North Korea (the informal name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is located in Northeast Asia, occupying the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The country is washed from the east by the Yellow Sea through the Korean Gulf, from the west by the Sea of Japan. A small section of the border between Russia and North Korea runs along the Tumangan River and the Sea of Japan, in the west the longest border with China, and the peninsula itself is divided into two Koreas almost in half.
Russia's Southern Neighbor - North Korea
It is easy to understand where North Korea is located on the world map - right down from Vladivostok, a small country, about half the size of the Russian Primorsky Territory. From Russia to North Korea can be reached by ferry from the Vladivostok to the port of Ranjin via the Sea of Japan or by train to Tumangan station. The border between Russia and North Korea along the Sea of Japan is 22.1 km, and along the Tumangan River 17.3 km. North Korea supplies fish, textiles, equipment in Russia and purchases mineral fertilizers and petroleum products. In 2009, Russia proposed expanding economic cooperation with North Korea, taking advantage of the country's geographical position for energy supplies across the border of Russia and North Korea to South Korea. It was planned to build a gas pipeline to South Korea and reconstruct the railroad for coal supplies; the products of South Korean companies could be shipped in the opposite direction via Russia to Europe.
Road to Rangin
The first project on trans-Korean cargo transit was implemented by Russian Railways, the company restored the railway from the village of Khasan to the North Korean city of Ranjin and built a pier to ship coal to South Korea.
The first passenger train crossed the border of Russia and North Korea in September 2013, and in 2014, the shipment of Russian coal was started, which was shipped to the Ranjin port and then went by sea to South Korea.
One peninsula to two Korean states
If you approach it quite formally, there is no border between North and South Korea, there is only a demilitarized zone 4 kilometers wide and 237 kilometers long, passing along the famous 38th parallel across the entire peninsula. Over the 65 years since the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, the parties managed to equip the border well. North Korea many times in the old days dug tunnels under the border and sent saboteurs and spies to neighbors.
South Korea has turned its side of the demilitarized zone into a popular tourist destination, annually more than a million South Koreans and tourists from other countries come here to look through binoculars on North Korea, wildlife, visit the village of Panmunjom, which is divided in half by the border.
Eastern big brother
China is an old and traditional trading partner of North Korea. It is believed that 80 percent of DPRK’s foreign trade is carried out with this country. The border of North Korea and China with a length of 1352 kilometers passes mainly along the sparsely mountainous terrain, until recently, it was almost not guarded. Almost all official and unofficial trade goes through the two Chinese cities of Dandong and Shenyang, where North Korean restaurants, markets and representative offices of many enterprises from the DPRK operate. The development of reforms spurred the widespread development of smuggling: seafood, ginseng, coal are brought to China, and household appliances, electrical appliances, and consumer goods are brought back.
North Korea today
The general idea of the country as the last bastion of the communist way of conducting the economy is very outdated. North Korea successfully reformed the economy along the Chinese lines, before imposing sanctions for nuclear tests and missile launches. In agriculture, cooperatives were allowed, which should surrender to the state 35% of the crop, and in the case of a lean year, 10%, of course, rural life still remains quite difficult.
In industry, enterprises must comply with the state plan, everything else remains at the disposal of the labor collective and is sold at market prices. And trade and catering have flourished, over the past seven years, the number of markets has increased from 140 to 400. Opening a restaurant is also quite simple, you only need to pay 20% of the turnover. Salaries are small: the weaver has about $ 30, the skilled builder has about $ 100, but this money is enough for a modest stay. North Korea’s economy grew 3.9 percent in 2016, the largest growth in 17 years.
International sanctions
North Korea’s successful economic development has been hit hard by international sanctions imposed for nuclear testing and missile launches. Russia also imposed a ban on trade, banking, and scientific and technical cooperation. U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he imposed the toughest sanctions ever applied to the country, although like many Americans, he probably does not know where North Korea is on the map. China, DPRK's main trading partner, also joined the sanctions, cutting hydrocarbon supplies by 75% and starting to shut down North Korean companies, restaurants, and expel North Korean workers.
What products are banned?
The UN has imposed sanctions that include a ban on key North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood, and it is estimated that it will cost the country about $ 1 billion a year. Russia also imposed a ban on the import of iron ore and other minerals, in connection with which freight traffic through the border of Russia and North Korea decreased significantly. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation, North Korea's largest imports are refined oil, synthetic fiber fabrics, trucks, soybean oil, and broadcasting equipment; almost all of these products are sanctioned by individual countries.
Hope for peace
The 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, held in South Korea, gave hope for a softening of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
A representative delegation of North Korea, led by Chairman of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim Yong Nam, attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. And after the exchange of messages between North and South Korea, meetings are being prepared for the presidents of South Korea and the United States with the leader of the DPRK.