North Korea isn't everyone's idea of a trendy hot spot, but it occasionally opens its borders to the outside world, and inquisitive travelers find it surprisingly engrossing. One visitor wrote that its famous Mass Games "make the Olympic opening ceremony look like a school play."

• TOTAL AREA: 120,540 sq km

• LAND AREA: 120,410 sq km

• WATER AREA: 130 sq km

• POPULATION: 23,113,019

• RELIGIONS: raditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)

• LANGUAGES: Korean

• GOVERNMENT TYPE: Communist state one-man dictatorship

• CAPITAL CITY: Pyongyang

• OFFICIAL CURRENCY: North Korean won (KPW)

• TIME ZONE: GMT/UTC +9