North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) (Chosongul (Hangul): ???????????), is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok River (Yalu River) and the Tumen River form the border between North Korea and Peoples Republic of China. A section of the Tumen River in the extreme north-east is the border with Russia.
The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan (Korea under Japanese rule) following the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. It was divided (Division of Korea) into Soviet and American occupied zones in 1945, following the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations-supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. Both North and South Korea claimed sovereignty over the peninsula as a whole, which led to the Korean War of 1950. A 1953 armistice ended the fighting; however, the two countries are officially still at war with each other, as a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991. On May 26, 2009, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice.
North Korea is a single-party state under a united front (Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland) led by the Korean Workers Party (KWP). The countrys government follows the Juche ideology of self-reliance, developed by the countrys former President, Kim Il-Sung. After his death, Kim Il-Sung was declared to be the countrys Eternal President (Eternal President of the Republic). Juche became the official state ideology when the country adopted a new constitution (Constitution of North Korea) in 1972, though Kim Il-sung had been using it to form policy since at least as early as 1955. Officially a socialist republic, many media organizations outside North Korea report that it is a totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship. The current secretary of the KWP Central Committee Secretariat and leader of the armed forces is Kim Jong-il, son of Kim Il-sung.
Native Name: langko???????????,''Chos?n Minjuju?i Inmin Konghwaguk''
Conventional Long Name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Conventional Short Name: North Korea
Common Name: North Korea
Image Flag: Flag of North Korea.svg
Image Coat: Coat of Arms of North Korea.svg
Symbol Type: Coat of arms
Image Map: North Korea (orthographic projection).svg
Motto: ????,''Powerful and Prosperous Nation''
National Anthem: ''Aegukka'' (???),("The Patriotic Song")
Official Languages: Korean (Korean language)
Languages Type: Official scripts
Languages: Chos?n'g?l
Demonym: North Korean, Korean
Capital: Pyongyang latd=39 latm=2 latNS=N longd=125 longm=45 longEW=E
Leader Title1: Eternal President (Eternal President of the Republic)
Leader Title2: Supreme Leader (List of leaders of North Korea)
Leader Title3: Defence Commission Chairman (National Defence Commission of North Korea)
Leader Title4: President of the Presidium (Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly#President of the Presidium of the SPA)
Leader Title5: Premier (Premier of North Korea)
Leader Name1: Kim Il-sung,(deceased)Ref labelaaaa
Leader Name2: Kim Jong-il
Leader Name3: Kim Jong-il
Leader Name4: Kim Yong-namRef labelbbbb
Leader Name5: Kim Yong-il
Legislature: Supreme People's Assembly (Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea)
Largest City: Pyongyang
Area Km2: 120,540
Area Sq Mi: 46,528
Area Rank: 98th
Area Magnitude: 1 E11
Percent Water: 4.87
Population Estimate: 24,051,218
Population Estimate Rank: 51st
Population Density Km2: 198.3
Population Density Sq Mi: 513.8
Population Density Rank: 55th
Gdp Nominal: $28.2 billion
Gdp Nominal Rank: 88th
Gdp Nominal Per Capita: $1,244
Gdp Nominal Per Capita Rank: 139th
Gdp Ppp: $ (United States dollar)40 billion
Gdp Ppp Rank: 94th
Gdp Ppp Per Capita: $1,900 (2009 est.)
Gdp Ppp Per Capita Rank: 188th
Gini: n/a
Gini Category: low
Fsi: 97.7 increase 0.4
Fsi Rank: 13th
Fsi Category: Alert
Established Event1: Independence declared (March 1st Movement)
Established Event2: Liberation (Victory over Japan Day)
Established Event3: Formal declaration
Established Date1: March 1, 1919
Established Date2: August 15, 1945
Established Date3: September 9, 1948
Currency: North Korean won (?)
Currency Code: KPW
Time Zone: Korea Standard Time
Utc Offset: +9
Date Format: yy, yyyy? mm? dd?,yy, yyyy/mm/dd (CE-1911 (Juche calendar), CE (Common Era))
Drives On: right
Cctld: .kp
Calling Code: 850 (Telephone numbers in North Korea)
Footnotes: noteaaa a. Died 1994, named "Eternal President" in 1998., notebbb b. Kim Yong-nam is the "head of state (Head of State) for foreign affairs".