ABSTRACT
The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) occupies the northern part of the Korean peninsula and has boundaries with China, South Korea and, for about 20 km, with Russia. There is still a sufficient level of confrontation with South Korea along the demilitarised zone to warrant the constant attention of the USA. With an area of 120,538 km the DPRK is infinitely larger than its southern neighbour, but its population of 23.9 million is barely half that of South Korea. The DPRK is one of the most secretive states and it is therefore difficult to obtain statistics, but it has been estimated that the gross national product (GNP) is probably less than one-tenth of South Koreas. On 17 September 1991, both Koreas were admitted to UN membership and on 13 December there was a historic NorthSouth accord. Meanwhile, talks continue with South Korea, but were there to be unification in the style achieved by Germany.
