Travelling Club - North Korea

Fact Sheet: North Korea

• Location: Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea
• Geographic coordinates: 40 00 N, 127 00 E
• Area: total: 120,540 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 hazards: late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall
• Population: 23,113,019 (July 2006 est.)
• Ethnic groups: racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese
• Religions: traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)
• Languages: Korean
• Government type: Communist state one-man dictatorship
• Capital: name: Pyongyang
• Currency code: North Korean won (KPW)
• Exchange rates: official: North Korean won per US dollar - 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), 2.15 (December 2001); market: North Korean won per US dollar - 300-600 (December 2002)
• Internet country code: .kp
• Airports: 77 (2006)