It is known that large-scale deforestation has occurred in North Korea due to economic failures since the 1990s, and
this is expected to greatly change the characteristics of the hydrological cycle. In this study, hydrological cycle
simulation was carried out for the period of about 30 years from 1981 to 2013 for the entire Korean peninsula using
the VIC model, a land surface hydrology model. The simulation results are summarized as follow. First, the runoff
ratio is 55%~70% in South Korea and 38~56% in North Korea. In particular, it is worth noting that despite the small
runoff ratio, the variation is about 28% larger than the South Korea's 15%. The rate of evapotranspiration was larger
than that of South Korea. That is, the rate of evapotranspiration in South Korea is 20~35% and in North Korea it is
25~46%. However, the rate of change was 21% in the case of North Korea and slightly larger than 15% in South
Korea. Third, South Korea has an average of 34% in soil moisture and 27% in North Korea. However, unlike the
simulated results of the runoff ratio and the evapotranspiration rate, the difference in the variation of soil moisture in
South Korea and North Korea over the entire period was similar with 8%. As a result, we can confirm that the
difference of hydrological cycle characteristics between South Korea and North Korea has been increased since the
1990s, when the forest destruction of North Korea became serious. In the case of South Korea, there is little difference
in the hydrological cycle characteristics. In North Korea, however, there is a distinct difference, which is also a result
reflecting the difference in the effects of forest destruction.