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Geography of North Korea

North Korea is considered to be a large nation because of its total area. Its total land area is 120,540 km² (approx. 46,541 mi²). Continental shelf of North Korea is approximately 54,566 km² (around 21,068 mi²). North Korea is located in Asia. Asia is the world’s largest and most populous continent. Asian countries include, but are not limited to, Russia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and North and South Korea. North Korea has 3 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include People's Republic of China, South Korea, Russia. North Korea is not a landlocked country. It means that is is bordered by at least one major body of water. The average elevation range of North Korea is 600 m (1,969 ft).

Neighbors

Total length of land borders of North Korea is 1607 kilometers (~620 miles). North Korea shares its land borders with 3 different countries, and has the same number of unique land boundaries to neigbouring territories. As in the case of North Korea, if a country has the same number of unique neighboring territories as number of land borders, than that country has no non-contiguous sections of a land border. This is in contrast to several countries that have multiple non-contiguous sections of land borders. North Korea has 3 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include People's Republic of China, South Korea, and Russia. The lengths of the land borders of North Korea with its neighbouring countries are as follows:

Cities

The capital city of North Korea is Pyongyang. The largest city in North Korea is Pyongyang.

Elevation

The average elevation range of North Korea is 600 m (1,969 ft). The highest point of North Korea is Paektu-san, with its official height being 2744 m (9,003 ft). The lowest point of North Korea is Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea. The elevation difference between the highest (Paektu-san) and lowest (Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea) points of North Korea is 2744 m (2 ft).

Area

The total land area of North Korea is 120,540 km² (approx. 46,541 mi²). and the total exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is 132,826 km² (~51,284 mi²). The continental shelf of North Korea is approximately 54,566 km² (around 21,068 mi²). Including land mass and EEZ, the total area of North Korea is approximately 253,366 km² (~97,825 mi²). North Korea is considered to be a large nation because of its total area.

Forest and arable land

76,240 km² of North Korea's territory is covered in forests, and forest land comprises 63% of all the land in the country. There are 26,972 km² of arable land in North Korea, and it comprises 22% of the country's total territory.

Read our section on climate to discover what parameters affect these and other biomes of the country.

Natural resources

The most notable natural resources found in North Korea are coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower.