As you can see by this night satellite view of North Korea, it's a happening place after dark.� Night vision goggles help.�

More than 22 millions inhabitants live in this country. Most of its 120.500 sqkm territory is demilitarized zone, where you are not allowed to enter. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is situated on the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. It shares borders in the south with the demilitarized zone (separating it from the Republic of Korea, see South Korea), in the east with Japan (by sea), in the north with China and in the west with the Yellow Sea.

Following World War II, Korea was split into a northern, communist half and a southern, Western-oriented half. Kim Chong Il has ruled North Korea since his father and the country's founder, president Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. After decades of mismanagement, the North relies heavily on international food aid to feed its population. Most of the land consists of hills and low mountains, separated by deep, narrow valleys. Only a small area is cultivable. The eastern coast is rocky and steep with mountains rising from the water, the western coast is characterized by coastal plains. The average climate is temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer.

North Korea�s population is racially almost homogeneous, there is only a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese. Most of the population is traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, there are some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way).