Korea, North (2007) | Niue (2003) | |
Administrative divisions | 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 4 municipalities (si, singular and plural)
provinces: Chagang-do (Chagang), Hamgyong-bukto (North Hamgyong), Hamgyong-namdo (South Hamgyong), Hwanghae-bukto (North Hwanghae), Hwanghae-namdo (South Hwanghae), Kangwon-do (Kangwon), P'yongan-bukto (North P'yongan), P'yongan-namdo (South P'yongan), Yanggang-do (Yanggang) municipalities: Kaesong-si (Kaesong), Najin Sonbong-si (Najin-Sonbong), Namp'o-si (Namp'o), P'yongyang-si (Pyongyang) |
none; note - there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US Government, but there are 14 villages at the second order |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 23.3% (male 2,758,826/female 2,679,093)
15-64 years: 68.1% (male 7,852,282/female 8,024,429) 65 years and over: 8.5% (male 709,599/female 1,277,496) (2007 est.) |
0-14 years: NA%
15-64 years: NA% 65 years and over: NA% (2003 est.) |
Agriculture - products | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs | coconuts, passion fruit, honey, limes, taro, yams, cassava (tapioca), sweet potatoes; pigs, poultry, beef cattle |
Airports | 77 (2007) | 1 (2002) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 36
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 22 1,524 to 2,437 m: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 3 (2007) |
total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 41
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 19 914 to 1,523 m: 13 under 914 m: 7 (2007) |
- |
Area | total: 120,540 sq km
land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km |
total: 260 sq km
land: 260 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Mississippi | 1.5 times the size of Washington, DC |
Background | An independent kingdom for much of its long history, Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War. Five years later, Japan formally annexed the entire peninsula. Following World War II, Korea was split with the northern half coming under Soviet-sponsored Communist domination. After failing in the Korean War (1950-53) to conquer the US-backed Republic of Korea (ROK) in the southern portion by force, North Korea (DPRK), under its founder President KIM Il-so'ng, adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and economic "self-reliance" as a check against excessive Soviet or Communist Chinese influence. The DPRK demonized the US as the ultimate threat to its social system through state-funded propaganda, and molded political, economic, and military policies around the core ideological objective of eventual unification of Korea under Pyongyang's control. KIM's son, the current ruler KIM Jong Il, was officially designated as his father's successor in 1980, assuming a growing political and managerial role until the elder KIM's death in 1994. After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development, as well as its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and massive conventional armed forces, are of major concern to the international community. In December 2002, following revelations that the DPRK was pursuing a nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement with the US to freeze and ultimately dismantle its existing plutonium-based program, North Korea expelled monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In January 2003, it declared its withdrawal from the international Non-Proliferation Treaty. In mid-2003 Pyongyang announced it had completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods (to extract weapons-grade plutonium) and was developing a "nuclear deterrent." Beginning in August 2003, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the US have participated in the Six-Party Talks aimed at resolving the stalemate over the DPRK's nuclear programs. North Korea pulled out of the talks in November 2005. It test-fired ballistic missiles in July 2006 and tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006. In October 2006, the DRPK announced that it would return to the Six-Party Talks. The Talks reconvened in December 2006. | Niue's remoteness, as well as cultural and linguistic differences between its Polynesian inhabitants and those of the rest of the Cook Islands, have caused it to be separately administered. The population of the island continues to drop (from a peak of 5,200 in 1966 to about 2,100 in 2002), with substantial emigration to New Zealand, 2,400 km to the southwest. |
Birth rate | 15.06 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | NA births/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA |
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA |
Capital | name: Pyongyang
geographic coordinates: 39 01 N, 125 45 E time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Alofi |
Climate | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer | tropical; modified by southeast trade winds |
Coastline | 2,495 km | 64 km |
Constitution | adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998 | 19 October 1974 (Niue Constitution Act) |
Country name | 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 |
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Niue former: Savage Island |
Currency | - | New Zealand dollar (NZD) |
Death rate | 7.21 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | NA deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Debt - external | $12 billion (1996 est.) | $418,000 (2002 est.) |
Dependency status | - | self-governing in free association with New Zealand since 1974; Niue fully responsible for internal affairs; New Zealand retains responsibility for external affairs and defense; however, these responsibilities confer no rights of control and are only exercised at the request of the Government of Niue |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none; note - Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power | none (self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand) |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York | none (self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand) |
Disputes - international | risking arrest, imprisonment, and deportation, tens of thousands of North Koreans cross into China to escape famine, economic privation, and political oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers; Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic incidents in the Yellow Sea with South Korea which claims the Northern Limiting Line as a maritime boundary; North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima) | none |
Economic aid - recipient | $NA; note - approximately 350,000 metric tons in food aid, worth approximately $118 million, through the World Food Program appeal in 2004, plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations (2005) | $2.6 million from New Zealand (2002) |
Economy - overview | North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and shortages of spare parts. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. Due in part to severe summer flooding followed by dry weather conditions in the fall of 2006, the nation has suffered its 12th year of food shortages because of on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and chronic shortages of tractors and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the people of North Korea to escape mass starvation since famine threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In 2004, the regime formalized an arrangement whereby private "farmers' markets" were allowed to begin selling a wider range of goods. It also permitted some private farming on an experimental basis in an effort to boost agricultural output. In October 2005, the regime reversed some of these policies by forbidding private sales of grains and reinstituting a centralized food rationing system. By December 2005, the regime terminated most international humanitarian assistance operations in North Korea (calling instead for developmental assistance only) and restricted the activities of remaining international and non-governmental aid organizations such as the World Food Program. External food aid now comes primarily from China and South Korea in the form of grants and long-term concessional loans. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations. | The economy suffers from the typical Pacific island problems of geographic isolation, few resources, and a small population. Government expenditures regularly exceed revenues, and the shortfall is made up by critically needed grants from New Zealand that are used to pay wages to public employees. Niue has cut government expenditures by reducing the public service by almost half. The agricultural sector consists mainly of subsistence gardening, although some cash crops are grown for export. Industry consists primarily of small factories to process passion fruit, lime oil, honey, and coconut cream. The sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors is an important source of revenue. The island in recent years has suffered a serious loss of population because of migration of Niueans to New Zealand. Efforts to increase GDP include the promotion of tourism and a financial services industry, although Premier LAKATANI announced in February 2002 that Niue will shut down the offshore banking industry. Economic aid from New Zealand in 2002 was about $2.6 million. |
Electricity - consumption | 18.57 billion kWh (2005) | 2.79 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2005) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2005) | 0 kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production | 22.19 billion kWh (2005) | 3 million kWh (2001) |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m |
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location near Mutalau settlement 68 m |
Environment - current issues | water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation | increasing attention to conservationist practices to counter loss of soil fertility from traditional slash and burn agriculture |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
Ethnic groups | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese | Polynesian (with some 200 Europeans, Samoans, and Tongans) |
Exchange rates | official: North Korean won per US dollar - 141 (2006), 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), market: North Korean won per US dollar - 2,500-3,000 (December 2006) | New Zealand dollars per US dollar - 2.162 (2002), 2.3776 (2001), 2.1863 (2000), 1.8886 (1999), 1.8629 (1998) |
Executive branch | chief of state: KIM Jong Il (since July 1994); note - on 3 September 2003, rubberstamp Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) reelected KIM Jong Il chairman of the National Defense Commission, a position accorded nation's "highest administrative authority"; SPA reelected KIM Yong Nam president of its Presidium also with responsibility of representing state and receiving diplomatic credentials
head of government: Premier KIM Yong Il (since 11 April 2007); Vice Premiers KWAK Pom Gi (since 5 September 1998), JON Sung Hun (since 3 September 2003), RO Tu Chol (since 3 September 2003), THAE Jong Su (since 16 October 2007) cabinet: Naegak (cabinet) members, except for Minister of People's Armed Forces, are appointed by SPA elections: last held in September 2003 (next to be held in September 2008) election results: KIM Jong Il and KIM Yong Nam were only nominees for positions and ran unopposed |
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); the UK and New Zealand are represented by New Zealand High Commissioner John BRYAN (since NA May 2000)
head of government: Premier Young VIVIAN (since 1 May 2002) cabinet: Cabinet consists of the premier and three ministers elections: the monarch is hereditary; premier elected by the Legislative Assembly for a three-year term; election last held 1 May 2002 (next to be held NA May 2005) election results: Young VIVIAN elected premier; percent of Legislative Assembly vote - Young VIVIAN (NPP) 70%, Hunukitama HUNUKI (AI) 30% |
Exports | NA bbl/day | NA (2001) |
Exports - commodities | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products | canned coconut cream, copra, honey, vanilla, passion fruit products, pawpaws, root crops, limes, footballs, stamps, handicrafts |
Exports - partners | China 35%, South Korea 24%, Thailand 9%, Japan 9% (2005) | NZ mainly, Fiji, Cook Islands, Australia (2000) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | 1 April - 31 March |
Flag description | 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 | yellow with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the flag of the UK bears five yellow five-pointed stars - a large one on a blue disk in the center and a smaller one on each arm of the bold red cross |
GDP | - | purchasing power parity - $7.6 million (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 30%
industry: 34% services: 36% (2002 est.) |
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA% services: 55% |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $3,600 (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 1.6% (2006 est.) | -0.3% (2000 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 40 00 N, 127 00 E | 19 02 S, 169 52 W |
Geography - note | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated | one of world's largest coral islands |
Heliports | 23 (2007) | - |
Highways | - | total: 234 km
paved: 86 km unpaved: 148 km (2001) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
Illicit drugs | for years, from the 1970s into the 2000s, citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea (DPRK), many of them diplomatic employees of the government, were apprehended abroad while trafficking in narcotics, including two in Turkey in December 2004; police investigations in Taiwan and Japan in recent years have linked North Korea to large illicit shipments of heroin and methamphetamine, including an attempt by the North Korean merchant ship Pong Su to deliver 150 kg of heroin to Australia in April 2003 | - |
Imports | 23,520 bbl/day (2004 est.) | NA (2001) |
Imports - commodities | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain | food, live animals, manufactured goods, machinery, fuels, lubricants, chemicals, drugs |
Imports - partners | China 42%, South Korea 28%, Russia 9%, Thailand 8% (2005) | NZ mainly, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Australia, US (2000) |
Independence | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) | on 19 October 1974, Niue became a self-governing parliamentary government in free association with New Zealand |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | NA% |
Industries | 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 | tourism, handicrafts, food processing |
Infant mortality rate | total: 22.56 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 24.2 deaths/1,000 live births female: 20.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
total: NA%
male: NA% female: NA% |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | NA% | 1% (1995) |
International organization participation | ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO | ACP, ESCAP (associate), FAO, Sparteca, SPC, SPF, UNESCO, WHO, WMO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 1 (2000) |
Irrigated land | 14,600 sq km (2003) | NA sq km |
Judicial branch | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly) | Supreme Court of New Zealand; High Court of Niue |
Labor force | 9.6 million (2002 est.) | NA |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 36%
industry and services: 64% (2002) |
most work on family plantations; paid work exists only in government service, small industry, and the Niue Development Board |
Land boundaries | total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km |
0 km |
Land use | arable land: 22.4%
permanent crops: 1.66% other: 75.94% (2005) |
arable land: 19.23%
permanent crops: 7.69% other: 73.08% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Korean | Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English |
Legal system | based on Prussian civil law system with Japanese influences and Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | English common law
note: Niue is self-governing, with the power to make its own laws |
Legislative branch | unicameral Supreme People's Assembly or Ch'oego Inmin Hoeui (687 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 3 August 2003 (next to be held in August 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; ruling party approves a list of candidates who are elected without opposition; some seats are held by minor parties |
unicameral Legislative Assembly (20 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; six elected from a common roll and 14 are village representatives)
elections: last held 21 March 2002 (next to be held in March 2005) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NPP 9, independents 11; note - all 20 seats were reelected |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 71.92 years
male: 69.18 years female: 74.8 years (2007 est.) |
total population: NA years
male: NA years female: NA years (2003 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% |
definition: NA
total population: 95% male: NA% female: NA% |
Location | Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea | Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Tonga |
Map references | Asia | Oceania |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm note: 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 |
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM |
Merchant marine | total: 171 ships (1000 GRT or over) 854,268 GRT/1,225,453 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 12, cargo 131, chemical tanker 1, container 1, livestock carrier 1, passenger/cargo 4, petroleum tanker 14, refrigerated cargo 4, roll on/roll off 3 foreign-owned: 29 (Egypt 1, India 1, Israel 1, Lebanon 3, Lithuania 1, Pakistan 1, Romania 6, Russia 1, Syria 7, Turkey 1, UAE 4, Yemen 2) registered in other countries: (unknown 1) (2007) |
none (2002 est.) |
Military - note | - | defense is the responsibility of New Zealand |
Military branches | North Korean People's Army: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force; civil security forces (2005) | no regular indigenous military forces; Police Force |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | NA | - |
National holiday | Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948) | Waitangi Day (Treaty of Waitangi established British sovereignty over New Zealand), 6 February (1840) |
Nationality | noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean |
noun: Niuean(s)
adjective: Niuean |
Natural hazards | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall | typhoons |
Natural resources | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower | fish, arable land |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | NA migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) |
Pipelines | oil 154 km (2006) | - |
Political parties and leaders | major party - Korean Workers' Party or KWP [KIM Jong Il]; minor parties - Chondoist Chongu Party [RYU Mi Yong] (under KWP control), Social Democratic Party [KIM Yong Dae] (under KWP control) | Niue People's Action Party or NPP [Young VIVIAN]; Alliance of Independents or AI [leader NA] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | none | NA |
Population | 23,301,725 (July 2007 est.) | 2,145 (July 2003 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | NA% |
Population growth rate | 0.785% (2007 est.) | 0.01% (2003 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | none; offshore anchorage only |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 17 (including 11 stations of Korean Central Broadcasting Station; North Korea has a "national intercom" cable radio station wired throughout the country that is a significant source of information for the average North Korean citizen; it is wired into most residences and workplaces and carries news and commentary), FM 14, shortwave 14 (2006) | AM 1, FM 1, shortwave 0 (1998) |
Railways | total: 5,214 km
standard gauge: 5,214 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2006) |
0 km |
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 |
Ekalesia Niue (Niuean Church - a Protestant church closely related to the London Missionary Society) 75%, Latter-Day Saints 10%, other 15% (mostly Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.979 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.555 male(s)/female total population: 0.945 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
NA (2003 est.) |
Suffrage | 17 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: country code - 850; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Russian (Indian Ocean region); other international connections through Moscow and Beijing |
domestic: single-line telephone system connects all villages on island
international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 980,000 (2003) | 376 (1991) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | - | 0 (1991) |
Television broadcast stations | 4 (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) (2003) | 1 (1997) |
Terrain | mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east | steep limestone cliffs along coast, central plateau |
Total fertility rate | 2.05 children born/woman (2007 est.) | NA children born/woman (2003 est.) |
Unemployment rate | NA% | NA% |
Waterways | 2,250 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2007) | none |