The purpose of the study is to analysis the environmental status and management in North Korea, to research the possibility of environment and energy cooperation between North and South Korea and to suggest the mid and long term strategies to enhance the cooperation.
North Korea has suffered environmental problems closely connected with economic ones, for examples, low productivity with out of date industrial facilities and technology, severe energy and food shortages, and deforestation. Therefore North Korea's air quality seems to be more polluted than the South's because the North's energy consumption depends mostly on low quality coal. The water quality is very poor for bodies of waters adjacent to industrial sources of untreated wastewater and major cities not equipped with sewage disposal plants. From the late 1980s to the late 1990s, the forest area in North Korea has decreased by 510,000 hectacres, or 5% of the total forest area, because of mal management including forest clearing for arable land and the wood demand for cooking and heating.
Recently North Korea has taken steps to open economic zones to induce much needed foreign investment and technology to prop up its struggling economy, which will affect North Korea's environment problem positively as well as negatively. The State might ignore environmental conservation to revive its economy as most of the developing countries do. However there are opportunities North Korea can improve its environmental quality, if the country strive to learn from neighboring countries' experiences in economic develop