Korea, North

Internet country code

.kp

Internet users

NA

Radio broadcast stations

AM 17 (including 11 stations of Korean Central Broadcasting Station), FM 14, shortwave 14 (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

Telephones - main lines in use

980,000 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular

NA

Television broadcast stations

4 (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) (2003)

Agriculture - products

rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs

Budget

revenues: $NA expenditures: $NA

Currency (code)

North Korean won (KPW)

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

Economy - overview

North Korea, one of the world's 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. Despite an increased harvest in 2005 because of more stable weather conditions, fertilizer assistance from South Korea, and an extraordinary mobilization of the population to help with agricultural production, the nation has suffered its 11th 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. In December 2005, the regime confirmed that it intended to carry out earlier threats to terminate all international humanitarian assistance operations in the DPRK (calling instead for developmental assistance only) and to restrict the activities of international and non-governmental aid organizations such as the World Food Program. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations.

Electricity - consumption

17.43 billion kWh (2003)

Electricity - exports

0 kWh (2003)

Electricity - imports

0 kWh (2003)

Electricity - production

18.75 billion kWh (2003)

Exchange rates

official: North Korean won per US dollar - 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), 2.15 (December 2001); market: North Korean won per US dollar - 300-600 (December 2002)

Exports

$1.275 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities

minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, fishery products

Exports - partners

China 45.6%, South Korea 20.2%, Japan 12.9% (2004)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP (official exchange rate)

NA

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 2005 using estimated real growth rates for North Korea's GDP and an inflation factor based on the US GDP deflator; the result was rounded to the nearest $10 billion (2005 est.)

GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 30% industry: 34% services: 36% (2002 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP)

$1,700 (2005 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

1% (2005 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%

Imports

$2.819 billion c.i.f. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities

petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain

Imports - partners

China 32.9%, Thailand 10.7%, Japan 4.8% (2004)

Industrial production growth rate

NA%

Industries

military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

NA%

Labor force

9.6 million

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 36% industry and services: 64%

Natural gas - consumption

0 cu m (2003 est.)

Natural gas - production

0 cu m (2003 est.)

Oil - consumption

25,000 bbl/day (2003)

Oil - exports

NA bbl/day

Oil - imports

22,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - production

0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line

NA%

Unemployment rate

NA%

Area

total: 120,540 sq km land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km

Area - comparative

slightly smaller than Mississippi

Climate

temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer

Coastline

2,495 km

Elevation extremes

lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m

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

Geographic coordinates

40 00 N, 127 00 E

Geography - note

strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated

Irrigated land

14,600 sq km (2003)

Land boundaries

total: 1,673 km border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km

Land use

arable land: 22.4% permanent crops: 1.66% other: 75.94% (2005)

Location

Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea

Map references

Asia

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

Natural hazards

late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall

Natural resources

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

Terrain

mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east

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), P'yongan-bukto (North P'yongan), P'yongan-namdo (South P'yongan), Yanggang-do (Yanggang) municipalites: Kaesong-si (Kaesong), Najin Sonbong-si (Najin), Namp'o-si (Namp'o), P'yongyang-si (Pyongyang)

Capital

name: Pyongyang geographic coordinates: 39 01 N, 125 45 E time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Constitution

adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998

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 abbreviation: DPRK

Diplomatic representation from the US

none; note - Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power

Diplomatic representation in the US

none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York

Executive branch

chief of state: KIM Jong Il (since July 1994); note - on 3 September 2003, rubberstamp Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) reelected KIM Jong Il chairman of the National Defense Commission, a position accorded nation's "highest administrative authority"; SPA reelected KIM Yong Nam president of its Presidium also with responsibility of representing state and receiving diplomatic credentials; SPA appointed PAK Pong Ju premier head of government: Premier PAK Pong Ju (since 3 September 2003); 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 People's 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

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

Government type

Communist state one-man dictatorship

Independence

15 August 1945 (from Japan)

International organization participation

ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO

Judicial branch

Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly)

Legal system

based on German civil law system with Japanese influences and Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral Supreme People's Assembly or Ch'oego 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

National holiday

Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948)

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

Suffrage

17 years of age; universal

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-so'ng, 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 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 while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of 1 million. North Korea's 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." Since August 2003, North Korea has participated in the Six-Party Talks with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the US designed to resolve the stalemate over its nuclear programs. The fourth round of Six-Party Talks were held in Beijing during July-September 2005. All parties agreed to a Joint Statement of Principles in which, among other things, the six parties unanimously reaffirmed the goal of verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner. In the Joint Statement, the DPRK committed to "abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to IAEA safeguards." The Joint Statement also commits the US and other parties to certain actions as the DPRK denuclearizes. The US offered a security assurance, specifying that it had no nuclear weapons on ROK territory and no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or other weapons. The US and DPRK will take steps to normalize relations, subject to the DPRK's implementing its denuclearization pledge and resolving other longstanding concerns. While the Joint Statement provides a vision of the end-point of the Six-Party process, much work lies ahead to implement the elements of the agreement.

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.)

Military branches

North Korean People's Army: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force; civil security forces (2005)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP

NA

Military service age and obligation

17 years of age (2004)

Age structure

0-14 years: 23.8% (male 2,788,944/female 2,708,331) 15-64 years: 68% (male 7,762,442/female 7,955,522) 65 years and over: 8.2% (male 667,792/female 1,229,988) (2006 est.)

Birth rate

15.54 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate

7.13 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Ethnic groups

racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

NA

HIV/AIDS - deaths

NA

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

NA

Infant mortality rate

total: 23.29 deaths/1,000 live births male: 24.97 deaths/1,000 live births female: 21.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Languages

Korean

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 71.65 years male: 68.92 years female: 74.51 years (2006 est.)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99%

Median age

total: 32 years male: 30.7 years female: 33.4 years (2006 est.)

Nationality

noun: Korean(s) adjective: Korean

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Population

23,113,019 (July 2006 est.)

Population growth rate

0.84% (2006 est.)

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

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.54 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.1 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Disputes - international

China seeks to stem illegal migration of tens of thousands of North Koreans escaping famine, economic privation, and political oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers and a section of boundary around Paektu-san (mountain) is indefinite; Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic maritime disputes with South over the Northern Limit Line; North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima)

Illicit drugs

for years, from the 1970s into the 2000s, citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea (DPRK), many of them diplomatic employees of the government, were apprehended abroad while trafficking in narcotics, including two in Turkey in December 2004; police investigations in Taiwan and Japan in recent years have linked North Korea to large illicit shipments of heroin and methamphetamine, including an attempt by the North Korean merchant ship Pong Su to deliver 150 kg of heroin to Australia in April 2003

Refugees and internally displaced persons

IDPs: 50,000-250,000 (government repression and famine) (2005)

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 Korea's 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

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)

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)

Pipelines

oil 154 km (2006)

Ports and terminals

Ch'ongjin, Haeju, Hungnam (Hamhung), Kimch'aek, Kosong, Najin, Namp'o, Sinuiju, Songnim, Sonbong (formerly Unggi), Ungsang, Wonsan

Railways

total: 5,214 km standard gauge: 5,214 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2005)

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) (2006)