Maritime claims: continental shelf: not specified territorial sea: 12 nm; 3 nm in the Korea Strait
International disputes: Demarcation Line with North Korea;
Liancourt Rocks claimed by Japan
Climate: temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter
Terrain: mostly hills and mountains; wide coastal plains in west
and south
lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Halla-san 1,950 m
Natural resources: coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead,
hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 21%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 1%
forest and woodland: 67%
other: 10%
Irrigated land: 13,530 sq km (1989)
Environment:
current issues: air pollution in large cities; water pollution from
the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents; drift net fishing
natural hazards: occasional typhoons bring high winds and floods;
earthquakes in southwest
international agreements: party to - Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test
Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Tropical Timber 94; signed, but not ratified - Desertification, Law
of the Sea
People ———
Population: 45,482,291 (July 1996 est.)