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U.S. Department of State

Diplomacy in Action

North Korea (10/06)





Democratic People's Republic of Korea


Nationality: Noun and adjective--Korean(s).
Population (2006): 23.1 million.
Annual growth rate: About +0.98%.
Ethnic groups: Korean; small ethnic Chinese and Japanese populations.
Language: Korean.
Health (1998): Medical treatment is free; one doctor for every 700 inhabitants; one hospital bed for every 350; there are severe shortages of medicines and medical equipment. Infant mortality rate--25/1,000. Life expectancy--males 68 yrs., females 74 yrs (2004 est.).

Type: Highly centralized communist state.
Independence: August 15, 1945--Korean liberation from Japan; September 9, 1948--establishment of the Republic of Korea, marking its separation from North Korea.
Constitution: 1948; 1972, revised in 1992 and 1998.
Political party: Korean Workers' Party (communist).
Suffrage: Universal at 17.

Per capita GNI(2004): $914
Mining and manufacturing: Types-- military products; machine building, chemicals; mining (gold, coal, iron ore, limestone, magnesite, etc.), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism
Trade (2005): Exports -- $1.34 billion; minerals, non-metal products, machinery, textiles, agriculture and fishery products.
The D.P.R.K. is also thought to earn hundreds of millions of dollars from the unreported sale of missiles, narcotics and counterfeit cigarettes, and other illicit activities. Imports: $2.72 billion; petroleum, coking coal, machinery, textiles and grain.
Major trading partners : (1) China, (2)ROK, (3)Thailand, (4)Russia and (5) Japan






Korean War of 1950-53








Principal Party and Government Officials
Pak Gil- yon-Ambassador to D.P.R.K. Permanent Mission to the UN
Paek Nam-sun--Minister of Foreign Affairs






Reunification Efforts Since 1971

However, these initial contacts broke down in 1973 following South Korean President Park Chung Hee's announcement that the South would seek separate entry into the United Nations, and after the kidnapping of South Korean opposition leader Kim Dae-Jung--perceived as friendly to unified entry into the UN--by South Korean intelligence services. There was no other significant contact between North and South Korea until 1984.









In 2003, the D.P.R.K. joined Six-Party Talks--including the U.S., R.O.K., Russia, China, and Japan--and agreed in September 2005, at the fourth round of the talks, to a Joint Statement of Principles, in which the six parties unanimously reaffirmed the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a verifiable manner (see below, Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula). In the Joint Statement, the D.P.R.K. committed to abandoning its nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs, and the other five participants offered energy assistance, steps toward normalization of relations, and regional confidence-building measures. However, in November 2005, the D.P.R.K. began a boycott of the Six-Party Talks, citing the "U.S.' hostile policy" and specifically U.S. law enforcement action that had led in September to a freeze of North Korean accounts in Macau's Banco Delta Asia.

Relations Outside the Peninsula






In the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement issued at the end of the fourth round of Six-Party Talks, the U.S. and D.P.R.K. committed to undertake steps to normalize relations (see below, Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula). As part of the normalization process, the two nations agreed to discuss outstanding issues, including D.P.R.K. human rights abuses, biological and chemical weapons programs, ballistic missile programs and proliferation, terrorism, and illicit activities. The D.P.R.K. and Japan also agreed to take steps to normalize relations and to discuss outstanding issues of concern, including abductions.

On July 4th and 5th (local time), the D.P.R.K. launched seven ballistic missiles, including six short- and medium-range missiles and one of possible intercontinental range. In response, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1695 on July 15, which demands that the D.P.R.K. suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program and reestablish existing commitments to a moratorium on missile launching. The resolution also requires all UN Member States, in accordance with their national legal authorities and consistent with international law, to exercise vigilance and prevent missile and missile-related items, materials, goods and technology from being transferred to the D.P.R.K.'s missile or WMD programs, prevent the procument of missiles or related items, materials, goods and services from the D.P.R.K., and the transfer of any financial resources in relation to the D.P.R.K.'s missile or WMD programs.

The D.P.R.K. is not known to have sponsored terrorist acts since 1987, when KAL 858 was bombed in flight. The D.P.R.K. has also been involved in the abduction of foreign citizens. In 2002, Kim Jong Il acknowledged to Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi the involvement of D.P.R.K. "special institutions" in the kidnapping of Japanese citizens between 1977 and 1983 and said that those responsible had been punished. While five surviving victims and their families were allowed to resettle in Japan in October 2002, other cases remain unresolved and the issue continues to be a major issue in D.P.R.K.-Japanese relations. Another unresolved kidnapping case involves Reverend Kim Dong Shik, a missionary working with North Korean refugees in China. In 2000, Kim, who held permanent resident status in the United States, disappeared from his home near the North Korean border. It was feared he had been kidnapped by North Korean agents for helping refugees make their way from the D.P.R.K. through China to South Korea. In October 2005, the D.P.R.K. acknowledged for the first time having kidnapped R.O.K. citizens in previous decades, claiming that several abductees, as well as several POWs from the Korean War, were still alive. In June 2006, North Korea allowed Kim Young-nam, a South Korean abducted by the North in 1978, to participate in a family reunion.

The D.P.R.K. has made statements condemning terrorism. In October 2000, the U.S. and the D.P.R.K. issued a joint statement in which "the two sides agreed that international terrorism poses an unacceptable threat to global security and peace, and that terrorism should be opposed in all its forms." The U.S. and D.P.R.K. agreed to support the international legal regime combating international terrorism and to cooperate with each other to fight terrorism. However, Pyongyang continues to provide sanctuary to members of the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction who participated in the hijacking of a Japan Airlines flight to North Korea in 1970. The D.P.R.K. became a signatory to the Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism and a party to the Convention Against the Taking of Hostages in November 2001.

U.S. Support for North-South Dialogue and Reunification

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
To reverse the North's decision, the U.S. opened talks with the D.P.R.K. in June 1993 and eventually reached agreement in October 1994 on a diplomatic roadmap, known as the Agreed Framework, for the resolution of the nuclear standoff. The Agreed Framework called for the following steps:

  • As an interim measure, the U.S. agreed to provide North Korea with 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil annually until the first reactor was built.



As called for in Dr. William Perry's official review of U.S. policy toward North Korea, the U.S. and D.P.R.K. launched new negotiations in May 2000 called the Agreed Framework Implementation Talks. The U.S. and D.P.R.K. also began negotiations for a comprehensive missile agreement, pursuant to the Perry recommendations.

Following the inauguration of President George W. Bush in January 2001, the Administration halted the nuclear and missile talks that were under way, specifying that it intended to review the United States's North Korea policy. The Administration announced on June 6, 2001, that it was prepared to resume dialogue with North Korea albeit on a broader agenda of issues--including North Korea's conventional force posture, missile development and export programs, human rights practices, and humanitarian issues.

In October 2002, a U.S. delegation confronted North Korea with the assessment that it had a uranium enrichment program. North Korean officials acknowledged to the U.S. delegation, headed by then-Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James A. Kelly, the existence of the program. Such a program violated North Korea's obligations under the NPT and its commitments in the 1992 North-South Denuclearization Declaration and the 1994 Agreed Framework. The U.S. side stated that North Korea would have to terminate the program before any further progress could be made in U.S.-D.P.R.K. relations. The U.S. side also made clear that if this program were verifiably eliminated, the U.S. would be prepared to work with North Korea on the development of a fundamentally new relationship. Subsequently, the D.P.R.K. has denied the existence of a uranium enrichment program, despite evidence to the contrary. In November 2002, the member countries of KEDO's Executive Board agreed to suspend heavy fuel oil shipments to North Korea pending a resolution of the nuclear dispute.

In late 2002 and early 2003, North Korea terminated the freeze on its existing plutonium-based nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, expelled IAEA inspectors, removed seals and monitoring equipment at Yongbyon, quit the NPT, and resumed reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium for weapons purposes. North Korea announced that it was taking these steps to provide itself with a deterrent force in the face of U.S. threats and the U.S.'s "hostile policy." Beginning in mid-2003, the North repeatedly claimed to have completed reprocessing of the spent fuel rods previously frozen at Yongbyon and publicly said that the resulting fissile material would be used to bolster its "nuclear deterrent force." There is no independent confirmation of North Korea's claims. The KEDO Executive Board suspended work on the Light Water Reactor Project beginning December 1, 2003.
President Bush has made clear that the United States has no intention to invade or attack North Korea. He has also stressed that the United States seeks a peaceful end to North Korea's nuclear program in cooperation with North Korea's neighbors, who are directly affected by the threat the nuclear program poses to regional stability and security.

Beginning in early 2003, the United States proposed multilateral talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. North Korea initially opposed such a process, maintaining that the nuclear dispute was purely a bilateral matter between the United States and the D.P.R.K. However, under pressure from its neighbors and with the active involvement of China, North Korea agreed to three-party talks with China and the U.S. in Beijing in April 2003 and to Six-Party Talks with the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan and Russia in August 2003, also in Beijing. During the August 2003 round of Six-Party Talks, North Korea agreed to the eventual elimination of its nuclear programs if the United States were first willing to sign a bilateral "non-aggression treaty" and meet various other conditions, including the provision of substantial amounts of aid and normalization of relations. The North Korean proposal was unacceptable to the United States, which insisted on a multilateral resolution to the issue and eschewed provision of benefits before the D.P.R.K. completed denuclearization. In October 2003, President Bush said he would be willing to consider a multilateral written security guarantee in the context of North Korea's complete, verifiable, and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons program.

China hosted a second round of Six-Party Talks in Beijing in February 2004. The United States saw the results as positive, including the announced intention of all parties to hold a third round by the end of June and to form a working group to maintain momentum between plenary sessions. China, Japan, Russia, and the R.O.K. accepted the position of the United States that the central objective of the process was the complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of the North's nuclear programs.

At the third round of Six-Party Talks in Beijing, in June 2004, the United States tabled a comprehensive and substantive proposal aimed at resolving the nuclear issue. All parties agreed to hold a fourth round of talks by end-September 2004. Despite its commitment, the D.P.R.K. refused to return to the table, and in the months that followed issued a series of provocative statements. In February 10, 2005, Foreign Ministry statement, the D.P.R.K. declared it had "manufactured nuclear weapons" and was "indefinitely suspending" its participation in the Six-Party Talks. In Foreign Ministry statements in March, the D.P.R.K. said it would no longer be bound by its voluntary moratorium on ballistic missile launches, and declared itself a nuclear weapons state.
Following intense diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and other parties, the fourth round of Six-Party Talks were held in Beijing over a period of 20 days from July-September 2005, with a recess period in August. Discussions were substantive and useful, and resulted in all parties agreeing to a Joint Statement of Principles. In the September 19 joint statement, the six parties unanimously reaffirmed the goal of verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner. The D.P.R.K. for the first time committed to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and to return, at an early date, to the NPT and to IAEA safeguards. The other parties agreed to provide economic cooperation and energy assistance. The United States and the D.P.R.K. agreed to take steps to normalize relations subject to bilateral policies, which for the United States includes our concerns over North Korea's ballistic missile programs and deplorable human rights conditions. While the Joint Statement provides a vision of the end-point of the Six-Party process, much work lies ahead to implement the elements of the agreement. The Six Parties held a fifth round of talks in Beijing in November 2005, with the focus on implementation of the Joint Statement.

The Six-Party Talks have not reconvened since November 2005, due to the D.P.R.K.'s refusal to return to the Talks. The United States and other Six-Party Talks partners have called on the D.P.R.K. to return to the Six-Party Talks and begin implementation of the September 19 Joint Statement, which would benefit all parties. UNSCR 1695 also explicitly calls for the early reconvening of the Six-Party Talks and for the DPRK to return to them. The United States held discussions in Kuala Lumpur and New York in 2006 with other Six-Party partners, with the exception of North Korea, along with representatives from other regional powers in the Asia-Pacific region, to discuss Northeast Asian security issues, including North Korea.

North Korea's economy declined sharply in the 1990s with the end of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the ensuing breakdown of trade relations with the countries of the former socialist bloc. Gross national income per capita is estimated to have fallen by about one-third between 1990 and 2002. The economy has since stabilized and shown some modest growth in recent years. But output and living standards remain far below 1990 levels. Other centrally-planned economies in similar straits opted for domestic economic reform and liberalization of trade and investment. North Korea introduced some modest wage and price reforms in 2002, and has increasingly tolerated markets and a small private sector as the state-run distribution system has deteriorated. But the regime seems determined to maintain control. In October 2005, buffeted by an improved harvest and increased food donations from South Korea, the North Korean government banned private grain sales and announced a return to centralized food rationing. However, reports indicate this effort to reassert state control has been largely ineffective. Another factor contributing to the economy's poor performance is the disproportionately large share of GDP (thought to be about one-fourth) that North Korea devotes to its military.


North Korea experienced a severe famine following record floods in the summer of 1995 and continues to suffer from chronic food shortages and malnutrition. The United Nations World Food Program provided substantial emergency food assistance beginning in 1995 (2 million tons of which came from the United States), but the North Korean government suspended the WFP emergency program at the end of 2005 and has since permitted the WFP to resume operations on a greatly reduced scale. External food aid now comes primarily from China and South Korea in the form of grants and long-term concessional loans. South Korea also donates fertilizer and other materials, while China provides energy. South Korea suspended food and fertilizer shipments to the North in response to North Korea's missile launches in July 2006. However, when severe floods later that month threatened to produce another humanitarian crisis, South Korea announced a one-time donation of 100,000 tons of food, matching contributions from South Korean NGOs. About 80% of North Korea's terrain consists of moderately high mountain ranges and partially forested mountains and hills separated by deep, narrow valleys and small, cultivated plains. The most rugged areas are the north and east coasts. Good harbors are found on the eastern coast. Pyongyang, the capital, near the country's west coast, is located on the Taedong River.

Development Policy
In 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and termination of subsidized trade arrangements with Russia, other former Communist states, and China, the D.P.R.K. announced the creation of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the northeast regions of Najin, Chongjin, and Sonbong. Problems with infrastructure, bureaucracy, and uncertainties about investment security and viability have hindered growth and development of this SEZ. The government announced in 2002 plans to establish a Special Administrative Region (SAR) in Sinuiju, at the western end of the D.P.R.K.-China border. However, the government has taken few concrete steps to establish the Sinuiju SAR, and its future is uncertain. In addition, North Korea has established a special economic zone near the city of Kaesong, where R.O.K. companies are building manufacturing facilities that will employ North Korean workers (see further information under North-South Economic Ties).
North Korea implemented limited micro- and macroeconomic reforms in 2002, including sharp increases in prices and wages, changes in foreign investment laws, a steep currency devaluation, and reforms in industry and management. Though the changes have failed to stimulate recovery of the industrial sector, there are reports of changed economic behavior at the enterprise and individual level. One unintended consequence of the 2002 changes has been severe inflation. An increasing number of North Koreans now try to work in the informal sector to cope with growing hardship and reduced government support. The D.P.R.K. Government has made increasing agricultural production its top economic priority for 2005.

North-South Economic Ties
Two-way trade between North and South Korea, legalized in 1988, had risen to more than $1 billion by 2005, much of it related to out-processing or assembly work undertaken by South Korean firms in the North. This total includes a substantial quantity of donated goods provided to the North as humanitarian assistance or as part of inter-Korean cooperation projects. More than half of two-way trade in 2005 was non-commercial, although business-based and processing-on-commission transactions continued to grow.

Since the June 2000 North-South summit, North and South Korea have reconnected their east and west coast railroads and roads where they cross the DMZ and are working to improve these transportation routes. However, the railroads have not been tested to date. Much of the work done in North Korea has been funded by the South. The west coast rail and road are complete as far north as the Kaesong Industrial Complex (six miles north of the DMZ), but little work is being done north of Kaesong. On the east coast, the road is complete but the rail line is far from operational. Since 2003, tour groups have been using the east coast road to travel from South Korea to Mt. Geumgang in North Korea, where cruise tours had been permitted since 1998.

As of September 2006, 13 South Korean firms were manufacturing goods with North Korean labor in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). Most of the goods are sold in South Korea; a small quantity is being exported to foreign markets. South Korea has been pushing to include Kaesong-produced goods in its free trade agreements with other countries, including the United States, although the U.S. Trade Representative has been clear that such an arrangement would be unacceptable to the United States. Ground was broken on the complex in June 2003, and the first products were shipped from the park in December 2004. Plans envision 250 firms employing 350,000 workers by 2012. But South Korea's Ministry of Unification announced in September 2006 that it was postponing further expansion plans in light of heightened tensions following the North's ballistic missile launches.

Economic Interaction with the U.S.
The United States imposed a near total economic embargo on North Korea in June 1950 when North Korea attacked the South. Sanctions were eased in stages beginning in 1989 and following the Agreed Framework on North Korea's nuclear programs in 1994. In June 2000, a U.S. Executive Order legalized most transactions between U.S. and North Korean persons. It allowed most products, other than those specifically controlled for military or anti-terrorism purposes, to be exported to North Korea without an export license. Licenses were still required for imports from North Korea, and North Korean assets frozen since 1950 remained frozen. Restrictions on U.S. investments in North Korea and travel of U.S. citizens to North Korea were also eased, and U.S. ships and aircraft were allowed to call at North Korean ports. To date, however, U.S. economic interaction with North Korea remains minimal.






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