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How the crowd draws

868 drawings of its land border and 843 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 16 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw North Korea

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area122,000 km²47,000 sq mi120,000 km²46,000 sq mi1.9% smaller
Outline3,061 km1,902 mi2,543 km1,580 mi16.9% shorter
Centre127.15° E, 40.14° N127.2° E, 40.1° N127.27° E, 40.18° N127.3° E, 40.2° N11 km east7 mi east
Westernmost124.32° E, 39.91° N124.3° E, 39.9° N124.37° E, 40.11° N124.4° E, 40.1° N4 km short3 mi short
Easternmost130.70° E, 42.29° N130.7° E, 42.3° N130.75° E, 42.27° N130.7° E, 42.3° N4 km beyond3 mi beyond
Southernmost125.36° E, 37.68° N125.4° E, 37.7° N126.62° E, 37.82° N126.6° E, 37.8° N16 km short10 mi short
Northernmost129.91° E, 43.01° N129.9° E, 43.0° N130.15° E, 42.87° N130.2° E, 42.9° N15 km short9 mi short

Near the land border, 51% of the crowd’s lines run inside North Korea. Near the coast, 50% run inland.

Borders and coast

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from the CIA World Factbook, are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

North Korea and China: 824 km in the game, 1,352 km officially.

North Korea’s coast: 1,972 km in the game, 2,495 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
China824 km in the game1,352 km officially792 km the crowd’s3.9% shorter
South Korea203 km in the game237 km officially189 km the crowd’s6.9% shorter
Russia30 km in the game28 km the crowd’s6.7% shorter
The coast1,972 km in the game2,495 km officially1,469 km the crowd’s25.5% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s North Korea: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside North Korea or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 1,711 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut. The map lays the 1,000 most recent; the heat map, the crowd’s shape and every figure use all 1,711.

9 small pieces of North Korea, 158 km² in all, keep their real shape, shown flat: islands no round asks players to draw, or too small to measure. They count in no figure.

Draw North Korea yourself and add your line to the next update.