Both maps below show North Korea highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates North Korea about 1.7× at 40°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 120,538 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.7× inflation is why North Korea dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover North Korea on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
North Korea: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| North Korea | 120,538 km² | 206,253 km² | 1.7× |
| Greenland | 2,166,086 km² | 25,576,494 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | n/a | n/a |
Old maps drew North Korea at about 206,253 km². The truth is 120,538 km², a difference of 71% that school atlases carried for centuries.