Journal of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers ISSN:1738-3692(Print) 2093-7709(Online) 한국농공학회논문집

North Korea is one of the most vulnerable countries of the world for drought but still it is difficult to find scientific researches for understanding of the drought characteristics. This study analyzed the temporal and spatial distribution of meterological drought severity and classified the drought development types in North Korea. All eleven drought indices were tested such as seasonal rainfall, PDS, SPI and so on, and then drew the drought risk map by each indicator using frequency analysis and GIS(Geographic Information Systems) for twenty one meteorological stations. In addition meteorological drought characteristics in North Korea was classified to six patterns on Si/Gun administrative units using cluster analysis on the drought indicators. The cluster Ⅲ has the strongly drought-resistant area due to sufficient rainfall and the cluster Ⅴ was considered as the most droughtvulnerable area, Pungsan and Sinpo, because of the severest drought condition for eight drought indicators. The results of this study are expected to be provided for the basic understanding of regionalized drought severity and characteristics confronting the risk of drought from climate variations in North Korea.