North Korea Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

North Korea Population, cities

Population

According to Countryaah website, North Korea has about 24 million residents.

Ethnic composition

99% Koreans, Chinese are the largest minority.

Religion

15% of North Koreans practice shamanistic cults, 15% are followers of the Chondokyo religion. There are also small minorities of Christians and Buddhists. The Christians in the country in particular are persecuted and are often sent to camps.

National languages

Korean is the official language

Capital

Pyongyang

The capital of North Korea is Pyongyang with approx. 4.1 million residents. According to Abbreviation Finder, PRK stands for North Korea in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Kaesong

This city with around 340,000 residents is located a little more than 10 km north of the border with South Korea. In 2004 the special economic zone of the same name, in which around 50,000 North Koreans and around 1,000 South Koreans are employed, was officially opened after preparatory work had already started a few years earlier.

Here clothes, trainers, household appliances and car accessories are manufactured. South Korea benefits from the local low wages, while North Korea receives significant foreign exchange income from it. There is a kind of motorway to Pyongyang and the south, as well as direct train connections.

From April 3, 2013, however, the South Koreans were refused entry. It remains to be seen whether this is the end of this last and very successful cooperation between South and North Korea.

North Korea: geography

North Korea has the northern part of the Korean peninsula and a narrow strip of the mainland, which geographically belongs to the East Asian mainland mass. Neighbors are China, Russia and South Korea. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of North Korea.

Area and land use

North Korea covers a total area of 122,762 km².

Thereof:

  • ForestAround 74% of the country is forested.
  • Meadow, pasture landAround 1% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.
  • Arable land and fieldsAround 18% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing rice.
  • MountainsAround 80% of the area is mountainous.

National borders

North Korea has a common border with three countries:

China with a length of around 1,416 km,

South Korea with a length of around 238 km,

Russia with a length of around 25 km.

Coastline

North Korea has a sea coast with a length of around 2,495 km.

Tidal range

In Wonsan on the Sea of Japan, the mean tidal range is around 1 m.

Compare

The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.

On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

North Korea extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from 38 ° to 43 ° north latitude Δλ = from 124 ° to 131 ° east longitude

You can find detailed information on this subject under: Geographical longitude and latitude.

Legal time

For North Korea, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without daylight saving time). A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:

Δt (CET) = + 8 h

More detailed explanations of the time can be found under: Time zones, time.

Highest level of the sun in Pyongyang

Pyongyang lies at a northern latitude of around φ = 39 ° (exactly: 39 ° 01 ‘).

If the sun, or its image point, is at the northern tropic, i.e. at = 23.5 °, summer begins in Pyongyang, this is June 21. Then for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

39 ° = (90 ° – h) + 23.5 °

so:

H = 74.5 °

At 74.5 °, the sun in Pyongyang has the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (more precisely: above the horizon).

Mountains

Paektusan

The highest mountain in the country is the Paektusan with a height of 2,744 m. The mountain is on the border with China.

Kwanmo

The Kwanmo has a height of 2,540 m and is part of the Hamgyong mountain range.

Kumgang Mountains

The Kumgang Mountains (Diamond Mountains) as part of the T’aebaek mountain range are among the most beautiful in North Korea.

Rivers

Jalu

The longest river in the country is the Jalu with a length of around 790 km.

Lakes

The country includes numerous smaller and larger reservoirs.

Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan

The Yellow Sea is in the west of the country and in the east is the Sea of Japan.

Yellow Sea

The Yellow Sea borders China and North and South Korea. In the south it merges into the East China Sea. Its lowest point is around 110 m. It takes its name from the yellow alluvial sand that the Yellow River (Huáng Hé ) and other smaller rivers in particular wash into the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea covers an area of around km². At its widest point between China and South Korea, the sea is around 630 km wide, and between China and North Korea around 665 km. Its narrowest point is around 195 km between China and North Korea.

Sea of Japan 

The Sea of Japan lies between the Japanese islands and the mainland (China, Korea, and Russia). It covers an area of 1,048,950 km² – with a maximum Tife of 3,745 m. Alongside South and North Korea, there are also China, Japan and Russia on the Sea of Japan.

The connections to the Pacific are the Korea Strait in the south, the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido (Japan) and the La Pérouse Strait between the islands of Hokkaido (Japan) and Sakhalin (Russia).

North Korea Population