An Analysis of Land Use Changes in DPR Korea Using Land Cover Maps from the Late 1980s to the Late 2010s

DPR Korea has been creating cropland across the country due to its chronic food shortage. Cropland was about 17.4% at the end of the 1980s, but it increased steadily to 19.6% at the end of the 1990s, 24.8% at the end of the first decade of 2000s, and 25.4% at the end of the 2010s. On the other hand, the forest land declined from about 74.8% in the late 1980s to 69.5% in the late 2010s. Urbanization is also progressing, increasing from about 1.15% at the end of the 1980s to 1.68% at the end of the 2010s. Most of the deforestation that occurred in DPR Korea was caused by conversion to cropland. These characteristics of land cover changes in DPR Korea provide useful information and implications for international and inter-Korean cooperation for DPR Korea.