evidence: North Korea, country in East Asia. It occupies the northern portion of the Korean peninsula, which juts out from the Asian mainland between the East Sea (Sea of Japan) and the Yellow Sea; North Korea covers about 55 percent of the peninsula’s land area. The country is bordered by China and Russia to the north and by the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to the south. The national capital, P’yŏngyang, is a major industrial and transport centre near the west coast. [...] Mountains and valleys characterize most of North Korea. The Kaema Highlands in the northeast have an average elevation of 3,300 feet (1,000 metres) above sea level and form the topographic roof of the entire Korean peninsula. Mount Paektu (9,022 feet [2,750 metres]), the highest mountain in North Korea and on the peninsula, rises at the northern edge of this plateau in the Changbaek (Changbai) Mountains along the Sino-Korean border; it is an extinct volcano topped by a large crater lake. The Nangnim Mountains run from north to south through the middle of the country, forming a divide between the eastern and western slopes of the peninsula. The Kangnam and Myohyang ranges and Mounts Ŏnjin and Myŏrak, all structural extensions of the Nangnim Mountains, extend parallel to each other toward the southwest. Large river-valley plains have developed between the western mountains; they merge along the narrow, irregular coastal plain on the west coast. The Hamgyŏng Mountains, extending from the Nangnim Mountains to the northeast, form a steep slope between the Kaema Highlands and the East Sea.