North Korea

highest point:

Paektu-san 2,744 m

lowest point:

Sea of Japan 0 m

mean elevation:

600 m

• population concentrated in the plains and lowlands;
• least populated regions are the mountainous provinces adjacent to the Chinese border;
• largest concentrations are in the western provinces, particularly the municipal district of Pyongyang, and around Hungnam and Wonsan in the east

noun:

Korean(s)

adjective:

Korean

total:

35.6 years (2023 est.)

male:

34.2 years

female:

37.1 years

• population concentrated in the plains and lowlands;
• least populated regions are the mountainous provinces adjacent to the Chinese border;
• largest concentrations are in the western provinces, particularly the municipal district of Pyongyang, and around Hungnam and Wonsan in the east

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.56 male(s)/female

total population:

0.95 male(s)/female (2023 est.)

total:

16.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)

male:

17.9 deaths/1,000 live births

female:

14.5 deaths/1,000 live births

total population:

72.9 years (2023 est.)

male:

69.5 years

female:

76.5 years

total:

3.61 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

beer:

0.12 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

wine:

0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

spirits:

3.48 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

other alcohols:

0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

total:

17.4% (2020 est.)

male:

34.8% (2020 est.)

female:

0% (2020 est.)

• water pollution;
• inadequate supplies of potable water;
• waterborne disease;
• deforestation;
• soil erosion and degradation

party to:

Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Law of the Sea

urban population:

63.2% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization:

0.85% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

particulate matter emissions:

41.46 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions:

28.28 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions:

18.68 megatons (2020 est.)

municipal:

900 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial:

1.15 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural:

6.61 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

conventional long form:

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

conventional short form:

North Korea

local long form:

Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk

local short form:

Choson

abbreviation:

DPRK

etymology:

• derived from the Chinese name for Goryeo, which was the Korean dynasty that united the peninsula in the 10th century A.D.;
• the North Korean name "Choson" means "[Land of the] Morning Calm"

name:

Pyongyang

geographic coordinates:

39 01 N, 125 45 E

time difference:

UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

time zone note:

on 5 May 2018, North Korea reverted to UTC+9, the same time zone as South Korea

etymology:

the name translates as "flat land" in Korean

history:

previous 1948, 1972; latest adopted 1998 (during KIM Jong-il era)

amendments:

• proposed by the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA);
• passage requires more than two-thirds majority vote of the total SPA membership;
• revised several times, last in 2019

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of North Korea

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

unknown

description:

• unicameral Supreme People's Assembly or Ch'oego Inmin Hoeui (687 seats; members directly elected by majority vote in 2 rounds if needed to serve 5-year terms);
• note - functions as a rubberstamp legislature;
• the Korean Workers' Party selects all candidates

elections:

last held on 10 March 2019 (next to be held in March 2024)

election results:

• percent of vote by party - NA;
• seats by party - KWP 607, KSDP 50, Chondoist Chongu Party 22, General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) 5, religious associations 3;
• ruling party approves a list of candidates who are elected without opposition;
• composition as of March 2022 - men 566, women 121, percent of women 17.6%

note: KWP, KSDP, Chondoist Chongu Party, and Chongryon are under the KWP's control; a token number of seats reserved for minor parties

highest court(s):

Supreme Court or Central Court (consists of one judge and 2 "People's Assessors" or, for some cases, 3 judges)

judge selection and term of office:

judges elected by the Supreme People's Assembly for 5-year terms

subordinate courts:

lower provincial courts as determined by the Supreme People's Assembly

major parties:

Korean Workers' Party or KWP (formally known as Workers' Party of Korea) [KIM Jong Un, general secretary]; General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) [HO Chong Man]

minor parties:

Chondoist Chongu Party [RI Myong Chol] (under KWP control); Social Democratic Party or KSDP [PAK Yong Il] (under KWP control)

• three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue;
• the red band is edged in white;
• on the hoist side of the red band is a white disk with a red five-pointed star;
• the broad red band symbolizes revolutionary traditions;
• the narrow white bands stand for purity, strength, and dignity;
• the blue bands signify sovereignty, peace, and friendship;
• the red star represents socialism

name:

"Aegukka" (Patriotic Song)

lyrics/music:

PAK Se Yong/KIM Won Gyun

note: adopted 1947; both North Korea's and South Korea's anthems share the same name and have a vaguely similar melody but have different lyrics; the North Korean anthem is also known as "Ach'imun pinnara" (Let Morning Shine)

total World Heritage Sites:

2 (both cultural)

selected World Heritage Site locales:

Koguryo Tombs Complex; Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong

• one of the last centrally planned economies;
• hard hit by COVID-19, crop failures, international sanctions, and isolationist policies;
• declining growth and trade, and heavily reliant on China;
• poor exchange rate stability;
• economic data integrity issues

• military products;
• machine building, electric power, chemicals;
• mining (coal, iron ore, limestone, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy;
• textiles, food processing;
• tourism

total:

6.1% (2021 est.)

male:

5.4%

female:

6.9%

lowest 10%:

NA

highest 10%:

NA

production:

16.376 million metric tons (2020 est.)

consumption:

6.698 million metric tons (2020 est.)

exports:

0 metric tons (2020 est.)

imports:

22,000 metric tons (2020 est.)

proven reserves:

600 million metric tons (2019 est.)

total petroleum production:

0 bbl/day (2021 est.)

refined petroleum consumption:

20,300 bbl/day (2019 est.)

crude oil and lease condensate exports:

0 bbl/day (2018 est.)

crude oil and lease condensate imports:

10,600 bbl/day (2018 est.)

crude oil estimated reserves:

0 barrels (2021 est.)

production:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

consumption:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

exports:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

imports:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

proven reserves:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

general assessment:

• despite years of isolationism, economic under-achievement, and international sanctions, North Korea has improved its telecommunications infrastructure in the last decade;
• Inconsistent electric power supply and likely difficulties procuring new hardware, however, present enduring obstacles to building reliable high-speed telecom networks;
• mobile phone use is estimated to have increased to nearly 25% of the polulation as of 2018, yet the high cost of ownership makes mobile communications inaccessible to North Koreans of lower socioeconomic status;
• strict regime censorship and monitoring of telecom systems in North Korea restricts users from legally contacting anyone outside the country or accessing the global Internet;
• for those citizens living close to China, it has been possible to illegally obtain Chinese handsets and SIM cards, and to connect to towers located just across the border;
• while this offers access to the outside world and at much lower prices than the state-controlled offerings, the risks are high including steep fines and the possibility of jail time;
• North Korea has been effective in building an IT sector and a nascent digital economy on the back of a concerted effort to grow a sizeable, well-trained IT workforce;
• but even here, its capabilities have been directed more towards nefarious activities such as cyber crime and hacking into foreign countries’ computer and financial systems;
• North Korea’s determination to maintain ideological control of its populace by isolating itself from the rest of the world will probably lead to tighter controls on communications inside and outside of the country (2023)

domestic:

fixed-lines are approximately 5 per 100 and mobile-cellular 23 per 100 persons (2021)

international:

• country code - 850;
• satellite earth stations - 2 (1 Intelsat - Indian Ocean, 1 Russian - Indian Ocean region);
• other international connections through Moscow and Beijing

• no independent media;
• radios and TVs are pre-tuned to government stations;
• 4 government-owned TV stations;
• the Korean Workers' Party owns and operates the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, and the state-run Voice of Korea operates an external broadcast service;
• the government prohibits listening to and jams foreign broadcasts (2019)

number of registered air carriers:

1 (2020); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 4

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

103,560 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

250,000 (2018) mt-km

total:

7,435 km (2014)

standard gauge:

7,435 km (2014) 1.435-m gauge (5,400 km electrified)

note: figures are approximate; some narrow-gauge railway also exists

total:

25,554 km (2006)

paved:

724 km (2006)

unpaved:

24,830 km (2006)

• between 2010 and 2019, military expenditures accounted for an estimated 20-25% of North Korea's GDP annually;
• in 2023, North Korea announced that it would spend nearly 16% of state expenditures on defense;
• North Korea in the 2010s and 2020s has increasingly relied on illicit activities — including cybercrime — to generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs to evade US and UN sanctions

• information varies;
• estimated 1-1.2 million active-duty troops;
• estimated 200,000 internal security forces (2023)

• National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA; established 2013);
• predecessor organization, Korean Committee of Space Technology (KCST; established 1980s);
• State Space Development Bureau;
• Academy of Defense Science;
• Ministry of People’s Armed Forces (2023)

• Sohae Satellite Launching Station (aka Tongch'ang-dong Space Launch Center; North Pyongan province);
• Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground (North Hamgyong province) (2023)

• North Korea’s leader has emphasized the development of space capabilities, particularly space launch vehicles (SLVs) and remote sensing (RS) satellites;
• manufactures small satellites;
• manufactures and launches rockets/SLVs;
• note – the SLV program is closely related to North Korea’s development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (2023)

note: further details about the key activities, programs, and milestones of the country’s space program, as well as government spending estimates on the space sector, appear in Appendix S

North Korea-China :

• risking arrest, imprisonment, and deportation, tens of thousands of North Koreans have crossed the 1,400-km-long border into China to escape famine, economic privation, and political oppression;
• the adjacent areas of northeastern China (the provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning) includes a significant Korean minority population of an estimated 2 million people;
• in the 2020s, North Korea has built hundreds of kilometers of new or upgraded border fences, walls, and guard posts along the border;
• North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen Rivers

North Korea-Japan :

North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima)

North Korea-Russia:

• Russian troops guard the border and immediately return escapees they capture to the North Korean Government;
• in the 2020s, North Korea has built new or upgraded border fences and guard posts along the border

North Korea-South Korea :

• the Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km-wide, 257-km-long Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) has separated North from South Korea since 1953;
• periodic incidents in the Yellow Sea with South Korea which claims the Northern Limit Line as a maritime boundary

tier rating:

• Tier 3 — the government of North Korea does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so;
• the government did not demonstrate any efforts to address human trafficking;
• during this reporting period there was a government policy or pattern of human trafficking in prison camps, in labor training centers, in massed mobilizations of adults and children, and through forced labor by North Korean overseas workers;
• proceeds from state-sponsored forced labor funded government functions and illicit activities (2022)

trafficking profile:

• human traffickers—including government officials—exploit North Koreans at home and abroad;
• women and children are exploited in sex trafficking within North Korea;
• forced labor is part of an established system of political repression and a pillar of the economic system;
• children in prison camps are subject to forced labor for up to 12 hours per day;
• officials forcibly mobilize adults and school children to work in factories, agriculture, logging, mining, infrastructure work, information technology, and construction sectors;
• North Koreans sent to work abroad, including through bilateral agreements with foreign businesses or governments, face forced labor conditions;
• NGOs report overseas workers are managed as a matter of state policy;
• the government often appropriates and deposits worker salaries into government-controlled accounts;
• in 2017, the UN Security Council prohibited members from issuing or renewing work authorizations for North Koreans and, with limited exceptions, required repatriation;
• nonetheless, an estimated 20,000-100,000 North Koreans are working in China, primarily in restaurants and factories;
• North Korean women and girls lured by promises of jobs in China are forced into prostitution, marriage, or exploitative labor arrangements;
• many North Koreans continue to work or enter Russia, and some workers are reportedly working in African, Middle Eastern, an Southeast Asian countries (2022)

• at present there is insufficient information to determine the current level of involvement of government officials in the production or trafficking of illicit drugs, but for years, from the 1970s into the 2000s, citizens of North Korea , many of them diplomatic employees of the government, were apprehended abroad while trafficking in narcotics;
• police investigations in Taiwan, Japan and Australia during that period have linked North Korea to large illicit shipments of heroin and methamphetamine