North Korea:
Geography

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Other pages in this profile of North Korea:
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.


Background	Definition 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 Sung, 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 approximately 1 million. North Korea's history of regional military provocations, proliferation of military-related items, and 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." Beginning in August 2003, North Korea, China, Japan, 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.

Location	Definition Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea
Geographic coordinates	Definition 40 00 N, 127 00 E
Map references	Definition Asia
Area	Definition - World rank and map total: 120,540 sq km land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km
Area - comparative	Definition slightly smaller than Mississippi
Land boundaries	Definition total: 1,673 km border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km
Coastline	Definition 2,495 km
Maritime claims	Definition 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	Definition temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer
Terrain	Definition mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east
Elevation extremes	Definition lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m
Natural resources	Definition coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower
Land use	Definition - World rank and map arable land: 22.4% permanent crops: 1.66% other: 75.94% (2005)
Irrigated land	Definition 14,600 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	Definition 77.1 cu km (1999)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	Definition total: 9.02 cu km/yr (20%/25%/55%) per capita: 401 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	Definition late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall
Environment - current issues	Definition water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation
Environment - international agreements	Definition party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
Geography - note	Definition strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated

North Korea: Geography

North Korea:
Geography