Il Sung's son, 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. KIM Jong Un was publicly unveiled as his father's successor in 2010. Following KIM Jong Il's death in 2011, KIM Jong Un quickly assumed power and has now taken on most of his father's former titles and duties. After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has faced chronic food shortages. In recent years, the North’s domestic agricultural production has increased, but still falls far short of producing sufficient food to provide for its entire population. The DPRK began to ease restrictions to allow semi-private markets, starting in 2002, but has made few other efforts to meet its goal of improving the overall standard of living. 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, 2009, 2013, 2016, and 2017; and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community and have limited the DPRK’s international engagement, particularly economically. The regime abides by a policy calling for the simultaneous development of its nuclear weapons program and its economy.

Geography of Korea, North

Where on the globe is Korea, North? The location of this country is Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea. Total area of Korea, North is 120,538 sq km, of which 120,408 sq km is land. So this is not a large country. How could we describe the terrain of the country? This way: mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; wide coastal plains in west, discontinuous in east. The lowest point of Korea, North is Sea of Japan 0 m, the highest point Paektu-san 2,744 m. And the climate is temperate, with rainfall concentrated in summer; long, bitter winters.

Inhabitants of Korea, North

Let's take a look how many people live in Korea, North. The number is: 25,248,140 (July 2017 est.). So quite a lot people live here. Who lives here? racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese. What are the languages in Korea, North? Korean. And the religions: traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way). How old are the people in average? 34 years. We have to add that this number is the median - so one half of the people is older than this, one half is younger. And what is their life expectancy (at birth)? This: 70.7 years. Where the people live in Korea, North? Here: population concentrated in the plains and lowlands; least populated regions are the mountainous provinces adjacent to the Chinese border; largest concentrations are in the western provinces, particularly the municipal district of Pyongyang, and around Hungnam and Wonsan in the east. The major urban areas of Korea, North are: Pyongyang (capital) 2.863 million (2015).

Government and Economy of Korea, North

The capital of Korea, North is Pyongyang and the government type single-party state; official state ideology of "Juche" or "national self-reliance. Let's take a look at the administrative divisions - 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 2 cities (si, singular and plural). Regarding the economy of Korea, North, important industrial products are 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. Important agricultural products are rice, corn, potatoes, wheat, soybeans, pulses, beef, pork, eggs. The most important export commodities are minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products and the most important export partners are China 85.6% (2016). The most important import commodities are petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain and the most important import partners are China 90.3% (2016). How rich is Korea, North and how rich are people in this country? The most important number here is GDP per capita (PPP): $1,700 (2015 est.). This is a very low number. Let's add that this means Gross Domestic Product per person, which is recalculated with respect to the relative cost of local goods and services. And one more important number - population below poverty line: NA%.

Map of Korea, North