North Korea 
Facts
Population: 23,301,725 (July 2007 est.).
Age structure: 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.).
Population growth rate: 0.785% (2007 est.).
Birth rate: 15.06 births/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Death rate: 7.21 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Sex ratio: 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.).
Infant mortality rate: 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.).
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 71.92 years
male: 69.18 years
female: 74.8 years (2007 est.).
Total fertility rate: 2.05 children born/woman (2007 est.).
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: NA.
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA.
HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA.
Nationality: noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean.
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)
note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom.
Languages: Korean.
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99%.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $40 billion
note: North Korea does not publish any reliable National Income Accounts data; the datum shown here is derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP estimates for North Korea that were made by Angus MADDISON in a study conducted for the OECD; his figure for 1999 was extrapolated to 2006 using estimated real growth rates for North Korea's GDP and an inflation factor based on the US GDP deflator; the result was rounded to the nearest $10 billion (2006 est.).
GDP - real growth rate: 1.8% (2006 est.).
GDP - per capita (PPP): $1,800 (2006 est.).
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 30%
industry: 34%
services: 36% (2002 est.).
Labor force: 9.6 million.
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 36%
industry and services: 64%.
Population below poverty line: NA%.
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%.
Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA%.
Unemployment rate: NA%.
Budget: revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA.
Agriculture - products: rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs.
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.
Industrial production growth rate: NA%.
Electricity - production: 21.71 billion kWh (2004).
Electricity - consumption: 20.19 billion kWh (2004).
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004).
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004).
Exports: $1.34 billion f.o.b. (2005).
Exports - commodities: minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products.
Exports - partners: China 35%, South Korea 24%, Thailand 9%, Japan 9% (2005).
Imports: $2.72 billion c.i.f. (2005).
Imports - commodities: petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain.
Imports - partners: China 42%, South Korea 28%, Russia 9%, Thailand 8% (2005).
Debt - external: $12 billion (1996 est.).
Economic aid - recipient: $NA; note - approximately 350,000 metric tons in food aid, worth approximately $118 million, through the World Food Program appeal in 2004, plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations.
Currency (code): North Korean won (KPW).
Exchange rates: official: North Korean won per US dollar - 141 (2006), 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), market: North Korean won per US dollar - 2,500-3,000 (December 2006).
Fiscal year: calendar year.
Statistics: C.I.A. World Factbook. Updated: July 20, 2007.
Press
Nodong Sinmun
(Party organ), Pyongyang
(Tokyo-based semimonthly organ of DPRK),
http://www.korea-np.co.jp/pk/
(Government-owned), Pyongyang
http://www.times.dprkorea.com/
North Korea in the News
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Displaying 5 to 8 of 23 items.
Time is against South Korea and the United States in their negotiations with North Korea, World Press Review correspondent David Scofield reports from Seoul.
Andrei Kirillov, writing for the Russian weekly Moskovskie Novosti, finds something 'mystical' about the negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program.
The six-way talks on North Korea’s nuclear program ended on Aug. 29. Even if there was no sudden rupture at the talks, there was no real breakthrough, either—in terms of concrete measures to solve the issue or of the date, time, or location, writes for the next meeting, write Takayasu Atsuhsi and Sudou Takashi of Mainichi Shimbun.
'China is increasingly becoming an important force in maintaining the peace in its own region,' Beijing's official Xinhua News Agency declares.
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