Location: Northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea.

Area: 120,540 square km -- slightly smaller than Mississippi -- bordering China, South Korea and Russia.

Natural resources include coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower.

Population: 23,113,019

Age structure: 0-14 years: 23.8 percent (male 2,788,944/female 2,708,331), 15-64 years: 68 percent (male 7,762,442/female 7,955,522), 65 years and over: 8.2 percent (male 667,792/female 1,229,988).

More: "North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and shortages of spare parts. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. Despite an increased harvest in 2005 because of more stable weather conditions, fertilizer assistance from South Korea, and an extraordinary mobilization of the population to help with agricultural production, the nation has suffered its 11th year of food shortages because of on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and chronic shortages of tractors and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the people of North Korea to escape mass starvation since famine threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. "

Source: CIA World Factbook.