V;
1 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT earth station

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: no military force maintained; the Police Force carries
out law enforcement functions and paramilitary duties; there are small
police posts on all islands

_#_Manpower availability: NA

_#_Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP
_%_
_@_Korea, North
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 120,540 km2; land area: 120,410 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly smaller than Mississippi

_#_Land boundaries: 1,671 km total; China 1,416 km, South Korea 238
km, USSR 17 km

_#_Coastline: 2,495 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm;

Military boundary line: 50 nm in the Sea of Japan and the
exclusive economic zone limit in the Yellow Sea (all foreign vessels and
aircraft without permission are banned)

_#_Disputes: short section of boundary with China is indefinite;
Demarcation Line with South Korea

_#_Climate: temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer

_#_Terrain: mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow
valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east

_#_Natural resources: coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite,
iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower

_#_Land use: arable land 18%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures
NEGL%; forest and woodland 74%; other 7%; includes irrigated 9%

_#_Environment: mountainous interior is isolated, nearly inaccessible,
and sparsely populated; late spring droughts often followed by severe
flooding

_#_Note: strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and USSR

_*_People
_#_Population: 21,814,656 (July 1991), growth rate 1.9% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 24 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 30 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 72 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 2.5 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Korean(s); adjective--Korean

_#_Ethnic divisions: racially homogeneous

_#_Religion: Buddhism and Confucianism; religious activities now
almost nonexistent

_#_Language: Korean

_#_Literacy: NA% (male NA%, female NA%)

_#_Labor force: 9,615,000; agricultural 36%, nonagricultural 64%;
shortage of skilled and unskilled labor (mid-1987 est.)

_#_