Country profile · East Asia
North Korea
North Korea has 26.6 million people. Kim Jong Un has ruled since December 2011, the third generation of his family to lead the country, after his grandfather Kim Il Sung and his father Kim Jong Il. North Korea has nuclear weapons and the world's fourth-largest army. A mutual defense treaty with Russia has been in force since December 2024.
Where North Korea ranks
All rankings →Who runs North Korea?
Kim Jong Un rules North Korea as General Secretary of the Workers' Party and President of the State Affairs. He took power when his father Kim Jong Il died on December 17, 2011, and the party re-elected him General Secretary at its Ninth Congress in February 2026. From 1998 to 2000 he attended a state school near Bern, Switzerland, under the name Pak Un, and his teacher there remembered a boy who loved basketball. In December 2013 his uncle Jang Song Thaek was tried by a military tribunal and executed. His daughter was first shown in November 2022. South Korea's intelligence service said in September 2026 that she is effectively being designated his successor. North Korea has not confirmed this.
Portrait (2019): Shealah Craighead, The White House, Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Who are North Korea's allies and rivals?
Russia is North Korea's closest partner. Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense treaty in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024. North Korea sent more than 14,000 troops to fight for Russia from October 2024, and about 9,000 were still with Russian forces in September 2026. China has been a treaty ally since 1961, and President Xi Jinping made a state visit to Pyongyang in June 2026. The Korean War stopped with an armistice on July 27, 1953, and no peace treaty has been signed. In March 2026 Kim Jong Un told parliament to treat South Korea as "the most hostile state". In August 2026 President Trump cut short the US military exercise with South Korea and said he wants to meet Kim.
Allies and partners
Rivals
South KoreaStill technically at war since 1953
United StatesNo summit since 2019, Trump seeks one
Japan12 abducted citizens still unaccounted for
UkraineFought North Korean troops, took prisoners
- Yongbyon Main nuclear complex. The IAEA said in 2026 that a new enrichment building there is running.
- Punggye-ri Site of all six nuclear tests, 2006 to 2017. The IAEA says it remains ready for a seventh.
- Panmunjom Truce village on the border. Trump stepped across on June 30, 2019.
- Tumen River bridge First road bridge to Russia, opened September 7, 2026.
- North Korea
- Partner
- Rival
How does North Korea make money?
North Korea's recorded goods trade in 2025 was $3.13 billion, by the count of South Korea's trade agency, which leaves out Russia. Exports were $469 million and imports $2.66 billion. China accounted for 98.2% of recorded trade. The largest export was wigs and false eyelashes, $206 million. UN resolutions of 2017 banned exports of coal, iron and seafood and capped imports of refined oil at 500,000 barrels a year. Russia alone supplied more than 1 million barrels between March and October 2024. North Korean hackers stole at least $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, including about $1.5 billion from the Bybit exchange in February. Workers abroad earned $450 million to $800 million in 2025, and the state takes most of their pay.
How strong is North Korea's military?
The IISS counts 1.28 million active troops and 600,000 reserves. North Korea says 15.8% of its 2026 state budget goes to defense. It has about 14,300 guns and rocket launchers, but only a few hundred of them can reach Seoul from where they are based. The Hwasong-18, a solid-fuel missile first tested in 2023, is estimated to fly about 15,000 km, and North Korea tested a newer one, the Hwasong-19, in October 2024. In 2024 it sent Russia about 9 million artillery and rocket rounds and at least 100 ballistic missiles. It commissioned two destroyers in 2026, the Choe Hyon in June and the Kang Kon in September. The Kang Kon had capsized at its first launch in May 2025.
Active troops in Asia's largest armies, 2026
Full ranking →
China2,035,000
India1,500,700- North Korea1,280,000
Russia1,264,000
Pakistan660,000- South Korea450,000
Vietnam450,000
IISS, The Military Balance, 2024 to 2026 editions
How many nuclear weapons does North Korea have?
North Korea has about 60 assembled nuclear warheads, and enough fissile material for at least 90, by the estimates of the Federation of American Scientists. North Korea announced its withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty on January 10, 2003. It has carried out six nuclear tests at Punggye-ri, from 2006 to 2017, and Kim Jong Un oversaw the last four. North Korea called the 2017 test a hydrogen bomb, and its yield is estimated at about 250 kilotons. A 2022 law allows North Korea to use nuclear weapons first if it judges an attack on its leadership to be imminent. In September 2026 Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, called North Korea's nuclear status "irreversible and absolute".
Nuclear warheads, 2026
Full ranking →- Russia5,420
- United States5,042
- China620
France370
United Kingdom225- India190
- Pakistan170
Israel90- North Korea60
Federation of American Scientists, Status of World Nuclear Forces, 2026