More News from North Korea

North Korea blew up a 60-foot cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear facility on Friday, dramatically destroying the most obvious symbol of its recent nuclear proliferation.

The tower isn't too technically significant--North Korea could easily build another one--but its destruction is the nation's latest step back from the brink of nuclear confrontation with the United States and its allies.

Not long ago, we covered North Korea's nuclear history. If you don't remember that piece, click here to read it now. If you do remember that piece, then don't touch that mouse! Stay with us as we size up North Korea by the numbers then point you to some North Korean sights to see online.

North Korea, By the Numbers

North Korea is one of the world's most secretive states. Militaristic, poor, and fiercely independent, it releases few official statistics, and many of those it does release are suspect. But experts have a decent sense of some numbers.

46,540 – North Korea's total area, in square miles (120,540 sq km). That's slightly larger than Pennsylvania, but only about half the size of Great Britain.

23 million – North Korea's total population. That's a few more people than live in Texas or Australia.

40 billion – The CIA's best estimate of North Korea's gross domestic product (GDP), in U.S. dollars, adjusted for purchasing power parity. That's on par with Bolivia or Lebanon. South Korea's adjusted GDP is more than 25 times higher. Basically, a nation's GDP is the value of all the goods and services it produces in a given year. Economists adjust GDP for purchasing power parity to account for the fact that a dollar buys more in some places than it does in others.

6 billion – North Korea's annual military expenditures, in U.S. dollars. With more than 1 million regular armed services personnel, North Korea almost surely devotes more of its resources to its military than does any other nation. The United States spends nearly 100 times as much in sheer dollars, but its GDP is about 300 times higher.

1,080,000 – Tons of international food aid sent to North Korea in 2005. Only Ethiopia received more. South Korea provided more than a third of the necessary aid. Despite a philosophy of self-reliance, North Korea has long relied on foreign charity to feed its people.

0 – Number of days since the official end of the Korean War. A cease-fire agreement signed on July 27, 1953, has held for decades, but no formal peace treaty has ever been signed.

North Korea, On the Web

Watch a PBS Frontline report on "Kim's Nuclear Gamble":
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kim/view/

See (rare) pictures of life in North Korea:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/
05/asia_pac_unseen_north_korea/html/1.stm

Explore the "Art of Propaganda" in North Korean history:
http://www.dprkstudies.org/documents/nkpics/1pg015.html