apan, Russia, South Korea, and the
US have participated in the Six-Party Talks aimed at resolving the
stalemate over the DPRK's nuclear programs. North Korea pulled out
of the talks in November 2005. It test-fired ballistic missiles in
July 2006 and conducted a nuclear test in October 2006. North Korea
returned to the Six-Party Talks in December 2006 and subsequently
signed two agreements on denuclearization. The 13 February 2007
Initial Actions Agreement shut down the North's nuclear facilities
at Yongbyon in July 2007. In the 3 October 2007 Second Phase Actions
Agreement, Pyongyang pledged to disable those facilities and provide
a correct and complete declaration of its nuclear programs. Under
the supervision of US nuclear experts, North Korean personnel
completed a number of agreed-upon disablement actions at the three
core facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex by the end of 2007.
North Korea also began the discharge of spent fuel rods in December
2007, but it did not provide a declaration of its nuclear programs
by the end of the year.

Geography
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)

Total renewable water resources:

77.1 cu km (1999)

Freshwater