GIS is the tool widely used for the practical solution of spatial problems in every region regardless of the language and ideology. In this paper research trends and tendencies of GIS in North Korea are reviewed compared with those in South Korea. For this purpose, academic publications on GIS in North Korea are surveyed and classified according to main subjects in GIS. Such classification by main subjects of GIS in North Korea are conducted on the basis of the classification of research trends and tendencies of GIS in South Korea. As a result, researches in North Korea are mainly focused upon such fields as geodetic surveying and measurement, map manufacture, atmospheric phenomena, agriculture and disasters, while there are few studies related to such fields as national GIS policy and circulation, GIS education, internet-based GIS, and traffic, to name but a few. Most parts of applied data are based on low and medium resolution image such as meteorological satellite images, Landsat images, and so on. This reflects the low level of the development of GIS DB infrastructure in North Korea.