50 Fun Facts About North Korea

What do the initials DPRK stand for?

Inside the country the name is usually shortened to 'the Republic', and North Koreans call the land Chosŏn rather than the South's Hanguk.

Which two rivers form North Korea's northern border with China and Russia?

The Amnok is also the country's longest river at 790 km; the southern border with South Korea runs through the DMZ.

What is the highest point in North Korea, a volcano considered sacred and woven into the Kim family cult?

It rises 2,744 metres, and every peak on the Korean Peninsula above 2,000 metres is in the North.

Roughly what proportion of North Korea's land is mountains and uplands?

Early European visitors said the country looked like 'a sea in a heavy gale' because of its successive ranges.

On which river does Pyongyang stand?

The city lies about 109 km upstream from the river's mouth on the Yellow Sea and had 3.26 million people at the 2008 census.

Along which line of latitude was Korea divided into Soviet and American occupation zones in 1945?

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the North on 10 July 1948, with Kim Il Sung as premier.

On what date did North Korea invade the South, starting the Korean War?

The UN Security Council could authorise a response only because the Soviet Union was boycotting it over China's seat.

How did the Korean War end on 27 July 1953?

About 3 million people died, and an estimated 12-15% of North Korea's population was killed, with almost every substantial building destroyed.

Which Soviet leader's de-Stalinisation policies did Kim Il Sung denounce as 'revisionist'?

In the 1956 August faction incident he purged the pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese factions and survived attempts by both powers to remove him.

What is the name of Kim Il Sung's philosophy of self-reliance that became North Korea's state ideology?

It was first sold as a 'creative application' of Marxism-Leninism but had replaced it entirely by the 1970s; the 170-metre Juche Tower in Pyongyang celebrates it.

What was the 'military first' policy introduced by Kim Jong Il called?

The Korean People's Army has about 1.28 million active troops, the fourth-largest active force in the world.

How long a national mourning period did Kim Jong Il declare after his father's death in 1994?

Only afterwards did he formally announce himself as the new leader; the mid-1990s floods and famine followed.

According to Wikipedia, how many people died in the North Korean famine of the mid-1990s?

The government accepted UN food aid in 1996; North Korean children who fled to China became known as Kotjebi.

In which year did North Korea announce it had conducted its first nuclear weapons test?

It had promised to halt nuclear development under the 1994 Agreed Framework; tensions rose again in 2010 with the sinking of the Cheonan.

On what date did Kim Jong Il die, leading to Kim Jong Un's succession?

Kim Jong Un was his youngest son; a series of summits with the US and South Korea followed in 2018 before talks broke down.

What did Kim Jong Un announce on 30 December 2023?

In 2024 the DPRK formally abandoned reunification efforts and sent troops to Russia to support its war in Ukraine.

Which organisation is the sole ruling political force in North Korea?

Its official ideology is Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, and its newspaper is Rodong Sinmun.

What is the name of North Korea's highest state organ, its nominal legislature?

Its Standing Committee holds most of its powers while it is in recess and has the unique right to interpret the constitution.

Kim Il Sung's birthday, 15 April, is a public holiday known as what?

Kim Jong Il's birthday is the Day of the Shining Star; both men are officially the 'eternal leaders of Korea'.

What is Songbun?

Kim Il Sung said in 1958 that the loyal 'core class' was 25% of the population, the 'wavering class' 55% and the 'hostile class' 20%.

In which year was the payment of taxes officially abolished in North Korea?

Food and housing are heavily subsidised and education and healthcare are free, though most people rely on small jangmadang markets.

What is North Korea's currency?

A 2009 revaluation that banned markets and foreign currency triggered inflation and rare public protests, and was reversed.

As of 2023, roughly what share of North Korea's imports came from China?

China also took more than 74% of exports; iron ore and coal are two of the few sectors where the North outproduces the South, by about ten to one.

What is the name of North Korea's walled-garden national intranet?

Maintained by the Korea Computer Center, it carries state media, chat, message boards and e-mail; real internet access is limited to a handful of elites and scientists.

North Korea became the tenth spacefaring nation with which December 2012 launch?

It followed four failed attempts and reached orbit but was believed to be crippled; the country joined the Outer Space Treaty in 2009.

How does North Korea's active-duty army rank in size worldwide?

About 4.9% of the population is on active duty, and roughly one in every 25 citizens is an enlisted soldier.

Which Guinness-recognised Pyongyang event, the world's biggest choreographic show, involves some 100,000 performers?

Another 40,000 participants form a giant animated card-flip screen in the background.

What is the capacity of Pyongyang's Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, the second largest in the world?

It hosts the Mass Games; the Pyongyang Marathon is a separate IAAF Bronze Label race open to foreign amateurs.

Which team did North Korea famously beat 1-0 at the 1966 World Cup?

They then lost 5-3 to Portugal in the quarter-final; at the 2010 World Cup the Chollima lost all three matches.

What is the nickname of North Korea's national football team?

Chollima is a mythical winged horse; the DPR Korea League's games are often televised inside the country.

Which former NBA star visited North Korea in 2013 to help train its basketball team after befriending Kim Jong Un?

North Korea first appeared at the Olympics in 1964 and made its summer debut in 1972 with five medals, including a gold.

What is the Mansudae Art Studio, founded in 1959?

Its overseas division builds giant monuments for foreign governments, and its paintings sell to collectors in China.

Which of North Korea's 'Five Great Revolutionary Operas' is the most performed, staged 1,500+ times?

Revolutionary operas add traditional Korean instruments to the orchestra and avoid recitative; its 2010 China tour was a hit.

Which Western news agency opened the first full-time, all-format Western bureau in Pyongyang in 2012?

All 12 major newspapers, including the party organ Rodong Sinmun, are published in the capital, and there are three state TV stations.

Pyongyang's Juche Tower contains 25,550 granite blocks. What does that number represent?

The 170-metre spire was finished in 1982, for Kim Il Sung's 70th birthday.

Which unfinished Pyongyang skyscraper is the tallest unoccupied building in the world?

It ranks seventh in the world by floor count and is one of the tallest hotels anywhere, yet it has never opened.

Pyongyang's Arch of Triumph is modelled on, but larger than, which monument?

It stands with the Juche Tower and the Mansu Hill Grand Monument among the city's best-known landmarks.

What nickname did missionaries give Pyongyang in the early 20th century for its strong Protestant community?

The Pyongyang Revival of 1907 was the high point; today North Korean media sometimes call the city the 'Capital of the Revolution'.

According to legend, in which year BC was Pyongyang founded on the site of Tan'gun's capital?

It was the capital of Gojoseon and later of Goguryeo, which moved its court there in 427 AD.

Which Dutch East India Company sailor's 1671 writings hold the first modern spelling of 'Korea'?

Both Korean states historically claimed the whole peninsula, and North Koreans consider themselves simply Koreans.

What is the average daily high temperature in Pyongyang in January?

Winters bring clear skies broken by snowstorms on Siberian winds; August highs average 29 C.

How many years of free, compulsory schooling does North Korea provide?

The 2008 census listed the entire population as literate, and about 300 universities and colleges offer higher education.

When did North Korea join the United Nations?

The same year the Soviet Union dissolved and cut off its aid; the DPRK is also in the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77.

What is North Korea's total area?

It lies between latitudes 37 and 43 north, with the Yellow Sea to the west and the Sea of Japan to the east.

Roughly what proportion of North Korea's road network is paved?

Rail carries 80% of passenger traffic and 86% of freight, though electricity shortages hobble the trains.

What name does North Korea use for Korea, as opposed to the South's 'Hanguk'?

Within the country the official name is often shortened simply to 'the Republic', or Konghwaguk.

In which city did the North carry out a 1983 bombing aimed at South Korea's leadership?

It followed failed assassination attempts in 1968 and 1974 and the 1976 axe murder incident at Panmunjom.

What does the regime call the Kim family's ruling lineage?

The three-generation line runs from Kim Il Sung through his son, who took over in 1994, to his grandson in 2011.

Which South Korean president launched the Sunshine Policy toward the North in 1998?

It culminated in the 2000 summit in Pyongyang and a joint declaration promising to seek peaceful reunification.

What do North Koreans call their Pyongan dialect, regarding Seoul speech as decadent?

The name means 'cultured language'; Chinese, Manchu and Western loanwords have been purged from it along with Chinese characters.