North Korea

The first recorded kingdom (Choson) on the Korean Peninsula dates from approximately 2300 B.C. Over the subsequent centuries, three main kingdoms -- Kogoryo, Paekche, and Silla -- were established on the Peninsula. By the 5th century A.D., Kogoryo emerged as the most powerful, with control over much of the Peninsula and part of Manchuria (modern-day northeast China). However, Silla allied with the Chinese to create the first unified Korean state in 688. Following the collapse of Silla in the 9th century, Korea was unified under the Koryo (Goryeo; 918-1392) and the Chosen (Joseon; 1392-1910) dynasties. Korea became the object of intense imperialistic rivalry among the Chinese (its traditional benefactor), Japanese, and Russian empires in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. After the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), Korea was occupied by Imperial Japan. In 1910, Japan formally annexed the entire peninsula. After World War II, the northern half came under Soviet-sponsored communist control.

In 1948, North Korea (formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK) was founded under President KIM Il Sung, who consolidated power and cemented autocratic one-party rule under the Korean Worker's Party (KWP). North Korea failed to conquer UN-backed South Korea (formally the Republic of Korea or ROK) during the Korean War (1950-53), after which a demilitarized zone separated the two Koreas. KIM's authoritarian rule included tight control over North Korean citizens and the demonization of the US as the central threat to North Korea's political and social system. In addition, he molded the country's economic, military, and political policies around the core objective of unifying Korea under Pyongyang's control. North Korea also declared a central ideology of juche ("self-reliance") as a check against outside influence, while continuing to rely heavily on China and the Soviet Union for economic support. KIM Il Sung's son, KIM Jong Il, was officially designated as his father's successor in 1980, and he assumed a growing political and managerial role until the elder KIM's death in 1994. Under KIM Jong Il's reign, North Korea continued developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. KIM Jong Un was publicly unveiled as his father's successor in 2010. Following KIM Jong Il's death in 2011, KIM Jong Un quickly assumed power and has since occupied the regime's highest political and military posts. 

After the end of Soviet aid in 1991, North Korea faced serious economic setbacks that exacerbated decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation. Since the mid-1990s, North Korea has faced chronic food shortages and economic stagnation. In recent years, the North's domestic agricultural production has improved but still falls far short of producing sufficient food for its population. Starting in 2002, North Korea began to tolerate semi-private markets but has made few other efforts to meet its goal of improving the overall standard of living. New economic development plans in the 2010s failed to meet government-mandated goals for key industrial sectors, food production, or overall economic performance. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, North Korea instituted a nationwide lockdown that severely restricted its economy and international engagement. Since then, KIM has repeatedly expressed concerns with the regime's economic failures and food problems, but in 2021, he vowed to continue "self-reliant" policies and has reinvigorated his pursuit of greater regime control of the economy.

As of 2024, despite slowly renewing cross-border trade with China, North Korea remained one of the world's most isolated countries and one of Asia's poorest. In 2024, Pyongyang announced it was ending all economic cooperation with South Korea. The move followed earlier proclamations that it was scrapping a 2018 military pact with South Korea to de-escalate tensions along their militarized border, abandoning the country’s decades-long pursuit of peaceful unification with South Korea, and designating the South as North Korea’s “principal enemy.” 

Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea

40 00 N, 127 00 E

Asia

slightly larger than Virginia; slightly smaller than Mississippi

2,495 km

temperate, with rainfall concentrated in summer; long, bitter winters

mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; wide coastal plains in west, discontinuous in east

coal, iron ore, limestone, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, precious metals, hydropower

14,600 sq km (2012)

population concentrated in the plains and lowlands; least-populated regions are the mountainous provinces adjacent to the Chinese border; largest concentrations are in the western provinces, particularly the municipal district of Pyongyang, and around Hungnam and Wonsan in the east

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

volcanism: P'aektu-san (2,744 m) (also known as Baitoushan, Baegdu, or Changbaishan), on the Chinese border, is considered historically active

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

racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese

traditionally Buddhist and Confucian, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)

0.4% (2025 est.)

12.99 births/1,000 population (2025 est.)

9.01 deaths/1,000 population (2025 est.)

-0.04 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2025 est.)

population concentrated in the plains and lowlands; least-populated regions are the mountainous provinces adjacent to the Chinese border; largest concentrations are in the western provinces, particularly the municipal district of Pyongyang, and around Hungnam and Wonsan in the east

3.158 million PYONGYANG (capital) (2023)

67 deaths/100,000 live births (2023 est.)

1.8 children born/woman (2025 est.)

0.87 (2025 est.)

3.63 physicians/1,000 population (2017)

6.8% (2016)

9.3% (2017 est.)

68.2% (2017 est.)

14.6% national budget (2025 est.)

water pollution; inadequate potable water; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation

temperate, with rainfall concentrated in summer; long, bitter winters

41.8 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

77.15 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

dictatorship, single-party communist state

9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 4 special administration cities (si, singular and plural)

provinces: Chagang, Hambuk (North Hamgyong), Hamnam (South Hamgyong), Hwangbuk (North Hwanghae), Hwangnam (South Hwanghae), Kangwon, P'yongbuk (North Pyongan), P'yongnam (South Pyongan), Ryanggang

special administration cities: Kaesong, Nampo, P'yongyang, Rason

civil law system based on the Prussian model; influenced by Japanese traditions and Communist legal theory

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

17 years of age; universal and compulsory

major parties:
Korean Workers' Party or KWP (formally known as Workers' Party of Korea) 
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon; under KWP control) 
minor parties:
Chondoist Chongu Party (under KWP control)
Social Democratic Party or KSDP (under KWP control)

none

note: North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York

ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IMSO, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO

15 August 1945 (from Japan)

Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948)

description: three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple-width), and blue; the red band is edged in white; on the left side of the red band is a white disk with a red five-pointed star

meaning: the red band stands for revolutionary traditions, the white for purity, strength, and dignity; blue for sovereignty, peace, and friendship; the red star represents socialism

red star, chollima (winged horse)

red, white, blue

one of the last centrally planned economies; hard hit by COVID-19, crop failures, international sanctions, and isolationist policies; declining growth and trade, and heavily reliant on China; poor exchange rate stability; economic data integrity issues

$16.447 billion (2023 est.)

maize, vegetables, rice, apples, cabbages, fruits, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, soybeans (2023)

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

17.637 million (2024 est.)

China 74%, Poland 3%, Senegal 3%, Angola 3%, Austria 3% (2023)

fake hair, iron alloys, tungsten ore, electricity, cars (2023)

China 97%, Togo 1%, Peru 1%, Gabon 1%, India 0% (2023)

processed hair, plastic products, garments, fabric, soybean oil (2023)

no independent media; radios and TVs are pre-tuned to government stations; 4 state-owned TV stations; the Korean Workers' Party owns and operates the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, and the state-run Voice of Korea operates an external broadcast service; the government prohibits listening to and jams foreign broadcasts (2019)

.kp

P

81 (2025)

8 (2025)

Korean People's Army (KPA): KPA Ground Forces, KPA Navy, KPA Air Force and Air Defense Forces, KPA Strategic Forces (missile forces), KPA Special Forces (special operations forces); Security Guard Command (aka Bodyguard Command); Military Security Command

Ministry of Social Security (formerly Ministry of Public Security): Border Guard General Bureau, civil security forces; Ministry of State Security: internal security, investigations (2025)

defense spending is a regime priority; between 2010 and 2020, military expenditures accounted for an estimated 20-30% of North Korea's GDP annually; spending estimates ranged from $7 billion to $11 billion annually; in 2024, North Korea announced that it would spend nearly 16% of state expenditures on defense; North Korea in the 2010s and 2020s has increasingly relied on illicit activities — including cybercrime — to generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs to evade US and UN sanctions

estimates vary; as many as 1.3 million active-duty Korean People's Army (2025)

the KPA is equipped with older weapon systems acquired from China, Russia, and the former Soviet Union, as well as some domestically produced armaments; North Korea produces an array of military hardware, including armored vehicles, artillery, munitions, naval vessels, and some advanced weapons systems, such as cruise and ballistic missiles; most are copies or upgrades of older foreign supplied equipment (2025)

compulsory military service for men (17-30 years of age) and women (17-23 years of age); service obligation is reportedly up to 10 years for men and up to 7 years for women (2025)

estimated 10-12,000 Russia (2025)

the Korean People's Army (KPA) is one of the World’s largest military forces; founded in 1948, the KPA’s primary responsibilities are national defense and protection of the Kim regime; it also provides support to domestic economic projects such as agriculture production and infrastructure construction; North Korea views South Korea and the US as its primary external threats and Russia as its closest security partner

in addition to the invasion of South Korea and the subsequent Korean War (1950-53), North Korea from the 1960s to the 1980s launched a number of military and subversive actions against South Korea; including skirmishes along the DMZ, overt attempts to assassinate South Korean leaders, kidnappings, the bombing of an airliner, and a failed effort in 1968 to foment an insurrection and conduct a guerrilla war in the South with more than 100 seaborne commandos; from the 1990s until 2010, the North lost two submarines and a semi-submersible boat attempting to insert infiltrators into the South (1996, 1998) and provoked several engagements in the Northwest Islands area along the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL), including naval skirmishes between patrol boats in 1999 and 2002, the torpedoing and sinking of a South Korean Navy corvette in 2010, and the bombardment of a South Korean military installation on Yeonpyeong Island, also in 2010; since 2010, further minor incidents continue to occur periodically along the DMZ, where both the KPA and the South Korean military maintain large numbers of troops

North Korea also has a history of provocative regional military actions and posturing that are of major concern to the international community, including: proliferation of military-related items; ballistic and cruise missile development and testing; weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs including tests of nuclear devices in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016, and 2017; and large conventional armed forces (2025)

National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA; established 2013; re-named in 2023 from the National Aerospace Development Administration or NADA); State Space Development Bureau; Academy of National Defense Science; Ministry of People’s Armed Forces (2025)

Sohae Satellite Launching Station (aka Tongch'ang-dong Space Launch Center; North Pyongan province); Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground (North Hamgyong province) (2025)

North Korea’s leader has emphasized the development of space capabilities, particularly satellite launch vehicles (SLVs) and remote sensing satellites; manufactures satellites and rockets/SLVs; independently launches rockets/SLVs; SLV program is viewed as closely related to the country's development of intercontinental ballistic missiles; passed a national space law in 2013, and revised it in 2022 to allow for the use of space for national defense; has cooperated with Iran on space-related technologies, and signed a mutual defense treaty with Russia in 2024 that stated the two countries would “develop exchanges and joint research in science and technology, including space” (2025)

1980s - initiated space program 

1998 - failed first attempt to place a satellite in orbit on a 3-stage Paektusan-1 satellite launch vehicle (SLV) 

2012 - successfully placed first satellite (Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 or Bright Star-3) in orbit on Unha-3 SLV (satellite failed to operate)

2016 - second satellite (Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4) placed in orbit on Unha-3 SLV (reportedly a remote sensing (RS) satellite that also failed to operate)

2023 - placed a military RS satellite (Malligyong-1) in orbit on Chollima-1 SLV 

2024 - failed attempt to place a second military RS satellite in orbit on new type SLV