Military service age and obligation:
17 years of age (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 17-49: 5,851,801
females age 17-49: 5,850,733 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 17-49: 4,810,831
females age 17-49: 4,853,270 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 194,605
females age 17-49: 187,846 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$5,217.4 million (FY02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
NA
Transnational Issues Korea, North
Disputes - international:
China seeks to stem illegal migration of tens of thousands of North
Koreans escaping famine, economic privation, and political
oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain
islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers and a section of boundary around
Paektu-san (mountain) is indefinite; Military Demarcation Line
within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from
South Korea since 1953; periodic maritime disputes with South over
the Northern Limit Line; North Korea supports South Korea in
rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima)
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 50,000-250,000 (government repression and famine) (2005)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: North Korea is a source country for men, women,
and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual
exploitation; North Korea's own system of political repression
includes forced labor in a network of prison camps where an
estimated 150,000 to 200,000 persons are incarcerated; the illegal
status of North Koreans in China and other countries increases their
vulnerability to trafficking schemes and sexual and physical abuse;
North Koreans forcibly returned from China may be subject to hard
labor in prison camps operated by the government
tier rating: Tier 3 - North Korea does not fully comply with minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making
significant efforts to do so