Country Profile

Background Information

Japan occupied Korea in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War; five years later it formally annexed the entire peninsula. Following World War II, Korea was split, with the northern half coming under Communist domination and the southern portion becoming Western-oriented. Kim Jong-Il has ruled North Korea since his father and the country's founder, president KIM Il-song, died in 1994. After decades of mismanagement, the North relies heavily on international food aid to feed its population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of about 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development and research into nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community. In December 2002, North Korea repudiated a 1994 agreement that shut down its nuclear reactors and expelled UN monitors, further raising fears it would produce nuclear weapons.

Geography

Area:

total: 120,540 sq km, 

land: 120,410 sq km
water: 130 sq km

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

Natural Hazards:

late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall

People

Population: 22,697,553

Birth Rate: 16.77 births/1,000 population

Death Rate: 6.99 deaths/1,000 population

Life Expectancy at Birth: 

total population: 71.08 years
male: 68.38 years
female: 73.92 years

Religions: 

traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)
note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom

Government

Government Type: Communist state one-man dictatorship (Kim Jong-Il)

Capital: Pyongyang

Administrative Divisions:

9 provinces and 4 municipalities: Chagang-do (Chagang Province), Hamgyong-bukto (North Hamgyong Province), Hamgyong-namdo (South Hamgyong Province), Hwanghae-bukto (North Hwanghae Province), Hwanghae-namdo (South Hwanghae Province), Kangwon-do (Kangwon Province), P'yongan-bukto (North P'yongan Province), P'yongan-namdo (South P'yongan Province), Yanggang-do (Yanggang Province)
: municipalites: Kaesong-si (Kaesong City), Najin Sonbong-si, Namp'o-si (Namp'o City), P'yongyang-si (Pyongyang City)

Independence: 15 August 1945 (from Japan)

Constitution: adopted 1948, completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992 and September 1998

Economy

GDP: purchasing power parity - $29.58 billion (2003 est.)

GDP Per Capita - purchasing power parity - $1,300 (2003 est.)

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

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

Currency: North Korean won (KPW)

Military

Military Branches: Korean People's Army (includes Army, Navy, Air Force), Civil Security Forces

Military Manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 3,694,855 (2004 est.)

Military Expenditures- dollar figure: $5,217.4 million

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kn.html

Timeline of Major Events in Recent History:

1945 - After World War II, Japanese occupation of Korea ends with Soviet troops occupying the north, and US troops the south.

1946 - North Korea's Communist Party (Korean Workers' Party - KWP) inaugurated. Soviet-backed leadership installed, including Red Army-trained Kim Il-sung.

1948 - Democratic People's Republic of Korea proclaimed. Soviet troops withdraw.  

1950 - South declares independence, sparking North Korean invasion.

1953 - Armistice ends Korean War, which has cost two million lives.

1960s - Heavy industrial growth.

1968 - US intelligence-gathering vessel seized by North Korean gunboats.

1972 - After secret North-South talks, both sides seek to develop dialogue aimed at unification.

1980 - Kim Il-sung's son, Kim Jong-il, moves up party and political ladder.

1991 - North and South Korea join the United Nations.

1992 - North Korea agrees to allow inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but over next two years refuses access to sites of suspected nuclear weapons production.

1994 - Death of Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-il succeeds him as leader, but doesn't take presidential title. North Korea agrees to freeze nuclear programme in return for $5bn worth of free fuel and two nuclear reactors.

1995 - US formally agrees to help provide two modern nuclear reactors designed to produce less weapons-grade plutonium.

1996 - Severe famine follows widespread floods. Pyongyang announces it will no longer abide by the armistice that ended the Korean War, and sends troops into the demilitarized zone. North Korean submarine runs aground in South.

1998 - The late Kim Il-song declared "eternal president", while Kim Jong-il's powers widened to encompass head of state. UN food aid brought in to help famine victims. North launches rocket which flies over Japan and lands in the Pacific Ocean. Pyongyang insists it fired a satellite, not a missile.

2000 - Summit in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. North stops propaganda broadcasts against the South. Senior journalists from South Korea visit the North to open up communication. Reopening of border liaison offices at the truce village of Panmunjom, in the no-man's-land between the heavily fortified borders of the two countries. South Korea gives amnesty to more than 3,500 prisoners. One hundred North Koreans meet their relatives in the South in a highly charged, emotional reunion.

2001 June - North Korea says it is grappling with the worst spring drought of its history.

2001 August - Kim Jong Il arrives for his first visit to Moscow after an epic nine-day, 10,000-kilometre train journey from Pyongyang.

2002 January - US President George W Bush says North Korea is part of an "axis of evil", along with states such as Iraq and Iran. Pyongyang says Mr Bush has not stopped far short of declaring war.

2002 June - North and South Korean naval vessels wage a gun battle in the Yellow Sea, the worst skirmish for three years. Some 30 North Korean and four South Korean sailors are killed.

2002 September - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits, the first Japanese leader to do so. He meets Kim Jong-il who apologises for the abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.

2002 October-December - Tensions mount over North Korea's nuclear programme. In October the US says North Korea has admitted to having a secret nuclear weapons programme. The US decides to halt oil shipments to Pyongyang. In December North Korea begins to reactivate its Yongbyon nuclear reactor. International inspectors are thrown out.

2003 January - North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a key international agreement aimed at preventing the spread of atomic weapons.

2003 April - Delegations from North Korea, the US and China begin talks in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The discussions are the first since the nuclear crisis, which began in October 2002.

2003 July - Pyongyang claims that it has produced enough plutonium to start making nuclear bombs.

2003 August - Six-nation talks in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear programme fail to bridge gap between Washington and Pyongyang.

2003 October - Pyongyang says it has finished reprocessing 8,000 nuclear fuel rods, obtaining enough material to make up to six nuclear bombs.

2003 December - North Korea offers to freeze nuclear programme in return for concessions from US; President George W Bush says Pyongyang must end programme entirely.

2004 April - More than 160 killed and hundreds more injured when train carrying oil and chemicals hits power line in town of Ryongchon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1132268.stm