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KOREA, NORTH

@Korea, North:Geography

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
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: 14%
permanent crops: 2%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 61%
other: 23% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 14,600 sq km (1993 est.)

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

Environment-current issues: localized air pollution attributable to
inadequate industrial controls; water pollution; inadequate supplies
of potable water

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the
Sea

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

@Korea, North:People

Population: 21,234,387 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 26% (male 2,800,857; female 2,669,250)
15-64 years: 68% (male 7,089,039; female 7,406,901)
65 years and over: 6% (male 387,011; female 881,329) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.03% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 15.3 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 15.57 deaths/1,000 population (199