Country

North Korea: 3 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Three temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregions cover North Korea. The Central Korean deciduous forests, listed as Nature Imperiled, hold the lowlands and the west; the Manchurian mixed forests sweep across the north from the continental interior; and the Changbai Mountains mixed forests occupy the high volcanic border country in the northeast. All three are Palearctic deciduous-forest systems, which gives the country a classic cold-temperate character: hard continental winters, warm humid summers, and vegetation built around oaks, maples, and their mixed-forest companions. For planting, that means fully cold-hardy deciduous trees and shrubs with strong seasonal color, a spring-and-autumn gardening rhythm, and mountain-forest natives for the northern uplands. The imperiled status of the central deciduous forests marks the lowlands as the zone where native woodland has been most displaced.