litary force is maintained

Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP

________________________________________________________________________

KOREA, NORTH

@Korea, North:Geography

Location: Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean peninsula
bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and Russia

Map references: Asia

Area:
total area: 120,540 sq km
land area: 120,410 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Mississippi

Land boundaries: total 1,673 km, China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km,
Russia 19 km

Coastline: 2,495 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
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

International 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: 0%
forest and woodland: 74%
other: 7%

Irrigated land: 14,000 sq km (1989)

Environment:
current issues: localized air pollution attributable to inadequate
industrial controls; water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable
water
natural hazards: late spring droughts often followed by severe
flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall
international agreements: party to - Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified - Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Law of the Sea

Note: strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia;
mountainous interior is isolated, nearly inaccessible, and sparsely
populated

@Korea, North:People

Population: 23,486,550 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 30% (female 3,402,672; male 3,540,313)
15-64 years: 66% (female 7,840,465; male 7,741,155)
65 years and over: 4% (female 622,250; male 339,695) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.78% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 23.31 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death