Ⅰ. Background and objectives
1. Background
oNorth Korea sees increasing occurrence of natural disasters (e.g., landslides, floods) resulting from deforestation, which has also aggravated food and water shortages.
ㅇThe natural disasters occurring every year are causing damage at both individual (e.g., life, properties) and national (e.g., infrastructure damage, food shortages) levels.
ㅇDeforestation is the major cause of massive soil loss on the occasion of heavy rains as the movement of eroded soil to the downstream leads to overflowing of rivers and inundation of agricultural land.

2. objectives
oThe objective of this research is to test-run the applicability assessment for soil erosion and sedimentation modeling to select the priority areas for reforestation to minimize the damage from deforestation (e.g., floods, landslides) in North Korea.

oMajor research topics
ㅇAfter the preliminary research on natural disaster status in North Korea, the areas of research have been selected for the applicability assessment for soil erosion and sedimentation modeling.
ㅇThe feasibility of utilizing land cover satellite data for soil erosion and sedimentation modeling was examined.
ㅇSix soil erosion and sedimentation models (i.e., SWAT, SSEM, USLE, USPED, nLS, STI) were tested based on modeling data, including digital elevation model (DEM), land cover, soil map, and meteorological data. The priority areas for reforestation were selected via the ensemble method.

Ⅱ. Research on natural disasters in North Korea
1. Status of natural disasters
oTotal annual precipitation is on th