Korea, North

dictatorship, single-party communist state

name: Pyongyang geographic coordinates: 39 01 N, 125 45 E time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) time zone note: on 5 May 2018, North Korea reverted to UTC+9, the same time zone as South Korea etymology: the name translates as "flat land" in Korean

chief of state: State Affairs Commission President KIM Jong Un (since 17 December 2011) head of government: Supreme People's Assembly President CHOE Ryong Hae (since 11 April 2019) cabinet: Cabinet or Naegak members appointed by the Supreme People's Assembly, except the Minister of People's Armed Forces election/appointment process: chief of state and premier indirectly elected by the Supreme People's Assembly most recent election date: 11 April 2019 election results: 2019: KIM Jong Un reelected unopposed expected date of next election: March 2024 note 1: KIM Jong Un's titles include general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (KWP), chairman of the KWP Central Military Commission, president of the State Affairs Commission, and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army note 2: in the North Korean system, KIM Jong Un's role as chief of state is secondary to his role as general secretary of the Korean Workers' Party; chief of state is used to engage with non-communist countries such as the US; North Korea revised its constitution in 2019 to define "the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission" as "the supreme leader who represents the state"; functions as the commander-in-chief and chief executive; the specific titles associated with this office have changed multiple times under KIM's tenure, but KIM Jong Un has been supreme leader since his father's death in 2011 note 3: the head of government functions as the technical head of state and performs related duties, such as receiving ambassadors' credentials

legislature name: Supreme People's Assembly (Choe Go In Min Hoe Ui) legislative structure: unicameral number of seats: 687 (all directly elected) electoral system: plurality/majority scope of elections: full renewal term in office: 5 years most recent election date: 3/10/2019 percentage of women in chamber: 17.6% expected date of next election: December 2025 note: the SPA functions as a rubberstamp legislature; the Korean Workers' Party selects all candidates

highest court(s): Supreme Court or Central Court (consists of one judge and 2 "People's Assessors" or, for some cases, 3 judges) judge selection and term of office: judges elected by the Supreme People's Assembly for 5-year terms subordinate courts: lower provincial courts as determined by the Supreme People's Assembly

history: previous 1948, 1972; latest adopted 1998 amendment process: proposed by the Supreme People s Assembly (SPA); passage requires more than two-thirds majority vote of the total SPA membership

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

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

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) note 1 : Kim Jong Un is the KPA supreme commander, while operational control of the armed forces resides in the General Staff Department (GSD), which reports directly to Kim; the GSD maintains overall control of all military forces and is charged with turning Kim s directives into operational military orders; the Ministry of National Defense (MND) is responsible for administrative control of the military and external relations with foreign militaries note 2: the Security Guard Command protects the Kim family, other senior leadership figures, and government facilities note 4: the North also has a large paramilitary/militia force organized into the Worker Peasant Red Guard and Red Youth Guard; these organizations are present at all levels of government (province, county, ward) and are under the control of the Korean Workers' Party in peacetime, but revert to KPA control in crisis or war; they are often mobilized for domestic projects, such as road building and agricultural support

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)

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)

estimated 10-12,000 Russia (2025)

$15.416 billion (2023 est.) $14.959 billion (2022 est.) $14.982 billion (2021 est.) note: data in 2015 dollars

$600 (2023 est.) $600 (2022 est.) $600 (2021 est.) note: data in 2015 dollars

2.9% (2024 est.) 2.9% (2023 est.) 2.9% (2022 est.) note: % of labor force seeking employment

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

maize, vegetables, rice, apples, cabbages, fruits, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, soybeans (2023) note: top ten agricultural products based on tonnage

total: 26,402,841 (2025 est.) male: 12,884,269 female: 13,518,572

0.4% (2025 est.)

0-14 years: 19.9% (male 2,673,822/female 2,548,775) 15-64 years: 68.9% (male 9,054,771/female 9,066,447) 65 years and over: 11.2% (2024 est.) (male 1,099,676/female 1,855,175)

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.)

total population: 73.5 years (2024 est.) male: 70.2 years female: 77 years

urban population: 63.2% of total population (2023) rate of urbanization: 0.85% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

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

Korean major-language sample(s): 월드 팩트북, 필수적인 기본 정보 제공처 (Korean) The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

traditionally Buddhist and Confucian, 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

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

tier rating: Tier 3 the government of North Korea does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, North Korea remained on Tier 3; for more details, go to: https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/north-korea/

81 (2025)

total: 7,435 km (2014) standard gauge: 7,435 km (2014) 1.435-m gauge (5,400 km electrified) note: figures are approximate; some narrow-gauge railway also exists

total: 264 (2023) by type: bulk carrier 10, container ship 5, general cargo 191, oil tanker 29, other 29

total subscriptions: 6.35 million (2022 est.) subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 24 (2022 est.)