<item>• <hi format=ital>military boundary line:</hi> 50 nm in the Sea of Japan and the exclusive economic zone limit in the Yellow Sea where all foreign vessels and aircraft without permission are banned
</list>
<item><hi format=bold>International disputes:</hi> short section of boundary with China is indefinite; Demarcation Line with South Korea
<item><hi format=bold>Climate:</hi> temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer
<item><hi format=bold>Terrain:</hi> mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east
<item>• <hi format=ital>meadows and pastures:</hi> 0%
<item>• <hi format=ital>forest and woodland:</hi> 74%
<item>• <hi format=ital>other:</hi> 7%
</list>
<item><hi format=bold>Irrigated land:</hi> 14,000 sq km (1989)
<item><hi format=bold>Environment:</hi>
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>current issues:</hi> localized air pollution attributable to inadequate industrial controls
<item>• <hi format=ital>natural hazards:</hi> late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; subject to occasional typhoons which occur during the early fall
<item>• <hi format=ital>international agreements:</hi> party to—Antarctic Treaty, Environmental Modification, Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified—Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea
</list>
<item><hi format=bold>Note:</hi> strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated, nearly inaccessible, and sparsely populated