With an area of about 123,000 square kilometers, a population of about 25 million, and about 1.2 million military personnel, North Korea has the fifth largest number of armed forces in the world.
North Korea is separated from South Korea by the 38th Parallel Korean Demilitarized Zone to the south and China and Russia to the north. The narrow border with Russia has blocked the possibility of a direct connection to the Sea of Japan in the northeast of our country. It is bordered by the Yellow Sea to the west, the Shandong Peninsula across the sea, and the Sea of Japan to the east.
About three-quarters of the land on the Korean Peninsula is mountainous or hilly. These mountains are mainly distributed in the northern and eastern regions.
The majestic Taibai Mountains run from north to south through the eastern coastal area of the peninsula, and its highest peak is Xueyue Mountain, which is 1708 meters high. Most of the rest of the mountain is no more than 1500 meters.
The Taibai Mountains first established the pattern of the peninsula's high east and low west.
Secondly, the Taibai Mountains make the southern part of the peninsula also a predominantly mountainous area:
The mountainous and hilly terrain makes the available arable land on the Korean Peninsula small and fragmented; the winter is too cold, and the climate with concentrated precipitation in the summer is also prone to drought and flood disasters.
South Korea, for example, at the southern tip of the peninsula, now imports 85 percent of the country's agricultural products, in addition to rice and potatoes.
The unique geographical environment has had a huge impact on the history and culture of North Korea.
Geographically, for example, the mountainous terrain makes North Korea "easy to defend and difficult to attack."
This can be seen from the map of the liaodong-Korean peninsula geopolitical relationship below.
A, the Changbai Mountains block contact and communication between the Korean Peninsula and the mainland.
b, the Western Liaoning Corridor restricts the connection between the North China Plain and the Northeast Plain.
c. The Qianshan Mountains once again blocked the connection between the Liaohe Plain and the Korean Peninsula.
d, about 950 km of the Pyongyang plain is enough to sustain the survival of a country.
E, the Yalu River, the Daning River, and the Qingchuan River were three natural lines of defense in wartime
Abc three lead to difficult attack, de lead to discomfort.
This is one of the reasons why the Korean Peninsula is deeply influenced by Chinese civilization, and it is also one of the reasons why Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, declared Korea a "country without conquest" in the 28th edition of hongwu's "Imperial Ancestral Training".
After the age of great navigation, the sea power countries arose, and the Korean Peninsula was exactly in the confrontation zone between sea power and land power, and the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea had a certain inevitability.
North Korea is very important to China's northeast region, North Korea is unstable, the northeast will be affected, and North Korea is also of great significance to China's entry into the Sea of Japan.
Its unique geographical location and military strength have made The DPRK an important country in Northeast Asia, and relations between the DPRK and the DPRK, the DPRK, the DPRK and the United States have influenced the situation in Northeast Asia.