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North Korea-Foreign Trade
North Korea
Index
North Korea's foreign trade is characterized by its
relatively low value, chronic trade deficits, and small number of
trading partners. In 1990 almost 83 percent of total trade was
conducted with the Soviet Union, China, and Japan. Although
modest in scale, accompanied by wide and frequent swings from
year to year, and even negative growth in some years, trade
levels have grown over the years. Based on estimates from the
returns of trading partners, exports and imports grew from
US$307.7 million and US$434.1 million, respectively, in 1970, to
US$1.86 billion and US$2.92 billion, respectively, in 1990
(see table 6 and
table 7, Appendix). North Korea's total exports were
comparable to only 2.9 percent of South Korea's exports of
US$65.02 billion in 1990. North Korea's trade value also is small
in relative terms when compared with that of South Korea and
other newly industrializing economies. The trade ratio (total
trade value relative to GNP) in 1990 was 20.7 percent, with
export and import ratios of 8.1 percent and 12.6 percent,
respectively. The comparative ratio for South Korea was 56.7
percent--with 27.3 percent and 29.4 percent, respectively, for
exports and imports.
Except for a few years since 1946, the trade balance has been
characteristically unfavorable. North Korea attracted worldwide
notoriety in 1976 when it defaulted on its payment of foreign
debt to Western countries. The debt had resulted from massive
purchases of capital goods from West European countries and Japan
in the early 1970s, which had drastically increased the trade
deficit. Imports are supposed to be paid for by increased export
earnings and short-term credits, neither of which has occurred.
The oil shock of late 1973 and the onset of the recession and
worldwide stagflation also took their toll. Prices of North
Korea's minerals declined sharply because of a worldwide
recession that lowered demand. Foreign exchange reserves
dwindled, leading to the debt crisis. After suspending payments,
North Korea tried to reschedule the payments, but its payment
record is erratic; the debts continue in the early 1990s, and
unpaid interest continues to mount. At the end of 1989, the total
foreign debt was estimated at US$6.78 billion: 45.9 percent, or
US$3.13 billion, was owed to the Soviet Union; US$900 million to
China; and US$530 million to Japan. According to South Korean
sources, the total debt had increased to US$7.86 billion at the
end of 1990.
Despite North Korea's flirtation with Western developed
countries, the Soviet Union, China, and Japan remain its
principal trading partners. In the late 1940s and 1950s, more
than 90 percent of trade was conducted with communist countries.
In the 1960s, this dependency began to gradually decrease, and in
the mid-1970s, with P'yongyang's sudden turn to the West for
imports of machinery and equipment, the slide accelerated. This
dependency fell to its lowest point in 1974--only 51.5 percent of
total trade; it began to rise again when North Korea, having
defaulted on payment of its debt, found it difficult to obtain
credit to finance imports from the West. The ratio of trade with
communist countries was 72.7 percent and 71.4 percent,
respectively, in 1989 and 1990.
The Soviet Union has consistently been North Korea's largest
trading partner, accounting for about half of total two-way trade
in the late 1980s and 55.9 percent and 56.8 percent in 1989 and
1990, respectively. It is followed by China, with 12.5 percent
and 11.4 percent in 1989 and 1990, respectively. Since the early
1960s, Japan has emerged as the third largest trading partner--
10.7 percent and 19.7 percent in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
Japan remains a major continuing link with the advanced market
economies. For some years in the mid-1980s, imports from Japan
exceeded those of China. Most of the trade deficits originate in
communist countries; an exception was in 1974-75 when an import
surplus from Western countries exceeded that from communist
countries.
The Soviet Union also is the largest source of import
surpluses. In 1989 and 1990, trade deficits with the Soviet Union
constituted 63.5 percent and 57.7 percent, respectively, of the
total deficit. The corresponding ratio for China was 20.3 percent
and 28.6 percent, respectively. North Korea had depended
predominantly on the Soviet Union and China for its trade credits
in the late 1980s, but in 1990 P'yongyang began to lean more
toward Beijing. From 1987 to 1990, North Korea consistently
accumulated a trade surplus with Japan.
A major factor in North Korea's renewed reliance on the
Soviet Union in the 1980s--both as supplier of imports as well as
the chief destination for exports--was the difficulty of
marketing its products elsewhere; a second important factor was
the West's reluctance to extend additional credits. In a trade
agreement signed in November 1990, North Korea was required, for
the first time, to use hard currency in its commercial
transactions with the Soviet Union beginning in 1991. China also
notified North Korea to use hard currency in their mutual trade
beginning in 1992. This requirement will have a serious adverse
effect on the trade value, the balance of payments, and the
domestic energy situation. There are signs that the initial
attempts to enforce the hard currency rule caused Soviet-North
Korean trade to plummet in early 1991. For example, petroleum
deliveries from the Soviet Union plunged from 410,000 tons in
1990 to 45,000 tons in the first half of 1991. In order to
prevent a further decline, the Soviets conceded some
unidentifiable amount of transition time before fully enforcing
hard currency payments. Because of the decline in oil imports,
the Soviet-aided Sngri oil refinery in Ch'ngjin was at least
temporarily closed. Consequently, North Korea has increasingly
turned to China and Iran for petroleum.
North Korea's principal exports are non-ferrous metals--
mostly zinc, lead, barites, gold, iron and steel, and textile
yarn and fabrics, magnesium, metal-working machine tools,
military equipment, cement, vegetables, and fishery products. Its
main imports are advanced machinery, transport equipment, highgrade iron and steel products, crude petroleum, wheat, and
chemicals. Of almost US$1.7 million of imports from the Soviet
Union in 1990, machinery and transport equipment constituted by
far the largest category of imports--22.4 percent; garments
constituted 53.6 percent of exports amounting to approximately
US$1 million that same year. Petroleum and petroleum products
imported from the Soviet Union declined sharply from 21.5 percent
in 1987, to 10.9 percent in 1988, and to 6.7 percent in 1990.
North Korea's main imports from China are energy-related
products--coal, briquettes, petroleum, and petroleum products;
they constituted 38.4 percent and 38.5 percent of imports,
respectively, for 1989 and 1990. Other imports include cereals
and cereal preparations, oil seeds, rubber products, textile
fibers, fruits and vegetables, foodstuffs, and machinery and
equipment. Metallurgical exports, including magnesium, steel, and
nonferrous metals, are the largest category of exports to China,
comprising 37.2 percent of total exports in 1990. Other exports
to China include anthracite coal, cement, fish, and seafood.
Machinery is the largest import from Japan, making up 23
percent of the total, followed by textile fibers and products,
base metal and products, chemicals, plastic and rubber products,
and electric and transport equipment. Making up about 40 percent
of the total in 1989-90, the main exports to Japan are minerals,
in particular iron and steel, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, and
lead. Other export items to Japan are vegetables, marine
products, textile fibers, anthracite coal, apparel and clothing
accessories, and precious metals.
Data as of June 1993
- North Korea-THE KOREAN WORKERS' PARTY
- North Korea-Primary and Secondary Education
- North Korea-Military Industry
- North Korea-Contemporary Cultural Expression
- North Korea-The United States
- North Korea-INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- North Korea-The Chosn Dynasty: Florescence
- North Korea-KOREA IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY WORLD ORDER
- North Korea-Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation
- North Korea-Literature, Music, and Film
- North Korea-Civil Aviation
- North Korea-Officer Corps: Recruitment and Education
- North Korea-Confucian and Neo-Confucian Values SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND VALUES
- North Korea-Inter-Korean Affairs
- North Korea-GEOGRAPHY
- North Korea-Population Structure and Projections
- North Korea-Korea under the Japanese Occupation ECONOMIC SETTING
- North Korea-EDUCATION
- North Korea-National Command Authority THE ARMED FORCES
- North Korea-Civil Aviation
- North Korea-Reserves and Paramilitary Forces
- North Korea-Record of Economic Performance
- North Korea-GEOPOLITICAL CHANGES: NEW WORLD ORDER AND NORTH KOREAN SECURITY
- North Korea-Resource Development
- North Korea-Relations with the Third World
- North Korea-THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
- North Korea-Urban Life
- North Korea-Production and Distribution of Crops and Livestock
- North Korea-Village Life
- North Korea-Organization and Disposition
- North Korea-Organization and Disposition
- North Korea-Formulation of National Security Policy
- North Korea-Mining and Metal Processing
- North Korea-Forestry
- North Korea-Historical Influences THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- North Korea-NORTH KOREA
- North Korea-Postwar Economic Planning
- North Korea-The Korean Language
- North Korea-The Colonial Transformation of Korean Society
- North Korea-GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
- North Korea-Economic Assistance
- North Korea-Relations Between the Military and the Korean Workers' Party
- North Korea-Special Weapons
- North Korea-CORPORATISM AND THE CHUCH'E IDEA
- North Korea-Social Control INTERNAL SECURITY
- North Korea-Military Capability, Readiness, Training, and Recent Trends
- North Korea-Social Education
- North Korea-CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
- North Korea-BUDGET AND FINANCE
- North Korea-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PARTY
- North Korea-CHAPTER 5 - NATIONAL SECURITY
- North Korea-Adult Education
- North Korea-THE KOREAN WAR
- North Korea-Emergence of the New Doctrine
- North Korea-POPULATION
- North Korea-INDUSTRY
- North Korea-The Period of the Three Kingdoms
- North Korea-NATIONAL SECURITY
- North Korea-The Navy
- North Korea-CHAPTER 2 - THE SOCIETY AND ITS ENVIRONMENT
- North Korea-CHAPTER 1 - HISTORICAL SETTING
- North Korea-Koreans Living Overseas
- North Korea-INTRODUCTION
- North Korea-DEFENSE INDUSTRY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
- North Korea-Architecture and City Planning
- North Korea-Developmental Strategy
- North Korea-Tradition and Modernity in North Korea
- North Korea-Dynastic Decline
- North Korea-The Army
- North Korea-Manufacturing
- North Korea-FOREIGN POLICY
- North Korea-INFRASTRUCTURE
- North Korea-MASS ORGANIZATIONS
- North Korea-The Air Force
- North Korea-Role in National Life
- North Korea-Unification by Kory
- North Korea-POLITICAL IDEOLOGY: THE ROLE OF CHUCH'E
- North Korea-Foreign Investment and Joint Ventures
- North Korea-Air Defense
- North Korea-Higher Education
- North Korea -COUNTRY PROFILE
- North Korea-CHAPTER 4 - GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
- North Korea-THE ORIGINS OF THE KOREAN NATION
- North Korea-Development in Major Sectors
- North Korea-Classes and Social Strata
- North Korea-Transportation and Communications
- North Korea-Special Operations Forces
- North Korea-Energy and Power
- North Korea-Japan
- North Korea-Foreign Trade
- North Korea-PROSPECTS
- North Korea-Weapons and Equipment
- North Korea-Korea under Silla
- North Korea-THE NATIONAL DIVISION AND THE ORIGINS OF THE DPRK
- North Korea-Employment in Offensive Scenario
- North Korea-Telecommunications
- North Korea-The Supreme People's Assembly ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
- North Korea-The Role of Religion
- North Korea-Services and Marketing
- North Korea-Weapons and Equipment
- North Korea-ETHNICITY, CULTURE, AND LANGUAGE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
- North Korea-HISTORICAL SETTING
- North Korea-Educational Themes and Methods
- North Korea-Organization and Management
- North Korea-Chuch'e and Contemporary Social Values
- North Korea-LEADERSHIP SUCCESSION
- North Korea-The Executive Branch
- North Korea-FOREWORD
- North Korea-The Traditional Family and Kinship
- North Korea-AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, AND FISHERIES
- North Korea-Party Cadres
- North Korea-Environmental Protection
- North Korea-Weapons and Equipment
- North Korea-MILITARY HERITAGE
- North Korea-THE MEDIA
- North Korea
- North Korea-THE RISE OF KOREAN NATIONALISM AND COMMUNISM
- North Korea-The Central People's Committee
- North Korea
- North Korea-China and the Soviet Union
- North Korea-FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS
- North Korea
- North Korea-PROSPECTS
- North Korea-The Taean Work System
- North Korea-The Public Security Apparatus
- North Korea-Roads
- North Korea-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE
- North Korea
- North Korea-Local Government
- North Korea
- North Korea-Fisheries
- North Korea-The Evolution of North Korean Military Thought
- North Korea
- North Korea-PUBLIC HEALTH
- North Korea-Military Conscription and Terms of Service
- North Korea-The Ruling Elite
- North Korea-The Nuclear Option
- North Korea-The Ch'ongsan-ni Method
- North Korea-Organization and Management of the Economy
- North Korea-MILITARY DOCTRINE AND STRATEGY
- North Korea-Climate
- North Korea-Family Life
- North Korea-ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- North Korea-Mass Production Campaigns
- North Korea-Operational Practice in the 1980s and 1990s
- North Korea-Chosn Dynasty Social Structure
- North Korea-SOCIETY
- North Korea-ECONOMY
- North Korea
- North Korea-The Judiciary
- North Korea-The Judiciary
- North Korea-The State Administration Council
- North Korea-PARTY LEADERSHIP AND ELITE RECRUITMENT
- North Korea
- North Korea-Relations with China and the Soviet Union FOREIGN MILITARY RELATIONS
- North Korea-Trends, Training, Readiness, and Military Capability
- North Korea
- North Korea-Military Capability and Coastal Defense
- North Korea-TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
- North Korea-PREFACE
- North Korea-Missile Developments
- North Korea-The Role of Women
- North Korea-THE LEGACY OF JAPANESE COLONIALISM
- North Korea
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Background | | An independent kingdom for much of its long history, Korea was occupied by Japan beginning 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 control. 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 outside 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. North Korea's history of regional military provocations, proliferation of military-related items, long-range missile development, WMD programs including nuclear weapons test in 2006 and 2009, and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community.
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Location | | Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea
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Area(sq km) | | total: 120,538 sq km
land: 120,408 sq km
water: 130 sq km
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Geographic coordinates | | 40 00 N, 127 00 E
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Land boundaries(km) | | total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km
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Coastline(km) | | 2,495 km
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Climate | | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer
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Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m
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Natural resources | | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower
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Land use(%) | | arable land: 22.4%
permanent crops: 1.66%
other: 75.94% (2005)
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Irrigated land(sq km) | | 14,600 sq km (2003)
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Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 77.1 cu km (1999)
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 9.02 cu km/yr (20%/25%/55%)
per capita: 401 cu m/yr (2000)
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Natural hazards | | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall
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Environment - current issues | | water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation
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Environment - international agreements | | party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
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Geography - note | | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated
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Population | | 22,665,345 (July 2009 est.)
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Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 21.3% (male 2,440,439/female 2,376,557)
15-64 years: 69.4% (male 7,776,889/female 7,945,399)
65 years and over: 9.4% (male 820,504/female 1,305,557) (2009 est.)
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Median age(years) | | total: 33.5 years
male: 32.1 years
female: 34.9 years (2009 est.)
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Population growth rate(%) | | 0.42% (2009 est.)
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Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 14.82 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 10.52 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
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Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | -0.09 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 63% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 0.9% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.63 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
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Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 51.34 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 58.64 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 43.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
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Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 63.81 years
male: 61.23 years
female: 66.53 years (2009 est.)
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Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 1.96 children born/woman (2009 est.)
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Nationality | | noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean
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Ethnic groups(%) | | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese
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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
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Languages(%) | | Korean
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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
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Government type | | Communist state one-man dictatorship
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Capital | | name: Pyongyang
geographic coordinates: 39 01 N, 125 45 E
time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
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Administrative divisions | | 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 2 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: Nason-si, P'yongyang-si
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Constitution | | adopted 1948; revised several times
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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
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Suffrage | | 17 years of age; universal
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Executive branch | | chief of state: KIM Jong Il (since July 1994); note - on 9 April 2009, 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 in 2009 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 Premier KWAK Pom Gi (since 5 September 1998), Vice Premier O Su Yong (since 13 April 2009), Vice Premier PAK Su Gil (since 18 September 2009), Vice Premier PAK Myong Su (since 4 September 2009), Vice Premier RO Tu Chol (since 3 September 2003)
cabinet: Naegak (cabinet) members, except for Minister of People's Armed Forces, are appointed by SPA
elections: last held in September 2003; date of next election NA
election results: KIM Jong Il and KIM Yong Nam were only nominees for positions and ran unopposed
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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 8 March 2009 (next due to be held in March 2014)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; ruling party approves a list of candidates who are elected without opposition; a token number of seats are reserved for minor parties
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Judicial branch | | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly)
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Political pressure groups and leaders | | none
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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
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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
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Economy - overview | | 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. Large-scale military spending draws off resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel from pre-1990 levels. Severe flooding in the summer of 2007 aggravated chronic food shortages caused by on-going systemic problems including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and persistent shortages of tractors and fuel. 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. Since 2002, the government has allowed private "farmers' markets" 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. In May 2008, the US agreed to give 500,000 metric tons of food to North Korea via the World Food Program and US nongovernmental organizations; Pyongyang began receiving these shipments in mid-2008. During the October 2007 summit, South Korea also agreed to develop some of North Korea's infrastructure, natural resources, and light industry, but inter-Korean economic cooperation slowed in 2008 as Pyongyang restricted tourism and manufacturing joint ventures in the North, and food aid from South Korea was suspended. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations.
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GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $40 billion (2008 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP (official exchange rate) | | $26.2 billion (2008 est.)
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GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 3.7% (2008 est.)
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GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $1,800 (2008 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 23.3%
industry: 43.1%
services: 33.6% (2002 est.)
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Labor force | | 20 million
note: estimates vary widely (2004 est.)
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Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 37%
industry and services: 63% (2004 est.)
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Unemployment rate(%) | | NA%
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Population below poverty line(%) | | NA%
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Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
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Budget | | revenues: $2.88 billion
expenditures: $2.98 billion (2005)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | NA%
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Economic aid - recipient | | $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.)
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Agriculture - products | | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs
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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
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Industrial production growth rate(%) | | NA%
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Exports | | $1.684 billion (2007)
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Exports - commodities(%) | | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products
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Exports - partners(%) | | South Korea 45%, China 35%, India 5% (2007)
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Imports | | $3.055 billion (2007)
$2.879 billion (2006)
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Imports - commodities(%) | | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain
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Imports - partners(%) | | China 46%, South Korea 34%, Thailand 6%, Russia 4% (2007)
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Debt - external | | $12.5 billion (2001 est.)
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Exchange rates | | North Korean won (KPW) per US dollar - 140 (2007), 141 (2006), 170 (December 2004), market rate: North Korean won per US dollar - 3,400 (October 2008)
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Currency (code) | | North Korean won (KPW)
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Telephones - main lines in use | | 1.18 million (2008)
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Telephone system | | general assessment: inadequate system; currently mobile cellular telephone services are available in Pyongyang only
domestic: fiber-optic links installed between cities; telephone directories unavailable; mobile cellular service, initiated in 2002, suspended in 2004; Orascom Telecom, an Egyptian company, launched mobile service on December 15, 2008 for the Pyongyang area only
international: country code - 850; satellite earth stations - 2 (1 Intelsat - Indian Ocean, 1 Russian - Indian Ocean region); other international connections through Moscow and Beijing (2008)
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Internet country code | | .kp
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Airports | | 79 (2009)
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Pipelines(km) | | oil 154 km (2008)
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Roadways(km) | | total: 25,554 km
paved: 724 km
unpaved: 24,830 km (2006)
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Ports and terminals | | Ch'ongjin, Haeju, Hungnam (Hamhung), Kimch'aek, Kosong, Najin, Namp'o, Sinuiju, Songnim, Sonbong (formerly Unggi), Ungsang, Wonsan
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Military branches | | North Korean People's Army: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force; civil security forces (2005)
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Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | 17 years of age (2004)
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Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 6,225,747
females age 16-49: 6,188,270 (2008 est.)
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Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 4,104,964
females age 16-49: 4,492,374 (2009 est.)
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Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 191,759
female: 184,641 (2009 est.)
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Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | NA
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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)
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Refugees and internally displaced persons | | IDPs: undetermined (flooding in mid-2007 and famine during mid-1990s) (2007)
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Trafficking in persons | | current situation: North Korea is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; the most common form of trafficking involves North Korean women and girls who cross the border into China voluntarily; additionally, North Korean women and girls are lured out of North Korea to escape poor social and economic conditions by the promise of food, jobs, and freedom, only to be forced into prostitution, marriage, or exploitative labor arrangements once in China
tier rating: Tier 3 - North Korea does not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government does not acknowledge the existence of human rights abuses in the country or recognize trafficking, either within the country or transnationally; North Korea has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)
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Electricity - production(kWh) | | 20.9 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 29%
hydro: 71%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
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Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 17.49 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
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Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
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Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 120.7 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 16,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 0 bbl/day (2007 est.)
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Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 13,890 bbl/day (2007 est.)
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Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 0 bbl
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Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008 est.)
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Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008 est.)
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Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008)
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Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | NA
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | NA
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HIV/AIDS - deaths | | NA
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Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99%
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Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | NA
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