Maps of North Korean Nuclear Capacity Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News: North Korea Nuclear Capacity

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes hundreds of maps of North Korea, South Korea, and the Korean peninsula. The collection includes political and physical maps of the countries, street maps of cities, historic maps, and topographic maps of the entire peninsula. The Atlas Collection also includes resources on the Korean peninsula in English and Korean.

 The North Korean nuclear program is once again making news this week as the government in Pyongyang announced it would launch a rocket carrying a satellite to mark the 100th anniversary of its founder, Kim Il Sung. The North Korean government claims that the rocket will launch sometime between Thursday and April 16 and invited foreign journalists to view the secret launch site. The U.S., Japan and South Korea maintain that the launch violates United Nations Security Council resolutions and that the launch is actually a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test. In 2006 and 2009, this type of launch preceded a nuclear test.

The map shown above (click to enlarge) was published by National Geographic in 2007. The map is actually an inset map on the larger map called “Two Koreas.” The larger map includes a modern physical map of the Korean peninsula, maps showing population density, charts depicting economic growth of the two countries, and the entire verso features maps about the Korean War.

This map details the military and nuclear capacity of North and South Korea, showing headquarters, bases, and deployment locations of troops; chemical weapons facilities; and nuclear reactor sites. The map shows the site of the nuclear weapon test launch that took place in October of 2006, located in northeastern North Korea. Missile facilities in both North and South Korea are also shown.

The related chart depicts the number of troops for each country. The green dollar symbol shows the number in billions of U.S. dollars each country spends on its military defense. North Korea spends 31.3% of its gross domestic product on its military. South Korea spends 2.8% of its gross domestic product on defense spending. The dark blue part of the South Korea troop level shows the 37,000 U.S. forces located in the country.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer. Atlases circulate for 28 days or longer.

For more information about these resources, please contact the GRMC Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 at 765-285-1097.