Borders around the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as North Korea) consist of the China-North Korea border, the Russia-North Korea border, the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) between North Korea and the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as South Korea) on the land and the Northern Limit Line (NLL) between North Korea and South Korea on the sea.
The 1,400-kilometer China-North Korea border is North Korea's longest land border. There are three railway borders and sixteen road checkpoints along this border. Around 50% of North Korea's foreign trade passes through this border. It is the most important and most frequented route for North Koreans to have access to the outside world. Eight international flights and four international trains cross this border each week. Unofficial exchange of goods and information over this border is also common.
The 17-kilometer Russia-North Korea border is connected by railway only. The only border-crossing point is between Khasan, Russia and Tumangang, North Korea. A railway reconstruction project is underway to restore the railway between Khasan and Rajin Port, North Korea and to modernize Ra-jin Port's Pier 3.
The 248-kilometer MDL was determined by the cease-fire agreement signed on June 27, 1953, ending the Korean War. More than 30% of North Korea's foreign trade passes through this border and the NLL. There is an industrial complex in North Korea just across this border. Kaesong Industrial Region is 70 kilometers north of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. More than 500 South Korean engineers and managers stay in this region even after heightened tension over the NLL between both Koreas.
On both sides, the distinction between friend and foe has been impetuously put into practice domestically in the political life of both countries. Antipathy against the other side has become an instrument of governance on both sides. People in both Koreas have suffered from this mindset.
The establishment of a mutual agreement on how to locate North Korea in a new order in a post-Cold War era will have a significant impact on not only North Korea but also the surrounding countries, i.e. China, Japan, South Korea and Russia. Northeast Asia, as a sub-region, can be untied from the residua of the Cold War and can establish an international order based on sovereign equality for the first time since this region's modernization.

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