North Korea 1998

North Korea Capital

In 1998, North Korea was a closed and isolated country located in East Asia. It had a population of around 22 million people and its capital city was Pyongyang. The economy of North Korea in 1998 was largely based on agriculture with its main exports including minerals, metals, and agricultural products whilst imports included machinery and transport equipment. In terms of infrastructure, North Korea had a limited transportation network with well-maintained roads and airports as well as access to international shipping routes. Education levels were high with most children attending school until at least age 16. Health care was also poor with limited access to public health services available to most people. Despite its small size, North Korea is renowned for its diverse landscapes ranging from mountains to rivers as well as its vibrant cities such as Kaesong which are filled with art galleries, museums and parks. See dentistrymyth for North Korea in the year of 2015.

Yearbook 1998

North Korea. The Geneva talks between North Korea, South Korea, the United States and China on a Korean peace treaty, initiated in December 1997, continued in March and October but without progress. One reason was North Korea’s demand for calls even for taking home the US’s 37,000 soldiers from South Korea and for separate peace between North Korea and the US, demands that the US completely rejected.

  • Abbreviationfinder: What does NK stand for in geography? Here, this 3 letter acronym refers to the country of North Korea.

The contacts between North and South Korea, formally still at war, were marked as before by both peace messengers and deep mistrust. In June, when the founder of South Korean Hyundai Group Chung Ju Yung shipped 500 cattle across the border to help with food shortages in the north, North Korea claimed 71 animals had died since being poisoned in South Korea. In October, however, Chung was able to deliver a second, equally large livestock transport.

Hyundai was also behind the two historic tourist cruises that in November, for the first time, allowed South Koreans to visit the closed North Korea. The tour gave over 1,000 tourists, many born in the north before the country’s split in 1945, an insight into the neighboring country’s tough, poor everyday life, but the visit was also rigorously monitored by North Korean guards.

Despite three years of emergency deliveries from the outside world, North Korea’s food shortage and famine persisted. The international aid group Doctors Without Borders said in April that a large part of the aid has stayed with the military and officials. Five months later, Doctors Without Borders announced that they had to leave North Korea after collaboration with the regime broke down. In November, the Red Cross maintained that the state of livelihood was critical and that “a whole generation of North Korean children received but for life” by the famine.

In other ways, the communist regime also raised concerns. On August 31, the country fired a rocket over Japan, which angrily protested against what was seen as a trial shot of a long-range robot. North Korea claimed to have placed its first satellite in orbit.

In the fall, tensions between North Korea and the United States increased since Americans demanded to inspect a large underground complex, discovered via spy satellites. The suspicion was that North Korea where again trying to develop nuclear weapons, something the country declined in exchange for modern nuclear technology from the United States, Japan and South Korea. North Korea refused to let inspectors get there and accused the United States of wanting to trigger a war.

According to Countryaah, the capital of North Korea is Pyongyang. The country’s highest leader, party and military chief Kim Jong Il, was elected to parliament on July 26. But his long-awaited appointment for president also failed. Instead, his father, the 1994 deceased Kim Il Sung, was named North Korea’s “eternal president”.

Country data

Area: 122,762 km2 (world ranking: 96)

Residents: 25,491,000

Population density: 208 per km2 (as of 2017, world ranking: 52)

Capital: P’yongyang (Pyongyang)

Official languages: Korean

Gross domestic product: No information

Gross national product (GNP, per resident and year): N / A

Currency: 1 Won = 100 Chon

Message

Glinkastr. 5
7, 10117 Berlin
Telephone 030 20625990,
Fax 030 2293191
E-Mail: info@dprkorea-emb.de

Government
Head of State: Kim Yong-nam, Head of State: Kim Jong-un, Head of Government: Pak Pong-ju, Exterior: Ri Yong- ho

national day
9.9.

Administrative divisions
9 provinces and 2 municipalities

Form of Government
1948 Constitution
People’s Republic
Parliament. Supreme People’s Assembly (Ch’oego inmin hoeui) with 687 Members Rank, elections every 5 years
election of the head of state and the Central People’s Committee by Parliament every 5 years
from suffrage 17 years old Koreans

population, last census 2008: 24.052.231 inh. 99% Koreans; Chinese minority cities (with population) (as of 2008) P’yongyang (Pyongyang) 2,581,076 residents, Hamhung 703,610, Ch’ongjin 614,892, Sinuiju 334,031, Wonsan 328,467, Namp’o 310,531 religions

mostly non-denominational; Minorities of Buddhists, Confucians, shamanists, Christians, followers of Cheondogyo (as of 2006)

Languages: Korean; Russian and Chinese

Workers by economic sector: no information

Unemployment (in% of all economically active persons)
no information

Inflation rate (in%): no information

Foreign trade: Import: 3.9 billion US $ (2017); Export: US $ 1.9 billion (2017)

North Korea Capital