Language

Korean is a Ural-Altaic language. It is related to Japanese and remotely related to Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, and Mongolian. Although dialects exist, the Korean spoken throughout the peninsula is mutually comprehensible. In the DPRK, the Korea alphabet (hangul) is used exclusively, unlike in the Republic of Korea where a combination of hangul and Chinese characters is used as the written language.

Religion

Korea's traditional religions are Buddhism and Shamanism. Christian missionaries arrived as early as the 16th century but it was not until the 19th century that they founded schools, hospitals, and other modern institutions throughout Korea.

Major centers of 19th century missionary activity included Seoul and Pyongyang, and there was a relatively large Christian population in the north before 1945. Although religious groups exist in North Korea, most available evidence suggests that the government severely restricts religious activity.