Nuclear and chloroplast diversity and phenotypic distribution of rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasm from the democratic people’s republic of Korea (DPRK; North Korea)

Background Rice accounts for 43% of staple food production in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The most widely planted rice varieties were developed from a limited number of ancestral lines that were repeatedly used as parents in breeding programs. However, detailed pedigrees are not publicly available and little is known about the genetic, phenotypic, and geographical variation of DPRK varieties.