Study: Majority of Americans can't identify North Korea on a map

A new survey finds that most adults can't find North Korea on a map, according to a recent survey from The New York Times.

In late April, Kyle Dropp of Morning Consult surveyed 1,746 adults at The New York Time's request. Of that group, only 36 percent could correctly place the country on the map, according to his findings.

The study comes at a time when tensions are rising between North Korea and the U.S. over the authoritarian country's pursuit of nuclear weapons. North Korea over the weekend launched a ballistic missile.

Those who could correctly locate North Korea were more likely to support diplomatic and nonmilitary strategies – like economic sanctions and cyber attacks – in dealing with the country compared to those who could not, according to The New York Times.

Politically, Republicans were more likely to correctly locate North Korea at 37 percent compared to Democrats at 31 percent, according to the study. Independents eclipsed both with 39 percent answering correctly.

People who said they knew someone of Korean ancestry were most successful in identifying the country with 55 percent of the participants answering correctly. Education also played a notable role in the findings.

When broken down by education, the survey found that people with a post-graduate degree were the most likely to correctly place the country. Even then, only 53 percent of people with a post-graduate degree correctly identified North Korea, according to the survey.

Memories of the Korean War may have helped seniors better identify the country, the New York Times noted. People at least 65 years old were most likely to identify North Korea correctly with nearly half of those participants responding correctly.