Breaking World News >>

North Korea

The official name of North Korea is Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The state is located on the northern part of Korean Peninsula and in East Asia. North Korea is separated from South Korea by the Korean Demilitarized Zone to the south. The Amnok River borders china to the north. Sea of Japan borders the east part and the Korea bay and Yellow Sea border the west part of North Korea. The capital city of North Korea is Pyongyang, which is geographically located at 39 01 N, 125 45 E.


HISTORY:- Korea’s earliest civilization was Choson by Tan-gun in 2333 B.C. After Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, Korea came in contact with the world. Japanese victory over China resulted independence of Korea. In 1910, Korea was occupied by Japan. Japan surrendered after World War II. As a consequence Korea was partitioned into North Korea and South Korea. North Korea came under control of USSR, while South Korea came under US occupation. North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic was set up on 1st May, 1948.  Kim Il Sung became the President. Korean War was the result of north-south disagreement. North Korean People's Army crossed 38th parallel for re-unification. But on 27th July, 1953, Korean War Armistice Agreement had been signed to separate North and South Korea with the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

 

GEOGRAPHY:- Geographically North Korea is located at 40 00 N, 127 00 E. North Korea is spanned through 120,540 sq km, in which land portion is spanned through 120,410 sq km and water is spanned through 130 sq km. The coastline is 2,495 km long along with the the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan. North Korea’s lowest point is lowest point is Sea of Japan (0 m) and highest point is Paektu san (2,744 m). 80% of the land is covered with mountains disjoined by deep or narrow valleys and fecund plains. The coastal area is formed of low plain land. North Korea experienced two fetal floods in 1995 and 1996.

 

CLIMATE:- Climate of North Korea is temperate all over with cold, dry, prolonged winters and hot, humid, rainy short lived summers.

 

GOVERNMENT:- The country is Juche Socialist Republic. It is a highly centralized communist state. The constitution has been adopted in 1948, and revised on 27th  December, 1972, and re-revised in April 1992, and September 1998. The branches of the government are:

1. Executive:-Executive branch comprises the chief of state, head of government.

2. Legislative:- Legislative branch comprises Supreme People's Assembly(687 seats).

3. Judicial:- Judicial branch comprises the Central Court; and other small courts.

North Korea is a single-party state.Korean Workers' Party (communist) is the most prominent political party. Other small political parties are the North Korean Social Democratic Party and the Chondoist Chongu Party. Voting rights are universal above 17.

Eternal President of the Republic   Kim Il-sung(deceased)

Chairman of the National Defence Commission Kim Jong-il

President of the Supreme People's Assembly  Kim Yong-nam

Premier      Kim Yong-il

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS:- North Korea comprises nine provinces, three special regions(Kaesŏng Industrial Region, Kumgangsan Tourist Region, Sinuiju Special Administrative Region), and two directly-governed cities (Pyongyang, Rason).

 

CULTURE:- Korean culture is mostly dominated by the government. Mass Games are most popular activities in North Korea. Dance, gymnastic acts are performed by more than 100,000 performers in the Mass Games. Mass Games are organized in Pyongyang at different venues. The Complex of Goguryeo Tombs are declared as first Korean UNESCO  World Heritage Sites in 2004.

 

ECONOMY:- North Korean economy is one of the world's most prominent government directed and least open economies. During 1960s North Korea’s economy has grown as second most industrialized nation in Asia. As North Korea does not publish any reliable National Income Accounts data, the datum available here is derived from (PPP) GDP estimates for North Korea, done by Angus Maddison in a study conducted for OECD.

GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $40 billion

Real growth rate: -1.1%.

Inflation: n.a.

Unemployment: n.a.

Arable land: 22.4% (2005).

Agriculture: rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs.

Labor force: 9.6 million; agricultural 36%, nonagricultural 64%.

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.

Natural resources: coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower.

Exports: $1.466 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, fishery products.

Imports: $2.879 billion c.i.f. (2006 est.): petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment; textiles, grain.

Major trading partners: China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand (2004)

Budget:  

Revenues: $2.88 billion $NA

Expenditures: $2.98 billion $NA

Monetary unit: North Korean won

 

LANGUAGE:- The official language is Korean.

 

CITIES:- The capital and largest city is Pyongyang. Other large cities are Hamhung, Chongjin, Wonsan, Nampo, and Kaesong.

 

POPULATION:- North Korean population is 23,301,725 with a growth rate of 0.8%.

Literacy rate: 99% (1990 est.)

Density per sq mi: 501

 

RACE:-  Korean people is racially homogeneous with small ethnic Chinese and Japanese people.

 

RELIGION:-

Buddhism (1.5%)

Atheist (71.2%)

Korean Shamanism (12.3%)

Cheondoism (12.9%)

Christian (2.1%)

 

HEALTH:- 

Birth rate : 14.61 births / 1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate : 7.29 deaths / 1,000 population (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate:total : 21.86 deaths / 1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth : total population : 72.2 years 

HIV/ AIDS - deaths: NA

 

UNICEF:- North Korea is facing problems like chronic malnutrition and underweight amongst children. In addition to these, essential medicines, textbooks and other school materials are also lacking in North Korea. UNICEF vaccination programmes have saved more than 90% children from tuberculosis, polio, measles and hepatitis B, and 80% children from tetanus, pertussis and diphtheria. Two million under 5 children have received vitamin A supplements. UNICEF has provided minerals and vitamins to 300000 pregnant and lactating women. UNICEF has distributed school books and other materials to more than a million children.

 

TRANSPORTATION:-

Railways: total: 5,235 km (2006).

Highways: total: 25,554 km; paved: 724 km; unpaved: 24,830 km (2006).

Waterways: 2,253 km.

Ports and harbors: Ch'ongjin, Haeju, Hungnam (Hamhung), Kimch'aek, Kosong, Najin, Namp'o, Sinuiju, Songnim, Sonbong (formerly Unggi), Ungsang, Wonsan.

Airports: 77 (2007).

 
COUNTRIES    US STATES    US CITIES    CLASSIFIEDS    EVENTS    YELLOW PAGES    MAJOR CITIES    CATEGORY SITES     AVOO SEARCH     WORLD NEWS    POLLS