Country Facts - North Korea

The People

Nationality

Korean(s)

Ethnic Composition

Korean is the main ethnic group. For the most part, North Korea is racially homogenous.

Religious Composition

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.

Languages Spoken

Korean is the official language of government and business in North Korea.

Education and Literacy

North Korea's overall adult literacy is around 99 percent. Among both males and females it is 99 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 9.6 million

By occupation:

Agricultural	36%
Nonagricultural	64%

Geography

Land Mass Total

46,540 sq mi (120,540 sq km)

Land

46,490 sq mi (120,410 sq km)

Water

50 sq mi (130 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 1,039 mi (1,673 km)
Border countries: China 879 mi (1,416 km), South Korea 147 mi (238 km), Russia 11 mi (19 km)

Coastline

1,550 mi (2,495 km)

Maritime claim

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/Weather

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: Sea of Japan (0 m)
Highest: Paektu-san 9,002 ft (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	3%
Other	83%

(1998)

Natural hazards

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

Environment - current issues

Water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; water-borne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation .

Geography Note

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

Demographics

Population

22,224,195 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	25.4%	male 2,888,478	female 2,747,133
15-64 years:	67.4%	male 7,380,183	female 7,612,275
65 years and over:	7.2%	male 527,256	female 1,068,870

(2002)

Growth Rate

1.1% (2002)

Life Expectancy

71.3 years (2002)
female: 74.44 years
male: 68.31 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$1,000 (2001)

Infant Mortality

22.8 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.49 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.95 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

North Korea, one of the world's last centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and spare parts shortages. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. Despite a good harvest in 2001, the nation faced its eighth year of food shortages because of a lack of arable land; collective farming; weather-related problems, including major drought in 2000; and chronic shortages of fertilizer and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the regime to escape mass starvation since 1996, but the population remains vulnerable to prolonged malnutrition and deteriorating living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In 2001, the regime placed emphasis on earning hard currency, developing information technology, addressing power shortages, and attracting foreign aid, but in no way at the expense of relinquishing central control over key national assets or undergoing widespread market-oriented reforms. In February 2003, the government reopened a nuclear power plant that had been shut down years earlier as part of an international agreement. Ostensibly, Pyongyang was reopening the site to compensate for energy shortfalls, but most observers believe the move was made to extract further economic concessions from the West. Although North Korea does not publish its commercial statistics, analysts foresee poverty in this nation's future for some time to come.

Unemployment

N/A

Inflation Rate

N/A

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.

Exports

US$708 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports

US$1.686 billion (c.i.f., 2000)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$21.8 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Japan 40%, South Korea 24%, Hong Kong 7%, China 6%, France 4%, Germany 4% (2000)

Top Import Partners

China 38%, Japan 17%, South Korea 8%, Hong Kong 6%, Germany 4.5% (2000)

Top Exports

Minerals, metallurgical products, agricultural and fishery products, manufactures (including armaments).

Top Imports

Petroleum, grain, coking coal, machinery and equipment, consumer goods.

Debt - external

US$12 billion (1996)

Economic aid

N/A
Note: An estimated $200 to $300 million in humanitarian aid from the United States, South Korea, Japan, and the European Union in 1997 plus much additional aid from the U.N. and nongovernmental organizations.

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	Saturday through Thursday 8a.m. to 2p.m.	Closed
Retail	Saturday through Thursday 8a.m. to 12:30p.m. and again from 4:30p.m. to 7p.m.	Closed
Banks	Saturday through Thursday 8a.m. to 11a.m.	Closed
Government	Saturday through Thursday 8a.m. to 2p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Kim Jong Il's Birthday	February 16	February 16	February 16
Kim Il Sung's Birthday	April 15	April 15	April 15
Anniversary of the Foundation of the People's Army	April 25	April 25	April 25
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Victory Day (Korean War Armistice)	July 27	July 27	July 27
Liberation Day	August 15	August 15	August 15
DPRK Foundation Day	September 9	September 9	September 9
Anniversary of the Foundation of the Korean Workers' Party	October 10	October 10	October 10
Constitution Day	December 27	December 27	December 27

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press