+850 is the dialing code for North Korea.
North Korea is the world’s most closed country, a dictatorship ruled by Kim Jong-Un, son of the quirky Kim Jong-Il. Society is militarized and people are strictly monitored. North Korea has nuclear weapons and has long been implicated in a bitter conflict with the US and South Korea. Economic collapse has led to starvation and desperation. All opposition has been crushed with labor camps and executions.
- Abbreviationfinder: Brief profiles of North Korea, including geography, history, politics, economics as well as common acronyms about this country.
Geography and climate
North Korea encompasses just over half of the Korean peninsula. To the surface, the country corresponds to about a quarter of Sweden. Along the 25-mile border to South Korea in the south, a buffer zone is barely half a mile wide. The demilitarized zone is, despite the name, one of the world’s most militarized areas.
In the north, the rivers Yalu (or Amnok) and Tumen together form a natural border with China. Both rivers flow into the region around Paektu, a extinguished volcano that is the country’s highest mountain. Yalu flows west and opens into the Yellow Sea. The Tumen flows east and forms a short boundary also towards Russia in the northeast, before the river flows into the Japanese sea.
Four-fifths of North Korea’s surface consists of mountain ranges and forested plateaus. In the west, low-lying plateaus and plains dominate.
North Korea has a temperate climate, which is influenced by monsoon winds. The summers are hot and rainy as the monsoon blows in from the southeast. Just over half of all precipitation falls between June and August. Winters are cold. Snow is abundant in the mountains but sparsely in the lowlands.
Country Facts
Geography
Cultivated land | 21.8 % |
Land area | 120538 km 2 |
Population and health
Population development | 0.53 ‰ |
Urban population (Urbanization) | 60.9 % |
Death rate | 9.21 per 1000 residents |
Life expectancy: Women | 74.16 years |
Life expectancy: Men | 66.26 years |
Birth rate | 14.52 births per 1000 residents |
HDI index | |
Population | 24983205 |
Infant mortality | 23.68 deaths / 1000 births |
Population Graph Source: Countryaah.com
Energy
Electricity, production | 18760 million kWh |
Energy consumption per resident | 568.7 kg. oil per resident |
Natural gas, production | million cubic meters |
Crude oil, production | million tons |
Infrastructure
Internet users | per 100 residents |
Mobile subscriptions | 11 per 100 residents |
Passenger cars | per 1000 residents |
Business and economics
Unemployment | 25.6% of the workforce |
GDP | 1800 per resident |
Primary occupations | 27 % |
Secondary profession | 18 % |
Tertiary professions | 55 % |
FACTS – GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Surface
120 538 km2 (2018)
Time
Swedish + 8 hours
Adjacent country (s)
South Korea, China, Russia
Capital with number of residents
Pyongyang 3,200,000
Other major cities
Hamhung 768,000, Nampo 367,000, Wonsan 363,000, Sinuiju 359,000 (Census 2008)
Highest mountain
Paektu (2744 m asl)
Important rivers
Yalu, Tumen, Taedong
Average Precipitation / year
Pyongyang 930 mm
Average / day
Pyongyang 24 °C (Aug), -6 °C (Jan)
2011
December
Kim Yong Un new leader
Kim Yong Il dies in the middle of the month. His son Kim Yong Un is named “the great successor” on December 29.
July
Meeting of Foreign Ministers
South Korea and North Korea’s foreign ministers meet for the first time in three years.
February
Kin Yong Un to another top post
Kim Yong Un is appointed to another high position, now in the National Defense Commission.