e area: 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
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

International disputes: short section of boundary with China is
indefinite; Demarcation Line with South Korea

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
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: 18%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 0%
forest and woodland: 74%
other: 7%

Irrigated land: 14,000 sq km (1989)

Environment:
current issues: localized air pollution attributable to inadequate
industrial controls; water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable
water
natural hazards: late spring droughts often followed by severe
flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall
international agreements: party to - Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ship Pollution; signed,
but not ratified - Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the Sea,
Ozone Layer Protection

Geographic note: strategic location bordering China, South Korea,
and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated, nearly inaccessible,
and sparsely populated

People
------

Population: 23,904,124 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 30% (male 3,605,972; female 3,465,038)
15-64 years: 66% (male 7,871,783; female 7,956,935)
65 years and over: 4% (male 355,284; female 649,112) (July 1996 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.74% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 22.86 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 5.45 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.55 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.98 male(s)/female (199