Saint Helena (2004) | Korea, North (2008) | |
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Administrative divisions | 1 administrative area and 2 dependencies*; Ascension*, Saint Helena, Tristan da Cunha* | 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) |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 18.9% (male 710; female 689)
15-64 years: 71.4% (male 2,739; female 2,559) 65 years and over: 9.7% (male 319; female 399) (2004 est.) |
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.) |
Agriculture - products | corn, potatoes, vegetables; timber; fish, crawfish (on Tristan da Cunha) | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs |
Airports | 1 (2003 est.) | 77 (2007) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 1
over 3,047 m: 1 (2004 est.) |
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) |
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: 410 sq km
land: 410 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Saint Helena Island, Ascension, and the island group of Tristan da Cunha, which consists of Tristan da Cunha Island, Gough Island, Inaccessible Island, and the three Nightingale Islands |
total: 120,540 sq km
land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly more than twice the size of Washington, DC | slightly smaller than Mississippi |
Background | Uninhabited when first discovered by the Portuguese in 1502, Saint Helena was garrisoned by the British during the 17th century. It acquired fame as the place of Napoleon BONAPARTE's exile, from 1815 until his death in 1821, but its importance as a port of call declined after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Ascension Island is the site of a US Air Force auxiliary airfield; Gough Island has a meteorological station. | 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 Sung, 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 approximately 1 million. North Korea's history of regional military provocations, proliferation of military-related items, and 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 conducted a nuclear test in October 2006. North Korea returned to the Six-Party Talks in December 2006 and subsequently signed two agreements on denuclearization. The 13 February 2007 Initial Actions Agreement shut down the North's nuclear facilities at Yongbyon in July 2007. In the 3 October 2007 Second Phase Actions Agreement, Pyongyang pledged to disable those facilities and provide a correct and complete declaration of its nuclear programs. Under the supervision of US nuclear experts, North Korean personnel completed a number of agreed-upon disablement actions at the three core facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex by the end of 2007. North Korea also began the discharge of spent fuel rods in December 2007, but it did not provide a declaration of its nuclear programs by the end of the year. |
Birth rate | 12.68 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 15.06 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $11.2 million
expenditures: $11 million, including capital expenditures of NA (FY92/93) |
revenues: $2.88 billion $NA
expenditures: $2.98 billion $NA |
Capital | Jamestown | name: Pyongyang
geographic coordinates: 39 01 N, 125 45 E time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Climate | Saint Helena - tropical; marine; mild, tempered by trade winds; Tristan da Cunha - temperate; marine, mild, tempered by trade winds (tends to be cooler than Saint Helena) | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer |
Coastline | 60 km | 2,495 km |
Constitution | 1 January 1989 | adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998 |
Country name | conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Saint Helena |
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 |
Currency | Saint Helenian pound (SHP) | - |
Death rate | 6.47 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 7.21 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Debt - external | NA (1996) | $12.5 billion (2001 est.) |
Dependency status | overseas territory of the UK | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none (overseas territory of the UK) | none; note - Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none (overseas territory of the UK) | none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York |
Disputes - international | none | 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) |
Economic aid - recipient | $12.6 million (1995); note - $5.3 million from UK (1997) | $372 million
note: approximately 65,000 metric tons in food aid through the World Food Program appeals in 2007, plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations (2007 est.) |
Economy - overview | The economy depends largely on financial assistance from the UK, which amounted to about $5 million in 1997 or almost one-half of annual budgetary revenues. The local population earns income from fishing, the raising of livestock, and sales of handicrafts. Because there are few jobs, 25% of the work force has left to seek employment on Ascension Island, on the Falklands, and in the UK. | North Korea, one of the world's most centrally directed and least open economies, faces chronic economic problems. 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 from pre-1990 levels. Due in part to severe summer flooding followed by dry weather conditions in the fall of 2006, the nation suffered its 13th year of food shortages because of on-going systemic problems including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and persistent shortages of tractors and fuel. During the summer of 2007, severe flooding again occurred. Large-scale international food aid deliveries have allowed the people of North Korea to escape widespread starvation since famine threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale military spending draws off resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. Since 2002, the government has 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 government tried to reverse some of these policies by forbidding private sales of grains and reinstituting a centralized food rationing system. By December 2005, the government 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. During the October 2007 summit, South Korea also agreed to develop some of North Korea's infrastructure and natural resources and light industry. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations. |
Electricity - consumption | 4.65 million kWh (2001) | 18.57 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2001) | 0 kWh (2007) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2001) | 0 kWh (2007) |
Electricity - production | 5 million kWh (2001) | 22.5 billion kWh (2006 est.) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Queen Mary's Peak on Tristan da Cunha 2,060 m |
lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m |
Environment - current issues | NA | water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation |
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 |
Ethnic groups | African descent 50%, white 25%, Chinese 25% | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese |
Exchange rates | Saint Helenian pounds per US dollar - 0.6661 (2002), 0.6944 (2001), 0.6596 (2000), 0.6180 (1999), 0.6037 (1998), | official: North Korean won per US dollar - 140 (2007), 141 (2006), 170 (December 2004), market: North Korean won per US dollar - 2,500-3,000 (December 2006) |
Executive branch | chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)
head of government: Governor and Commander in Chief David HOLLAMBY (since 1999); Michael CLANCY (taking office in October 2004) cabinet: Executive Council consists of the governor, two ex officio officers, and six elected members of the Legislative Council elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor is appointed by the monarch |
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 |
Exports | NA (2001) | 0 bbl/day (2006) |
Exports - commodities | fish (frozen, canned, and salt-dried skipjack, tuna), coffee, handicrafts | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products |
Exports - partners | US 26.7%, Tanzania 21.9%, Indonesia 9.4%, UK 8.7%, Japan 7.4%, Netherlands 7.2%, Nigeria 6.8%, Poland 5%, Spain 4.9% (2003) | South Korea 32%, China 29%, Thailand 9% (2006) |
Fiscal year | 1 April - 31 March | calendar year |
Flag description | blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the Saint Helenian shield centered on the outer half of the flag; the shield features a rocky coastline and three-masted sailing ship | 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 |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $18 million (1998 est.) | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: NA
industry: NA services: NA |
agriculture: 23.3%
industry: 43.1% services: 33.6% (2002 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $2,500 (1998 est.) | - |
GDP - real growth rate | NA | -1.1% (2006 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 15 56 S, 5 42 W | 40 00 N, 127 00 E |
Geography - note | harbors at least 40 species of plants unknown anywhere else in the world; Ascension is a breeding ground for sea turtles and sooty terns | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated |
Heliports | - | 23 (2007) |
Highways | total: 198 km (Saint Helena 138 km, Ascension 40 km, Tristan da Cunha 20 km)
paved: 168 km (Saint Helena 118km, Ascension 40 km, Tristan da Cunha 10 km) unpaved: 30 km (Saint Helena 20 km, Ascension 0 km, Tristan da Cunha 10 km) (2000) |
- |
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 | NA (2001) | 10,520 bbl/day (2006 est.) |
Imports - commodities | food, beverages, tobacco, fuel oils, animal feed, building materials, motor vehicles and parts, machinery and parts | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain |
Imports - partners | UK 29.1%, South Africa 24.7%, Spain 16.4%, Italy 8.8%, Tanzania 8.2%, US 5.8% (2003) | China 27%, South Korea 16%, Thailand 9%, Russia 7% (2006) |
Independence | none (overseas territory of the UK) | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA | NA% |
Industries | construction, crafts (furniture, lacework, fancy woodwork), fishing | 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 |
Infant mortality rate | total: 19.85 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 23.7 deaths/1,000 live births female: 15.81 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) |
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.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 3.2% (1997 est.) | NA% |
International organization participation | ICFTU, UPU | 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 |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | 14,600 sq km (2003) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court; Magistrate's Court; Small Debts Court; Juvenile Court | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly) |
Labor force | 3,500
note: 1,200 work offshore (1998 est.) |
20 million
note: estimates vary widely (2004 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture and fishing 6%, industry (mainly construction) 48%, services 46% (1987 est.) | agriculture: 37%
industry and services: 63% (2004 est.) |
Land boundaries | 0 km | total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km |
Land use | arable land: 12.9%
permanent crops: 0% other: 87.1% (2001) |
arable land: 22.4%
permanent crops: 1.66% other: 75.94% (2005) |
Languages | English | Korean |
Legal system | NA | 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 |
Legislative branch | unicameral Legislative Council (16 seats, including the speaker, 3 ex officio and 12 elected members; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 27 June 2001 (next to be held NA June 2005) election results: percent of vote - NA; seats - independents 15 |
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 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 77.57 years
male: 74.67 years female: 80.61 years (2004 est.) |
total population: 71.92 years
male: 69.18 years female: 74.8 years (2007 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 20 and over can read and write
total population: 97% male: 97% female: 98% (1987 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% |
Location | islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, about midway between South America and Africa | Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea |
Map references | Africa | Asia |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm |
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 |
Merchant marine | none | 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) |
Military - note | defense is the responsibility of the UK | - |
Military branches | - | North Korean People's Army: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force; civil security forces (2005) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | NA |
National holiday | Birthday of Queen ELIZABETH II, second Saturday in June (1926) | Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948) |
Nationality | noun: Saint Helenian(s)
adjective: Saint Helenian |
noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean |
Natural hazards | active volcanism on Tristan da Cunha | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall |
Natural resources | fish | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Pipelines | - | oil 154 km (2007) |
Political parties and leaders | none | 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) |
Political pressure groups and leaders | none | none |
Population | 7,415 (July 2004 est.) | 23,301,725 (July 2007 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA | NA% |
Population growth rate | 0.62% (2004 est.) | 0.785% (2007 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Georgetown (on Ascension), Jamestown | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998) | 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) |
Railways | - | total: 5,235 km
standard gauge: 5,235 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2006) |
Religions | Anglican (majority), Baptist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Roman Catholic | 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 |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
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.) |
Suffrage | NA years of age | 17 years of age; universal |
Telephone system | general assessment: can communicate worldwide
domestic: automatic network international: country code - 290; HF radiotelephone from Saint Helena to Ascension Island, which is a major coaxial submarine cable relay point between South Africa, Portugal, and UK; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) |
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 |
Telephones - main lines in use | 2,200 (2002) | 980,000 (2003) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 0 (1997) | - |
Television broadcast stations | 0
note: television programs are received in Saint Helena via satellite and distributed by cable (2002) |
4 (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) (2003) |
Terrain | Saint Helena - rugged, volcanic; small scattered plateaus and plains
note: the other islands of the group have a volcanic origin |
mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east |
Total fertility rate | 1.54 children born/woman (2004 est.) | 2.05 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 14% (1998 est.) | NA% |
Waterways | - | 2,250 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2007) |