North Korea, officially the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (
DPRK) (
HangulHangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language, as distinguished from the logographic Sino-Korean hanja system...
: 조선민주주의인민공화국, Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk), is a
stateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
in
East AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about , or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang,...
, occupying the northern half of the
Korean PeninsulaThe Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan on the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two...
. Its capital and largest city is
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
. The
Korean Demilitarized ZoneThe Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and...
serves as the buffer area between North Korea and
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
. The
Amnok RiverThe Yalu River or the Amnok River is a river on the border between China and North Korea. The Chinese name comes from a Manchu word meaning "the boundary between two countries"...
and the
Tumen RiverThe Tumen or Tuman River is a 521 km-long river that serves as part of the boundary between China, North Korea, and Russia, rising in Mount Baekdu and flowing into the Sea of Japan ....
form the border between North Korea and
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
. A section of the Tumen River in the extreme north-east is the border with Russia.
The peninsula was governed by the
Korean EmpireThe Greater Korean Empire was a former empire of Korea that succeeded the Joseon Dynasty that had ruled the nation for 500 years.In 1897, Emperor Gojong proclaimed the new entity at Gyeongungung Palace and oversaw the partially successful modernization of the military, economy, real property laws,...
until it was annexed by
JapanKorea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Formally, Japanese rule ended on September 2, 1945 upon the Japanese defeat in World War II in 1945....
following the
Russo-Japanese WarThe Russo-Japanese War or the Manchurian Campaign in some English sources, was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
of 1905. It was
dividedThe division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea stems from the 1945 Allied victory in World War II, ending Japan's 35-year colonial rule of Korea. In a proposal opposed by nearly all Koreans, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to temporarily occupy the country as a trusteeship...
into Soviet and American occupied zones in 1945, following the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. North Korea refused to participate in a
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. Both North and South Korea claimed sovereignty over the peninsula as a whole, which led to the
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
of 1950. A 1953 armistice ended the fighting; however, the two countries are officially still at war with each other, as a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
in 1991. On May 26, 2009, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice.
North Korea is a
single-party stateA single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...
under a
united frontThe Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, formed on 22 July 1946, is a North Korean united front led by the Workers' Party of Korea. It was initially called the North Korean Fatherland United Democratic Front...
led by the Korean Workers' Party.
The country's government styles itself as following the
JucheThe Juche Idea is the official state ideology of North Korea. It teaches that "man is the master of everything and decides everything," and that the Korean people are the masters of Korea's revolution. Juche is a component of Kimilsungism, North Korea's political system...
ideology of self-reliance, developed by
Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, exercising autocratic power...
, the country's former leader. Juche became the official state ideology when the country adopted a new constitution in 1972, though Kim Il-sung had been using it to form policy since at least as early as 1955. Officially a socialist republic, North Korea is considered by many in the outside world to be a totalitarian Stalinist
dictatorshipA dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator, without hereditary ascension. It has three possible meanings:...
. The current leader is
Kim Jong-ilKim Jong-il is the paramount leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
, son of the late
Eternal PresidentThe position of Eternal President of the Republic is established by a line in the preface to the North Korean constitution, amended on September 5, 1998...
Kim Il-sung.
History
In the aftermath of the
Japanese occupation of KoreaKorea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Formally, Japanese rule ended on September 2, 1945 upon the Japanese defeat in World War II in 1945....
which ended with Japan's defeat in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1945, Korea was divided at the
38th parallelThe 38th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 38 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. The 38th parallel north has been especially important in the recent history of Korea.-Geography:...
in accordance with a
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
arrangement, to be administered by the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
in the north and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the south. The history of North Korea formally begins with the establishment of the democratic
People's RepublicPeople's Republic, also especially in other languages Popular Republic, is a title that has often been used by Marxist-Leninist governments to describe their state...
in 1948.
Division of Korea
In August 1945, the Soviet Army established a Soviet Civil Authority to rule the country until a domestic regime, friendly to the USSR, could be established. After the Soviet forces' departure in 1948, the main agenda in the following years was unification of Korea from both sides until the consolidation of
Syngman RheeSyngman Rhee or Yi Seungman was the first president of South Korea. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. Rhee was regarded as an anti-Communist and a strongman, and led South Korea through the...
regime in the South with American military support and the suppression of the October 1948 insurrection ended hopes that the country could be reunified by way of Communist revolution in the South.
In 1949, a military intervention into
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
was considered by the
Northern regime Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, exercising autocratic power...
but failed to receive support from the Soviet Union, which had played a key role in the establishment of the country. The withdrawal of most
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
forces from the South in June dramatically weakened the
Southern regimeSyngman Rhee or Yi Seungman was the first president of South Korea. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. Rhee was regarded as an anti-Communist and a strongman, and led South Korea through the...
and encouraged
Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, exercising autocratic power...
to re-think an invasion plan against the South. The idea itself was first rejected by
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
but with the development of Soviet nuclear weapons,
Mao ZedongMao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and Communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976...
's victory in China and the Chinese indication that it would send troops and other support to North Korea, Stalin approved an invasion which led to the
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
.
The Korean War
The Korean War was a military conflict between North Korea and South Korea with major hostilities beginning on June 25, 1950, pausing with an armistice signed on July 27, 1953. The conflict arose from the attempts of the two Korean powers to re-unify
KoreaKorea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait....
under their respective governments and led to full scale war with a cost of more than 2 million civilians and soldiers from both sides. The period immediately before the war was marked by escalating border conflicts at the
38th ParallelThe 38th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 38 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. The 38th parallel north has been especially important in the recent history of Korea.-Geography:...
and attempts to negotiate elections for the entirety of Korea. These negotiations ended when the military of North Korea invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Under the aegis of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, nations allied with the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
intervened on behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, North-allied
ChineseThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war and ultimately leading to an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.
While some have referred to the conflict as a civil war, many other factors were at play. The Korean War was also the first armed confrontation of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
and set the standard for many later conflicts. It created the idea of a
proxy warA proxy war is a war that results when two powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly.While powers have sometimes used whole governments as proxies, terrorist groups, mercenaries, or other third parties are more often employed...
, where the two superpowers would fight in another country, forcing the people in that nation to suffer the bulk of the destruction and death involved in a war between such large nations. The superpowers avoided descending into an all-out war with one another, as well as the mutual use of nuclear weapons. It also expanded the Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe. A heavily guarded
demilitarized zoneThe Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and...
on the 38th parallel continues to divide the peninsula today with anti-Communist and anti-North Korea sentiment still remaining in South Korea.
Since the ceasefire of the Korean War in 1953 the relations between the North Korean government and South Korea, European Union, Canada, the United States, and Japan have remained tense. Fighting was halted in the ceasefire, but both Koreas are still technically at war. Both North and South Korea signed the
June 15th North-South Joint DeclarationIn August 2000, after over 50 years’ separation, members of the visiting groups of separated families and relatives in the North and the South had a meeting with separated family members in Pyongyang and Seoul in August when the Korean people’s reunification zeal heightened after the historic...
in 2000, in which both sides made promises to seek out a peaceful reunification. Additionally, on October 4, 2007, the leaders of North and South Korea pledged to hold summit talks to officially declare the war over and reaffirmed the principle of mutual non-aggression.
20th century
North and South Korea have never signed a formal peace treaty and thus are still officially at war; only a
ceasefireA ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces.-World War I:On December 24, 1914,...
was declared. South Korea's government came to be dominated by its military and a relative peace was punctuated by border skirmishes and assassination attempts. The North failed in several assassination attempts on South Korean leaders, most notably in 1968, 1974 and the
Rangoon bombingThe 1983 Rangoon bombing was an assassination attempt against then-South Korean President, Chun Doo-hwan, allegedly orchestrated by North Korea.-Bombing:On October 9, 1983, President Chun Doo-hwan was on an official visit to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar...
in 1983; tunnels were frequently found under the DMZ and war nearly broke out over the
axe murder incidentThe Axe Murder Incident was the killing of two United States Army officers by North Korean soldiers on August 18, 1976 in the Joint Security Area located in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which forms the de facto border between North and South Korea...
at
PanmunjeomPanmunjom, in Gyeonggi province, is a village on the de facto border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War was signed. The building where the armistice was signed still stands, though it is on the northern side of the Military Demarcation Line, which...
in 1976. In 1973, extremely secret, high-level contacts began to be conducted through the offices of the Red Cross, but ended after the Panmunjeom incident with little progress having been made and the idea that the two Koreas would join international organisations separately.
In the late 1990s, with the South having transitioned to democracy, the success of the
NordpolitikNordpolitik was the signature foreign policy of South Korean president Roh Tae-woo. Named in 1983 by then-Foreign Minister Lee Beom Suk but not formally announced until the run-up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the policy guided South Korean efforts to reach out to the traditional allies of North...
policy, and power in the North having been taken up by Kim Il-sung's son
Kim Jong-ilKim Jong-il is the paramount leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
, the two nations began to engage publicly for the first time, with the South declaring its
Sunshine PolicyThe Sunshine Policy was the South Korean foreign policy towards North Korea until Lee Myung-bak's election to presidency in 2008. The doctrine emphasizes peaceful cooperation, seeking short-term reconciliation as a prelude to eventual Korean reunification...
.
21st century
In 2002, United States president
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
labeled North Korea part of an "
axis of evil"Axis of evil" is a term coined by United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 in order to describe governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. President Bush named Iran, Iraq and North Korea...
" and an "
outpost of tyrannyOutposts of tyranny was a term used in 2005 by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and subsequently by others in the U.S. government to describe the governments of certain countries as being government by totalitarianist regimes and dictatorships....
". The highest-level contact the government has had with the United States was with
U.S. Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
Madeleine AlbrightMadeleine Korbel Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99-0...
, who made a visit to Pyongyang in 2000, but the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations. By 2006, approximately 37,000 American soldiers remained in South Korea, although by June 2009 this number had fallen to around 30,000. Kim Jong-il has privately stated his acceptance of U.S. troops on the peninsula, even after a possible
reunificationKorean reunification refers to the hypothetical future reunification of North Korea and South Korea under a single government...
. Publicly, North Korea strongly demands the removal of American troops from Korea.
On June 13, 2009, the
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported that in response to new U.N. sanctions, North Korea declared it would progress with its uranium enrichment program. This marked the first time the DPRK has publicly acknowledged that it is conducting a uranium enrichment program. In August 2009, former US president
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
met with Kim Jong-il to secure the release of 2 US journalists.
Geography
North Korea occupies the northern portion of the
Korean PeninsulaThe Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan on the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two...
, covering an area of . North Korea shares land borders with People's Republic of China and Russia to the north, and borders South Korea along the
Korean Demilitarized ZoneThe Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and...
. To its west are the
Yellow SeaThe Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
and
Korea BayKorea Bay , also called West Korea Bay, is located at the north of the Yellow Sea, between Liaoning Province of China and North P'yŏngan Province of North Korea....
, and to its east lies Japan across the
Sea of JapanThe Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bordered by Japan, South Korea, North Korea and Russia. It is referred to in North Korea as the Korea East Sea and in South Korea as the East Sea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure...
(East Sea of Korea). The highest point in North Korea is Paektu-san Mountain at . The longest river is the Amnok River which flows for .
North Korea's climate is relatively
temperateIn geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. But in continental areas, such as central North America the variations between summer...
. Most of the country is classified as type
Dwa in the
Köppen climate classificationThe Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by the Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself notably in 1918 and 1936...
scheme, with warm summers and cold, dry winters. In summer there is a short rainy season called
changma. On August 7, 2007, the most devastating
floodsFlooding in North Korea in August 2007 caused extensive damage and loss of life. The flooding affected most of the southern half of the country including the capital and some of its most productive agricultural regions...
in 40 years caused the North Korean Government to ask for international help. NGOs, such as the Red Cross, asked people to raise funds because they feared a humanitarian catastrophe.
The capital and largest city is
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
; other major cities include
KaesongKaesŏng is a city in North Hwanghae Province, southern North Korea , a former Directly Governed City, and the capital of Korea during the Koryo Dynasty. The city is near Kaesŏng Industrial Region and it contains the remains of the Manwoldae palace. It was formally named Songdo while it was the...
in the south,
SinuijuSinŭiju is a city in North Korea, on the border with China and is the capital of North P'yŏngan Province. Part of the city is included in the Sinŭiju Special Administrative Region, which was established in 2002 to experiment with introducing a market economy.-History:Developed as a major...
in the northwest,
WonsanWŏnsan is a port city and naval base in southeastern North Korea. It is the capital of Kangwŏn Province. The population of the city is estimated to have been 94,003 in 2000. Famous people from Wŏnsan include Kim Ki Nam, diplomat and Secretary of the Workers' Party.- History :The original name of...
and
HamhungHamhŭng is North Korea's second largest city, and the capital of South Hamgyŏng Province. In late 2005, nearby Hŭngnam was made a ward within Hamhŭng-si.-Geography:...
in the east and
ChongjinCh'ŏngjin , North Korea's third largest city. It is also the capital of the North Hamgyŏng Province in North Korea. From 1960 to 1967 and again from 1977 to 1985, Ch'ŏngjin was administered separately from North Hamgyŏng as a Directly Governed City...
in the northeast.
Topography
Already early
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an visitors to Korea remarked that the country resembled "
a sea in a heavy gale" because of the many successive
mountain rangeA mountain range is a chain of mountains bordered by highlands or separated from other mountains by passes or valleys. Individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geology, though they often do; they may be a mix of different orogeny, for example volcanoes,...
s that crisscross the peninsula. Some 80% of North Korea is composed of
mountainA mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill. The adjective montane is used to describe mountainous areas and things associated with them...
s and
uplandUpland may refer to:*Highland , an area of higher land*Upland Place namesIn Germany:*Upland - mountain range in the state of Hesse.In the United States:*Upland, California, in San Bernardino County...
s, separated by deep and narrow
valleyIn geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
s, with all of the peninsula's mountains with elevations of 2000 meters or more located in North Korea. The coastal
plainIn geography, a plain is a land with relatively high relief, as well as flat. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or vegetation may be...
s are wide in the west and discontinuous in the east. The great majority of the population lives in the plains and
lowlandIn physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or...
s.
The highest point in North Korea is
Baekdu MountainBaekdu Mountain, also known as Changbai Mountain in China, is a volcanic mountain on the border between North Korea and China, located at . At , it is the highest mountain of the Changbai mountain range to the north and Baekdudaegan mountain range to the south...
which is a
volcanic mountain3. Conduit
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Dike
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14. Crater
15...
near the Chinese border with
basaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey.On Earth, most...
lavaLava is molten rock expelled by a volcano during eruption. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at temperatures from 700 °C to 1,200 °C...
plateauIn geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain...
with elevations between 1400 and 2000 meters above sea level. The Hamgyong Range, located in the extreme northeastern part of the peninsula, has many high peaks including Gwanmosan at approximately . Other major ranges include the Rangrim Mountains, which are located in the north-central part of North Korea and run in a north-south direction, making communication between the eastern and western parts of the country rather difficult; and the Kangnam Range, which runs along the North Korea-China border. Geumgangsan, often written Mt Kumgang, or Diamond Mountain, (approximately 1,638 meters) in the
Taebaek RangeThe Taebaek Mountains are a mountain range in both North and South Korea. They form the main ridge of the Korean peninsula.The Taebaek mountains are located to the east of the peninsula and run along the Sea of Japan . Hwangnyong Mountain in North Korea forms the northern end of the range. Busan...
, which extends into South Korea, is famous for its scenic beauty.
For the most part, the plains are small. The most extensive are the
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
and Chaeryong plains, each covering about 500 square kilometers. Because the mountains on the east coast drop abruptly to the sea, the plains are even smaller there than on the west coast. Unlike neighboring Japan or northern China, North Korea experiences few severe
earthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph...
s.
Climate
North Korea has a
continental climateContinental climate is a climate that is characterized by winter temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of snow cover each year, and relatively moderate precipitation occurring mostly in summer, although east coast areas may show an even distribution of precipitation.Regions containing...
with four distinct seasons. Long winters bring bitter cold and clear weather interspersed with snow storms as a result of northern and northwestern winds that blow from
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
. Average snowfall is 37 days during the winter. The weather is likely to be particularly harsh in the northern, mountainous regions. Summer tends to be short, hot, humid, and rainy because of the southern and southeastern
monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
winds that bring moist air from the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
. Typhoons affect the peninsula on an average of at least once every summer. Spring and autumn are transitional seasons marked by mild temperatures and variable winds and bring the most pleasant weather. Natural hazards include late spring droughts which often are followed by severe flooding. There are occasional typhoons during the early fall.
Administrative divisions
| | Namea | Hangul | Hanja |
|---|
| Directly governed cities (Chikhalsi)a |
| 1 |
Pyongyang (National Capital) Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
|
평양직할시 |
平壤直轄市 |
| Special Administrative Regions (T'ŭkpyŏl Haengjŏnggu)a |
| 2 |
Kaesong Industrial Region Kaesŏng Industrial Region is a special administrative industrial region of North Korea. It was formed in 2002 from part of Kaesŏng Directly Governed City....
|
개성공업지구 |
開城工業地區 |
| 3 |
Kumgangsan Tourist Region The Kŭmgangsan Tourist Region is a special administrative region of North Korea. It was established in 2002 to handle South Korean tourist traffic to Kŭmgangsan ....
|
금강산관광지구 |
金剛山觀光地區 |
| 4 |
Sinuiju Special Administrative Region Sinŭiju Special Administrative Region was a proposed special administrative region of North Korea, on the border with China. It was established in September 2002 in an area including parts of Sinŭiju and the surrounding area, in an attempt to introduce market economics, and is directly governed as...
|
신의주특별행정구 |
新義州特別行政區 |
| Provinces (do)a |
| 5 |
South Pyongan South P'yŏngan is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former P'yŏngan Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Korea...
|
평안남도 |
平安南道 |
| 6 |
North PyonganNorth P'yŏngan is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former P'yŏngan Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Korea. Its capital is Sinŭiju...
|
평안북도 |
平安北道 |
| 7 |
Chagang Chagang is an province in North Korea; it is bordered by China on the north, Ryanggang and South Hamgyong on the east, South P'yŏngan on the south, and North P'yŏngan to the west. Chagang was formed in 1949, when it was separated from North P'yŏngan. The provincial capital is...
|
자강도 |
慈江道 |
| 8 |
South HwanghaeSouth Hwanghae is a province in western North Korea. The province was formed in 1954 when the former Hwanghae Province was split into North and South Hwanghae. The provincial capital is Haeju. It is bordered to the north and east by North Hwanghae province and to the southeast by Kaesŏng...
|
황해남도 |
黃海南道 |
| 9 |
North Hwanghae North Hwanghae is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1954 when the former Hwanghae Province was split into North and South Hwanghae. The provincial capital is Sariwŏn. The province is bordered by P'yŏngyang and South P'yŏngan to the north, Kangwŏn to the east, Kaesŏng...
|
황해북도 |
黃海北道 |
| 10 |
KangwonKangwŏn is a province of North Korea, with its capital at Wŏnsan. Before the division of Korea in 1945, Kangwŏn and its South Korean neighbour Gangwon-do formed a single province that excluded Wŏnsan.-History:...
|
강원도 |
江原道 |
| 11 |
South Hamgyong South Hamgyŏng is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former Hamgyŏng Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Korea...
|
함경남도 |
咸鏡南道 |
| 12 |
North Hamgyong North Hamgyŏng is a province of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Hamgyŏng Province.-Geography:...
|
함경북도 |
咸鏡北道 |
| 13 |
Ryanggang Ryanggang is a province in North Korea. The province is bordered by China on the north, North Hamgyong on the east, South Hamgyong on the south, and Chagang on the west. Ryanggang was formed in 1954, when it was separated from South Hamgyŏng. The provincial capital is Hyesan...
|
Major cities
Culture and arts
Literature and arts in North Korea are state-controlled, mostly through the Propaganda and Agitation Department or the Culture and Arts Department of the Central Committee of the KWP.
Korean culture came under attack during the
Japanese ruleKorea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Formally, Japanese rule ended on September 2, 1945 upon the Japanese defeat in World War II in 1945....
from 1910 to 1945. Japan enforced a
cultural assimilationCultural assimilation is a political response to the demographic fact of multi-ethnicity which encourages absorption of the minority into the dominant culture...
policy. During the Japanese rule, Koreans were encouraged to learn and speak Japanese, adopt the Japanese family name system and
Shintoor kami-no-michi is the natural spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. The word Shinto was adopted from the written Chinese , combining two kanji: , meaning gods or spirits ; and , or "do" meaning a philosophical path or study...
religion, and forbidden to write or speak the Korean language in schools, businesses, or public places. In addition, the Japanese altered or destroyed various Korean monuments including
Gyeongbok PalaceGyeongbokgung, also known as Gyeongbokgung Palace or Gyeongbok Palace, is a royal palace located in northern Seoul, South Korea. First constructed in 1394 and reconstructed in 1867, it was the main and largest palace of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty...
and documents which portrayed the Japanese in a negative light were revised.
In July 2004, the
Complex of Goguryeo TombsThe Complex of Goguryeo Tombs lies in North Korea. In July 2004 it became the first UNESCO World Heritage site in the country. The site consists of 30 individual tombs from the later Goguryeo kingdom, one of Three Kingdoms of Korea, located in the cities of P'yŏngyang and Namp'o...
became the first site in the country to be included in the
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
list of
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...
s.
In February 2008, The New York Philharmonic Orchestra became the first US musical group ever to perform in North Korea, albeit for a handpicked "invited audience." The concert was broadcast on national television.
A popular event in North Korea is the
Mass GamesMass games or mass gymnastics are a form of performing arts or gymnastics in which large numbers of performers take part in a highly regimented performance that emphasizes group dynamics rather than individual prowess...
. The most recent and largest Mass Games was called "
ArirangThe Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang are held in the Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea to celebrate the late Communist leader Kim Il-sung's birthdate on April 15...
". It was performed six nights a week for two months, and involved over 100,000 performers. Attendees to this event in recent years report that the anti-West sentiments have been toned down compared to previous performances. The Mass Games involve performances of dance, gymnastics, and
choreographicChoreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
routines which celebrate the history of North Korea and the Workers' Party Revolution. The Mass Games are held in Pyongyang at various venues (varying according to the scale of the Games in a particular year) including the
Rungrado May Day StadiumThe Rŭngrado May First Stadium, or May Day Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, completed on May 1, 1989.It is currently used for football matches, a few athletics matches, but most often for the spectacular Arirang performances...
, which is the largest stadium in the world with a capacity of 150,000 people.
Government and politics
North Korea is a self-described
JucheThe Juche Idea is the official state ideology of North Korea. It teaches that "man is the master of everything and decides everything," and that the Korean people are the masters of Korea's revolution. Juche is a component of Kimilsungism, North Korea's political system...
(self-reliant) state with a pronounced
cult of personalityA cult of personality arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships and Stalinist governments....
organized around
Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, exercising autocratic power...
(the founder of North Korea and the country's first and only
presidentPresident is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, trade unions, universities, and countries. Etymologically, a "president" is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
) and his son and heir, Kim Jong-il. Following Kim Il-sung's death in 1994, he was not replaced but instead received the designation of "
Eternal PresidentThe position of Eternal President of the Republic is established by a line in the preface to the North Korean constitution, amended on September 5, 1998...
", and was entombed in the vast
Kumsusan Memorial PalaceThe Kumsusan Memorial Palace, sometimes referred to as the Kim Il-sung Mausoleum, is a building located northeast of downtown Pyongyang, the capital city of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea . The palace is the former official residence and office of North Korea's former president and...
in central Pyongyang.
Although the active position of president has been abolished in deference to the memory of Kim Il-sung, the
de factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being officially established"...
head of state is Kim Jong-il, who is
Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North KoreaThe Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea is the supreme commander of the armed forces of North Korea and the most powerful person in the government...
. The legislature of North Korea is the
Supreme People's AssemblyThe Supreme People's Assembly is the unicameral parliament of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , commonly known as North Korea...
, currently led by President
Kim Yong-namKim Yong-nam is a top North Korean official. He has been de facto head of state since 1998, and he previously served as foreign minister from 1983 to 1998...
. The other senior government figure is
Premier Kim Yong-ilKim Yong-Il is the current Premier of North Korea. He was elected as Premier by the 5th session of the 11th Supreme People's Assembly in April 2007, replacing Pak Pong-ju....
.
North Korea is a single-party state. The governing party is the
Democratic Front for the Reunification of the FatherlandThe Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, formed on 22 July 1946, is a North Korean united front led by the Workers' Party of Korea. It was initially called the North Korean Fatherland United Democratic Front...
, a coalition of the
Workers' Party of KoreaThe Workers' Party of Korea is the ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , commonly known as North Korea. It is also called the Korean Workers' Party...
and two other smaller parties, the
Korean Social Democratic PartyThe Korean Social Democratic Party is a political party in North Korea, one of three legally permitted to exist, and allied with the ruling Workers' Party of Korea...
and the
Chondoist Chongu PartyThe Chondoist Chongu Party is a united front party in North Korea and is labeled as democratic by the government of the country. The party was founded on February 5 1946, by a group of followers of the Chondogyo religion...
. These parties nominate all candidates for office and hold all seats in the Supreme People's Assembly.
In June 2009, it was reported in South Korean media that intelligence indicates the country's next leader will be Kim Jong-un, the youngest of Kim Jong-il's three sons.
Foreign relations
North Korea has long maintained close relations with the People's Republic of China and Russia. The
fall of communismThe Revolutions of 1989, sometimes called the Autumn of Nations, were a revolutionary wave that swept across Central and Eastern Europe in late 1989, ending in the overthrow of Soviet-style communist states within the space of a few months....
in eastern Europe in 1989, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, resulted in a devastating drop in aid to North Korea from Russia, although China continues to provide substantial assistance. North Korea continues to have strong ties with its
socialistSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
southeast Asian allies in
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
,
LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, and
CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
.
North Korea has started installing a
concrete and barbed wire fenceThe Chinese-Korean Border Fence is a fence constructed on both sides of the 1,416-kilometre border shared between China and North Korea. This fence exists along the Yalu River and Tumen River.-China's side:...
on its northern border, in response to China's wish to curb refugees fleeing from North Korea. Previously the border between China and North Korea had only been lightly patrolled.
As a result of the
North Korean nuclear weapons programNorth Korea is claimed to have an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, and claims to possess nuclear weapons. The CIA asserts that North Korea also has a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons...
, the
Six-party talksThe six-party talks aim to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.There has been a series of meetings with six participating states: the People's Republic of China; the Republic of Korea ; the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
were established to find a peaceful solution to the growing unrest between the two Korean governments, the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, Japan, and the United States.
On July 17, 2007, United Nations inspectors verified the shutdown of five North Korean nuclear facilities, according to the February 2007 agreement.
On October 4, 2007, South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il signed an 8-point peace agreement, on issues of permanent peace, high-level talks, economic cooperation, renewal of train, highway and air travel, and a joint Olympic cheering squad.
The United States and South Korea previously designated the North as a state sponsor of terrorism. The
1983 bombing that killed members of the South Korean governmentThe 1983 Rangoon bombing was an assassination attempt against then-South Korean President, Chun Doo-hwan, allegedly orchestrated by North Korea.-Bombing:On October 9, 1983, President Chun Doo-hwan was on an official visit to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar...
and the
destruction of a South Korean airlinerKorean Air Flight 858 was en route from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok on 29 November 1987 when it exploded over the Andaman Sea, killing all 115 on board. Two North Korean agents had boarded the plane in Baghdad and departed during its stopover in Abu Dhabi having left a time bomb in an overhead...
have been attributed to North Korea. North Korea has also admitted responsibility for the kidnapping of 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, five of whom were returned to Japan in 2002. On October 11, 2008, the United States removed North Korea from its list of states that sponsor terrorism.
Most of the foreign embassies connecting with diplomatic ties to North Korea are situated in Beijing rather than Pyongyang.
Military
Kim Jong-ilKim Jong-il is the paramount leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
is the
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's ArmySupreme Commander of the Korean People's Army is the highest post of command of the Korean People's Army, the army of North Korea and one of the largest standing armies in the world with around 5.9 million active duty personnel and reserves. Kim Jong-il has held this post since 24 December 1991;...
and
Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North KoreaThe Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea is the supreme commander of the armed forces of North Korea and the most powerful person in the government...
. The
Korean People's ArmyThe Korean People's Army comprises the military forces of North Korea. Kim Jung-il is the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and Chairman of the National Defence Commission...
(KPA) is the name for the collective armed personnel of the North Korean military. The army has four branches: Ground Force, Naval Force, Air Force, and the
State Security DepartmentThe State Security Department of North Korea is an autonomous agency of the North Korean government reporting directly to the North Korean leader. It is the secret police of North Korea. It is involved in the operation of North Korea's concentration camps and various other hidden activities.Various...
.
According to the
U.S. Department of StateThe United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, similar to foreign ministries, foreign offices, ministries of external relations, etc. in other countries...
, North Korea has the fifth-largest
armyAn army An army An army (from Latin armata "armed (things)" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based Military of a nation. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
in the world, at an estimated 1.21 million armed personnel, with about 20% of men aged 17–54 in the regular armed forces. North Korea has the highest percentage of military personnel per capita of any nation in the world, with approximately 1 enlisted soldier for every 25 citizens. Military strategy is designed for insertion of agents and sabotage behind enemy lines in wartime, with much of the KPA's forces deployed along the heavily fortified
Korean Demilitarized ZoneThe Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and...
. The Korean People's Army operates a very large amount of equipment, including 4,060
tankA tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities...
s, 2,500
APC-Biology:*Antigen-presenting cell in medicine/immunology*APC , a human gene that is classified as a tumor suppressor gene*APC , a human cancer-critical protein...
s, 17,900
artilleryArtillery is a military combat Arm that employs weapons capable of discharging large projectiles in combat. They are generally capable of adding considerable fire power to the military capability of an armed force...
pieces (incl.
mortarsA mortar is a muzzle-loading indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber.- Function :...
), 11,000 air defence guns in the Ground force; at least 915 vessels in the Navy and 1,748 aircraft in the Air Force, as well as some 10,000 MANPADS and
anti-tank guided missileAn anti-tank guided missile or anti-tank guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored tanks and other armored fighting vehicles....
s. The equipment is a mixture of World War II vintage vehicles and small arms, widely proliferated Cold War technology, and more modern Soviet weapons. According to official North Korean media, planned military expenditures for 2009 are 15.8% of GDP.
North Korea has active nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs and has been subject to United Nations Security Council resolutions
1695United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695, adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on July 15, 2006, bans selling material that would further the ability of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to bolster its ballistic missiles programme.-Adoption and provisions:The...
of July 2006,
1718United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 was adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on October 14, 2006. The resolution, passed under Chapter VII, Article 41, of the UN Charter, imposes a series of economic and commercial sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of...
of October 2006, and
1874United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874 was adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on 12 June 2009. The resolution, passed under Chapter VII, Article 41, of the UN Charter, imposes further economic and commercial sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ...
of June 2009, for carrying out both missile and nuclear tests. North Korea probably has fissile material for up to 9 nuclear weapons, and has the capability to deploy nuclear warheads on
intermediate-range ballistic missileAn intermediate-range ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000-5,500 km , between a medium-range ballistic missile and an intercontinental ballistic missile...
s.
North Korea also sells its missiles and military equipment overseas. In April 2009 the United Nations named the Korea Mining and Development Trading Corporation (aka KOMID) as North Korea's primary arms dealer and main exporter of equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons. It also named Korea Ryonbong as a supporter of North Korea's military related sales.
On October 6, North Korea announced it was ready to resume work on its nuclear center in Yongbyon, although the officials claimed that the country still holds open the possibility of
nuclear disarmamentNuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
, but only after the US agrees to conduct direct talks with North Korea. The absence of dialogue with the United States was claimed to be the only obstacle for Pyongyang to resume the six-party talks. The US government said it was ready to discuss the matter, but had certain conditions that must be met. Kim Jong-il said that as a result of the talks with the Chinese delegation, the hostile relations between North Korea and the United States should be turned into peaceful ties by means of
bilateralBilateralism comprises the political and cultural relations between two states.Most international diplomacy is done bilaterally. Examples of this include treaties between two countries, exchanges of ambassadors, and state visits...
talks.
Economy
North Korea has an industrialised,
autarkicAutarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic policies. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky...
, and highly centralized command economy. Of the five remaining socialist states in the world, North Korea is one of only two (along with
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
) with an entirely government-planned, state-owned economy.
North Korea's isolation policy means that
international tradeInternational trade is exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, it represents a significant share of gross domestic product . While international trade has been present throughout much of history , its economic, social, and political...
is highly restricted, hampering a significant potential for economic growth. Nonetheless, due to its strategic location in East Asia connecting four major economies and having a cheap, young, and skilled
workforceThe workforce is the labour pool in employment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, country, state, etc. The term generally excludes the employers or management, and implies those involved in...
, it is projected that the North Korean economy could grow to 6–7% annually "with the right incentives and reform measures".
Until 1998, the United Nations published
HDIThe Human Development Index is an index used to rank countries by level of "human development", which usually also implies whether a country is developed, developing, or underdeveloped.-Summary:...
and GDP per capita figures for North Korea, which stood at a medium level of human development at 0.766 (ranked 75th) and a GDP per capita of $4,058. The average salary is about $47 per month. Despite substantial economic problems, quality of life is improving and wages are rising steadily. Small-scale private markets, known as
janmadang, exist throughout the country and provide the population with imported food and certain commodities in exchange for money, thus helping to prevent serious starvation.
The North Korean economy is completely nationalized, which means that food rations, housing, healthcare, and education is offered from the state for free. The payment of taxes has been abolished since April 1, 1974. In order to increase productivity from agriculture and industry, since the 1960s the North Korean government has introduced a number of management systems such as the Taean work system. In the 21st century, North Korea's GDP growth has been slow but steady, although in recent years, growth has gradually accelerated to 3.7% in 2008, the fastest pace in almost a decade, largely due to a sharp growth of 8.2% in the agricultural sector. This comes as a surprise given that most economies have reported minus growth due to the global financial crisis of 2008–2009.
GDP Growth by year
| 2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
| 1.3 % |
3.7 % |
1.2 % |
1.8 % |
2.2 % |
1.0 % |
1.6 % |
1.8 % |
3.7 % |
Based on estimates in 2002, the dominant sector in the North Korean economy is industry (43.1%), followed by services (33.6%) and agriculture (23.3%). In 2004, it was estimated that agriculture employed 37% of the workforce while industry and services employed the remaining 63%. Major industries include military products, machine building, electric power, chemicals, mining, metallurgy, textiles, food processing and tourism.
In 2005, North Korea was ranked by the FAO as an estimated 10th in the production of fresh fruit and as an estimated 19th in the production of
appleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits...
s. It has substantial natural resources and is the world's 18th largest producer of
iron and
zinc, having the 22nd largest
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
reserves in the world. It is also the 15th largest
fluorite producer and 12th largest producer of
copper and
salt in Asia. Other major natural resources in production include
leadLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
,
tungstenTungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A steel-gray metal, tungsten is found in several ores, including wolframite and scheelite...
,
graphiteThe mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Greek γραφειν : "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead, as distinguished from the actual metallic element lead...
,
magnesiteMagnesite is magnesium carbonate, MgCO
3. Iron substitutes for magnesium with a complete solution series with siderite, FeCO
3. Calcium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel may also occur in small amounts...
,
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
, pyrites, fluorspar, and
hydropowerHydropower, hydraulic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of moving water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes....
.
Foreign commerce
China and South Korea remain the largest donors of food aid to North Korea. The U.S. objects to this manner of donating food due to lack of supervision. In 2005, China and South Korea combined to provide 1 million tons of food aid, each contributing half. In addition to food aid, China reportedly provides an estimated 80 to 90 percent of North Korea's oil imports at "friendly prices" that are sharply lower than the world market price.
On September 19, 2005, North Korea was promised fuel aid and various other non-food incentives from South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Russia, and China in exchange for abandoning its nuclear weapons program and rejoining the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyThe Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is a treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, opened for signature on July 1, 1968...
. Providing food in exchange for abandoning weapons programs has historically been avoided by the U.S. so as not to be perceived as "using food as a weapon". Humanitarian aid from North Korea's neighbors has been cut off at times to provoke North Korea to resume boycotted talks. For example, South Korea's had the "postponed consideration" of 500,000 tons of rice for the North in 2006 but the idea of providing food as a clear incentive (as opposed to resuming "general humanitarian aid") has been avoided. There have also been aid disruptions due to widespread theft of
railroad carsA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
used by mainland China to deliver food relief.
In July 2002, North Korea started experimenting with private capitalism in the
Kaesong Industrial RegionKaesŏng Industrial Region is a special administrative industrial region of North Korea. It was formed in 2002 from part of Kaesŏng Directly Governed City....
. A small number of other areas have been designated as Special Administrative Regions, including
SinŭijuSinŭiju Special Administrative Region was a proposed special administrative region of North Korea, on the border with China. It was established in September 2002 in an area including parts of Sinŭiju and the surrounding area, in an attempt to introduce market economics, and is directly governed as...
along the China-North Korea border. China and South Korea are the biggest trade partners of North Korea, with trade with China increasing 15% to US$1.6 billion in 2005, and trade with South Korea increasing 50% to over 1 billion for the first time in 2005. It is reported that the number of mobile phones in
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
rose from only 3,000 in 2002 to approximately 20,000 during 2004. As of June 2004, however, mobile phones became forbidden again. A small number of capitalistic elements are gradually spreading from the trial area, including a number of advertising billboards along certain highways. Recent visitors have reported that the number of open-air farmers' markets has increased in
KaesongKaesŏng is a city in North Hwanghae Province, southern North Korea , a former Directly Governed City, and the capital of Korea during the Koryo Dynasty. The city is near Kaesŏng Industrial Region and it contains the remains of the Manwoldae palace. It was formally named Songdo while it was the...
and
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
, as well as along the China-North Korea border, bypassing the food rationing system.
In 2000, North Korea established the Centre for the Study of the Capitalist System. Increasingly more foreign-invested joint ventures have been set up since 2002. The Pyongyang Business School was established by the Swiss government to help teach students business management.
In a 2003 event dubbed the "
Pong Su incidentThe Pong Su incident occurred during April 2003 when members of the Australian Special Operations Command intercepted and boarded the Pong Su, a North Korean ocean freighter in Australian territorial waters...
", a North Korean cargo ship allegedly attempting to smuggle heroin into Australia was seized by Australian officials, strengthening Australian and United States' suspicions that Pyongyang engages in international drug smuggling. The North Korean government denied any involvement.
Tourism
Tourism in North Korea is organized by the state owned Tourism Organisation ("Ryohaengsa"). Every group of travelers as well as individual tourist/visitors are permanently accompanied by one or two "guides" who normally speak the mother language of the tourist. While tourism has increased over the last few years, tourists from Western countries remain few. The majority of the tourists who visit come from China, Russia and Japan. Russian citizens from the Asian part of Russia prefer North Korea as a tourist destination due to the relatively low prices, lack of pollution and the warmer climate. For citizens of the US and South Korea it is practically impossible to obtain a
visaA visa is an indication that a person is authorized to enter the country which "issued" the visa, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
for North Korea. Exceptions for US citizens are made for the yearly
Arirang FestivalThe Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang are held in the Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea to celebrate the late Communist leader Kim Il-sung's birthdate on April 15...
.
In the area of the
KŭmgangsanKŭmgangsan or Mount Kŭmgang is one of the best-known mountains in North Korea. It has a height of 1638 metres and is located on the east coast of the country, in Kŭmgangsan Tourist Region, formerly part of Kangwŏn Province . Kŭmgangsan is part of the Taebaek mountain range which runs along the east...
-mountains, the company
HyundaiHyundai is a group of companies founded by Chung Ju-yung in South Korea. The first Hyundai company was founded in 1947 as a construction company, and eventually became South Korea's largest conglomerate company ....
established and operates a special Tourist area. Traveling to this area is also possible for South Koreans and US citizens, but only in organized groups from South Korea. A special administrative region known as the
Kŭmgangsan Tourist RegionThe Kŭmgangsan Tourist Region is a special administrative region of North Korea. It was established in 2002 to handle South Korean tourist traffic to Kŭmgangsan ....
exists for this purpose. Trips to the region have been temporarily suspended since a South Korean woman who wandered into a controlled military zone was shot dead by border guards in late 2008.
Famine
In the 1990s North Korea faced significant economic disruptions, including a series of natural disasters, economic mismanagement and serious resource shortages after the collapse of the
Eastern BlocThe terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to the former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, including the countries of the Warsaw Pact, along with Yugoslavia and Albania, which were not aligned with the Soviet Union after 1948 and 1960...
. These resulted in a shortfall of staple
grainCereals, grains or cereal grains, {as a collective} are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their fruit seeds - the endocarp, germ and bran...
output of more than 1 million tons from what the country needs to meet internationally accepted minimum dietary requirements. The
North Korean famineThe North Korean famine began in 1995 and peaked in 1997 in North Korea. According to a report by North Korea's Public Security Ministry, the North estimates its losses at about 2.5 million to 3 million from 1995 to March 1998.-Beginning of the Famine:...
known as "Arduous March" resulted in the deaths of between 300,000 and 800,000 North Koreans per year during the three year famine, peaking in 1997, with 2.0 million total being "the highest possible estimate." The deaths were most likely caused by famine-related illnesses such as
pneumoniaPneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lung. Frequently, it is described as lung parenchyma/alveolar inflammation and abnormal alveolar filling with fluid ....
,
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
, and
diarrheaIn medicine, diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea , is the condition of having frequent loose or liquid bowel movements. Acute diarrhea is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide...
rather than
starvationStarvation is a severe reduction in vitamin, nutrient, and energy intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage, and eventually death...
.
In 2006,
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international secular non-governmental organisation which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London in 1961, AI...
reported that a national nutrition survey conducted by the North Korean government, the
World Food ProgrammeThe World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization.. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
, and
UNICEFThe United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II...
found that 7% of children were severely
malnourishedMalnutrition is the insufficient, excessive or imbalanced consumption of nutrients.A number of different nutrition disorders may arise, depending on which nutrients are under or overabundant in the diet....
; 37% were chronically malnourished; 23.4% were underweight; and one in three mothers was malnourished and
anaemicAnemia is a decrease in normal number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood...
as the result of the lingering effect of the famine. The inflation caused by some of the 2002 economic reforms, including the Songun or
"Military-first" policySŏn'gun, often spelled Songun, is North Korea's "Military First" policy, which prioritizes the Korean People's Army in the affairs of state and allocates national resources to the army first...
, was cited for creating the increased price of basic foods..
The history of Japanese assistance to North Korea has been marked with unrest; from a large pro-
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
community of Koreans in Japan to public outrage over the 1998 North Korean missile launch and revelations regarding the abduction of Japanese citizens. In June 1995 an agreement was reached that the two countries would act jointly. South Korea would provide 150,000 MT of grain in unmarked bags, and Japan would provide 150,000 MT gratis and another 150,000 MT on concessional terms. In October 1995 and January 1996, North Korea again approached Japan for assistance. On these two occasions, both of which came at crucial moments in the evolution of the famine, opposition from both South Korea and domestic political sources quashed the deals.
Beginning in 1997, the U.S. began shipping food aid to North Korea through the United Nations
World Food ProgrammeThe World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization.. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
(WFP) to combat the famine. Shipments peaked in 1999 at nearly 700,000 tons making the U.S. the largest foreign aid donor to the country at the time. Under the Bush Administration, aid was drastically reduced year after year from 350,000 tons in 2001 to 40,000 in 2004. The Bush Administration took criticism for using "food as a weapon" during talks over the North's nuclear weapons program, but insisted the
U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentThe United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government organization responsible for most non-military foreign aid...
(USAID) criteria were the same for all countries and the situation in North Korea had "improved significantly since its collapse in the mid-1990s." Agricultural production had increased from about 2.7 million
metric tonsA tonne or metric ton , also referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of mass equal to , or approximately the mass of one cubic metre of water. It is not an SI unit but is accepted for use with the SI...
in 1997 to 4.2 million metric tons in 2004.
Media
The media of North Korea is one of the most strictly controlled in the world. As a result, information is tightly controlled both into and out of North Korea. The North Korean constitution provides for
freedom of speechFreedom of speech is the freedom to speak without censorship or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
and the
pressFreedom of the press consists ofconstitutional or statutory protections pertaining to the media and published materials.With respect to governmental information, any government distinguishes which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information...
; however, the government prohibits the exercise of these rights in practice. In its 2008 report,
Reporters Without BordersReporters Without Borders, or RWB is a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985 by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud...
classified the media environment in North Korea as 172 out of 173, only above that of
EritreaEritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen...
.
Only news that favors the regime is permitted, while news that covers the economic and political problems in the country, or criticisms of the regime from abroad, is not allowed. The media upholds the personality cult of
Kim Jong-ilKim Jong-il is the paramount leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
, regularly reporting on his daily activities. The main news provider to media in the DPRK is the
Korean Central News AgencyThe Korean Central News Agency is the state news agency of North Korea and has existed since December 5, 1946. KCNA is headquartered in the capital city of Pyongyang.-Organization:...
.
North Korea has 12 principal newspapers and 20 major periodicals, all of varying periodicity and all published in
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
. Newspapers include the
Rodong SinmunRodong Sinmun is a North Korean newspaper and the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, published by the Rodong News Agency. It is the most widely read newspaper in the country...
,
Joson Inmingun,
Minju Choson, and
Rodongja Sinmum. No private press exists.
Transportation
There is a mix of local built and imported trolleybuses and trams in urban centers in North Korea. Earlier fleets were obtained in Europe and China, but trade embargo has forced North Korea to build their own vehicles. Railways of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Choson Cul Minzuzui Inmingonghoagug, is the only rail operator in North Korea. It has a network of 5,200 km of track with 4,500 km in
Standard gaugeThe standard gauge is a widely-used rail gauge. Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
. There is a small narrow gauge railway in operation in Haeju peninsula. The railway fleet consists of a mix of electric and steam locomotives. Cars are mostly made in North Korea using Soviet designs. There are some locomotives from Imperial Japan, the United States, and Europe remaining in use. Second-hand Chinese locomotives (early DF4Bs, BJ Hydraulics, etc.) have also been spotted in active service.
Water transport on the major rivers and along the coasts plays a growing role in freight and passenger traffic. Except for the Yalu and Taedong rivers, most of the inland waterways, totaling 2,253 kilometers, are navigable only by small boats. Coastal traffic is heaviest on the eastern seaboard, whose deeper waters can accommodate larger vessels. The major ports are Nampho on the west coast and Rajin,
ChongjinCh'ŏngjin , North Korea's third largest city. It is also the capital of the North Hamgyŏng Province in North Korea. From 1960 to 1967 and again from 1977 to 1985, Ch'ŏngjin was administered separately from North Hamgyŏng as a Directly Governed City...
,
WonsanWŏnsan is a port city and naval base in southeastern North Korea. It is the capital of Kangwŏn Province. The population of the city is estimated to have been 94,003 in 2000. Famous people from Wŏnsan include Kim Ki Nam, diplomat and Secretary of the Workers' Party.- History :The original name of...
, and
HamhungHamhŭng is North Korea's second largest city, and the capital of South Hamgyŏng Province. In late 2005, nearby Hŭngnam was made a ward within Hamhŭng-si.-Geography:...
on the east coast. The country's harbor loading capacity in the 1990s was estimated at almost 35 million tons a year. In the early 1990s, North Korea possessed an oceangoing merchant fleet, largely domestically produced, of sixty-eight ships (of at least 1,000 gross-registered tons), totaling 465,801 gross-registered tons , which includes fifty-eight cargo ships and two tankers. There is a continuing investment in upgrading and expanding port facilities, developing transportation—particularly on the Taedong River—and increasing the share of international cargo by domestic vessels.
North Korea's international air connections are limited. There are regularly scheduled flights from the
Sunan International AirportSunan International Airport is the main airport serving Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, located 24 km from the city's center....
– 24 kilometers north of Pyongyang – to
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
,
KhabarovskKhabarovsk is the administrative center and the largest city of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some 30 km from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District...
,
BeijingBeijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China...
,
MacauThe Macau Special Administrative Region , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong...
,
VladivostokVladivostok is Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai. It is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay not far from Russia's border with China and North Korea...
,
BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
,
ShenyangShenyang , or Mukden , is a sub-provincial city and capital of Liaoning province in Northeast China.Along with its nearby cities, Shenyang is an important industrial center in China, and the transportation and commercial centre of China's northeastern region.The city was also known as Shengjing or...
,
ShenzhenShenzhen is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong...
and charter flights from Sunan to Tokyo as well as to East European countries, the Middle East, and Africa. An agreement to initiate a service between Pyongyang and Tokyo was signed in 1990. Internal flights are available between
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
,
HamhungHamhŭng is North Korea's second largest city, and the capital of South Hamgyŏng Province. In late 2005, nearby Hŭngnam was made a ward within Hamhŭng-si.-Geography:...
,
WonsanWŏnsan is a port city and naval base in southeastern North Korea. It is the capital of Kangwŏn Province. The population of the city is estimated to have been 94,003 in 2000. Famous people from Wŏnsan include Kim Ki Nam, diplomat and Secretary of the Workers' Party.- History :The original name of...
, and
ChongjinCh'ŏngjin , North Korea's third largest city. It is also the capital of the North Hamgyŏng Province in North Korea. From 1960 to 1967 and again from 1977 to 1985, Ch'ŏngjin was administered separately from North Hamgyŏng as a Directly Governed City...
. All civil aircraft operated by
Air KoryoAir Koryo Korean Airways is the state-owned national flag carrier airline of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, headquartered in Sunan-guyŏk, Pyongyang. It operates international services and charter flights to points in Asia and Africa...
are 34 aircraft in 2008, these were purchased from the Soviet Union and Russia. From 1976 to 1978, four Tu-154 jets were added to the small fleet of propeller-driven An-24s afterwards adding four long range Ilyushin Il-62M, three Ilyushin Il-76MD large cargo aircraft and 2 long range Tupolev Tu-204-300's purchased in 2008.
One of the few ways to enter North Korea is over the
Sino-Korea Friendship BridgeThe Sino-Korea Friendship Bridge connects the cities of Dandong, China and Sinŭiju, North Korea. It was built by the Japanese during the time that they controlled Korea and Manchukuo...
or via
PanmunjeomPanmunjom, in Gyeonggi province, is a village on the de facto border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War was signed. The building where the armistice was signed still stands, though it is on the northern side of the Military Demarcation Line, which...
, the former crossing
Amnok RiverThe Yalu River or the Amnok River is a river on the border between China and North Korea. The Chinese name comes from a Manchu word meaning "the boundary between two countries"...
and the latter crossing the
Demilitarized ZoneThe Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and...
.
Private cars in North Korea are a rare sight, but some 70% of households used
bicycleA bicycle, also known as a bike, push bike or cycle, is a pedal-driven, human-powered vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist or a bicyclist....
s, which also play an increasingly important role in small-scale private trade.
Demographics
North Korea's population of roughly 23 million is one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous in the world, with very small numbers of Chinese,
JapaneseJapanese people in North Korea consist mainly of four groups: prisoners-of-war in the Soviet Union, Japanese accompanying repatriating Zainichi Korean spouses, defectors, and kidnapping victims...
, Vietnamese, South Korean, and European expatriate minorities.
According to the CIA World Factbook, North Korea's life expectancy was 63.8 years in 2009, a figure roughly equivalent to that of
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
and Burma and slightly lower than Russia.
Infant mortalityInfant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. The most common cause worldwide has traditionally been due to dehydration from diarrhea...
stood at a high level of 51.34, which is 2.5 times higher than that of
ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
, 5 times that of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, 12 times that of
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
. According to the UNICEF "The State of the world's Children 2003" North Korea appears ranked at the 73rd place (with first place having the highest mortality rate), between
GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
(72nd) and
TuvaluTuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
(74th). North Korea's
Total fertility rateThe total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she...
is relatively low and stood at 1.96 in 2009, comparable to those of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
Language
North Korea shares the
Korean languageKorean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers. It was formerly written using Hanja, borrowed Chinese characters pronounced in the Korean...
with South Korea. There are dialect differences within both Koreas, but the border between North and South does not represent a major linguistic boundary. While prevalent in the South, the adoption of modern terms from foreign languages has been limited in North Korea.
HanjaHanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
(
Chinese characterA Chinese character, also known as a Han character , is a logogram used in writing Chinese , Japanese , less frequently Korean , and formerly Vietnamese , and other languages...
s) are no longer used in North Korea, although still occasionally used in South Korea. Both Koreas share the phonetic writing system called Chosongul in the north and
HangulHangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language, as distinguished from the logographic Sino-Korean hanja system...
south of the DMZ. The official
RomanizationIn linguistics, romanization or latinization, alternately spelt as latinisation or romanisation , is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system...
differs in the two countries, with North Korea using a slightly modified
McCune-ReischauerMcCune–Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced McCune–Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000...
system, and the South using the
Revised Romanization of KoreanThe Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea, used as a replacement for the 1984 McCune-Reischauer–based romanization system...
.
Religion
Both Koreas share a
BuddhistKorean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what it sees as inconsistencies in Mahayana Buddhism. Early Korean monks believed that the traditions they received from foreign countries were internally inconsistent. To address this, they developed a new...
and
ConfucianKorean Confucianism is the form of Confucianism developed in Korea. One of the most substantial influences in Korean intellectual history was the introduction of Confucian thought as part of the cultural exchange from China...
heritage and a recent history of
ChristianThe practice of Christianity in Korea has a relatively short history but, after a slow start, it has seen significant growth and high numbers of believers...
and Cheondoism ("religion of the Heavenly Way") movements. The North Korean constitution states that freedom of religion is permitted. According to the Western standards of religion, the majority of the North Korean population could be characterized as irreligious. However the majority are defined as religious from a sociological viewpoint and the cultural influence of such traditional religions as Buddhism and Confucianism still have an effect on North Korean spiritual life.
Nevertheless, Buddhists in North Korea reportedly fare better than other religious groups; particularly Christians, who are said to face persecution by the authorities. Buddhists are given limited funding by the government to promote the religion, because Buddhism played an integral role in traditional Korean culture.
According to
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
, free religious activities no longer exist in North Korea as the government sponsors religious groups only to create an illusion of religious freedom.
According to Religious Intelligence the situation of religion in North Korea is the following:
- Irreligion
Irreligion is an absence of religion, indifference to religion, and/or hostility to religion. Depending on the context, it may be understood as referring to atheism, deism, nontheism, agnosticism, ignosticism, antireligion, skepticism, freethought, or secular humanism. Irreligious people may have...
: 15,460,000 adherents (64.31% of population, the vast majority of which are adherents of the Juche philosophy)
- Korean shamanism
Korean shamanism encompasses a variety of indigenous beliefs and practices that have been influenced by Buddhism and Taoism. In contemporary Korean, shamanism is known as muism and a shaman is known as a mudang...
: 3,846,000 adherents (16% of population)
- Cheondoism: 3,245,000 adherents (13.50% of population)
- Buddhism
Buddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
: 1,082,000 adherents (4.50% of population)
- Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
: 406,000 adherents (1.69% of population)
Pyongyang was the center of Christian activity in Korea before the Korean War. Today, four state-sanctioned churches exist, which freedom of religion advocates say are showcases for foreigners. Official government statistics report that there are 10,000
ProtestantsProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
and 4,000
Roman CatholicsThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
in North Korea.
According to a ranking published by
Open DoorsOpen Doors is a non-denominational Christian mission supporting persecuted Christian believers in more than 45 countries where Christianity is socially or legally discouraged or oppressed...
, an organization that supports persecuted Christians, North Korea is currently the country with the most severe persecution of Christians in the world. Human rights groups such as
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international secular non-governmental organisation which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London in 1961, AI...
also have expressed concerns about religious persecution in North Korea.
Education
Education in North Korea is controlled by the government and is compulsory until the secondary level. Education in North Korea is free, and the state provides to students not only instruction and educational facilities without charge, but also uniforms and textbooks. Heuristics is actively applied in order to develop the independence and creativity of students. Compulsory education lasts eleven years, and encompasses one year of preschool, four years of
primary educationA primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
and six years of
secondary educationSecondary education is the stage of education following primary school. Secondary education is generally the final stage of compulsory education. However, secondary education in some countries includes a period of compulsory and a period of non-compulsory education. The next stage of education is...
. The North Korean School curricula consist of both academic and political subject matter.
Primary schools are known as people's schools and children attend this school from the age of six to nine. They are later enrolled in either a regular secondary school or a special secondary school, depending on their specialities. They enter secondary school at the age of ten and leave when they are sixteen.
Higher educationHigher education refers to a level of education that is provided by universities, vocational universities, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, institutes of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as vocational schools, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic...
is not compulsory in North Korea. It is composed of two systems: academic higher education and higher education for continuing education. The academic higher education system includes three kinds of institutions:
universitiesA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
,
professional schoolProfessional school may refer to:*Business school*Dental school*Journalism school*Law school*Library school*Medical school*Nursing school*Pharmacy school*Public policy school*Veterinary school...
s, and
technical schoolTechnical school is a general term used for two-year college which provide mostly employment-preparation skills for trained labor, such as welding, culinary arts and office management.-Associations supporting technical schools:...
s.
Graduate schoolA graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
s for master and doctoral level studies are attached to universities, and are for students who want to continue their education. Two notable universities in the DPRK are the
Kim Il-sung UniversityKim Il-sung University, founded on October 1, 1946, is the first university built in North Korea. The decision was made in July 1946 by the Workers' Party of Korea. It is located in Pyongyang, the nation's capital. The university bears the name of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the Democratic People's...
and
Pyongyang University of Science and TechnologyPyongyang University of Science and Technology is North Korea's first institution of higher education founded, operated and partly funded by associations and people outside the country...
, both in
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
. The former, founded in October 1946, is an elite institution whose enrollment of 16,000 full- and part-time students in the early 1990s occupies, in the words of one observer, the "pinnacle of the North Korean educational and social system."
North Korea is one of the most literate countries in the world, with an average literacy rate of 99%.
Health care
Health care and medical treatment are free in North Korea. North Korea spends 3% of its gross domestic product on health care. Since the 1950s, the DPRK has put great emphasis on healthcare, and between 1955 and 1986, the number of
hospitalA hospital is an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always providing for longer-term patient stays....
s grew from 285 to 2,401, and the number of
clinicA clinic is a small private or public health facility that is devoted to the care of outpatients, often in a community, in contrast to larger hospitals, which also treat inpatients. Some grow to be institutions as large as major hospitals, whilst retaining the name clinic...
s – from 1,020 to 5,644. There are hospitals attached to factories and mines. Since 1979 more emphasis was put on traditional Korean medicine, based on treatment with herbs and accupuncture.
North Korea's healthcare system has been in a steep decline since the 1990s due to natural disasters, economic problems, and food and energy shortages. Many hospitals and clinics in North Korea now lack essential medicines and equipment, running water and electricity.
Almost 100% of the population has access to water and sanitation, but it is not completely potable.
Infectious diseaseAn infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions...
s such as tuberculosis, malaria, and hepatitis B are considered to be
endemicIn epidemiology, an infection is said to be endemic in a population when that infection is maintained in the population without the need for external inputs. For example, chickenpox is endemic in the UK, but malaria is not...
to the country.
According to 2009 estimates, North Korea's life expectancy was 63.8 years, a figure roughly equivalent to that of Pakistan and Burma and slightly lower than Russia.
Among other health problems, many North Korean citizens suffer from the after effects of malnutrition, caused by famines related to the failure of its food distribution program and military first policy. A 1998 United Nations (UN) World Food Program report revealed that 60% of children suffered from malnutrition, and 16% were acutely malnourished. As a result, those who suffered during the disaster have ongoing health problems.
Human rights
Multiple international
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
organizations, including
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international secular non-governmental organisation which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London in 1961, AI...
and
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
, accuse North Korea of having one of the worst human rights records of any nation. North Koreans have been referred to as "some of the world's most brutalized people" by Human Rights Watch, due to the severe restrictions placed on their
politicalPolitical freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression.The opposite of a free society is a totalitarian state, which highly restricts political freedom in order to regulate almost every aspect of behavior...
and
economicEconomic freedom is a term used in economic research and policy debates. As with freedom generally, there are various definitions, but no universally accepted concept of economic freedom...
freedoms.
North Korean defectorsA number of individuals have defected from North Korea. After the division of Korea after World War II and the end of the Korean War , many people have defected from North Korea, mainly due to political, ideological and economic reasons. Many more are caught during the attempted defection...
have testified to the existence of prison and detention camps with an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 inmates (about 0.85% of the population), and have reported torture, starvation, rape, murder, medical experimentation, forced labour, and forced abortions.. Convicted political prisoners and their families are sent to these camps, where they are prohibited from marrying, required to grow their own food, and cut off from external communication (which was apparently once allowed).
The system changed slightly at the end of 1990s, when population growth became very low. In many cases, where capital punishment was
de facto, it was replaced by less severe punishments. Bribery became prevalent throughout the country. For example, years ago just listening to South Korean radio could result in capital punishment. However, many North Koreans now illegally wear clothes of South Korean origin, listen to Southern music, watch South Korean videotapes and even receive Southern broadcasts.
Personality cult
The North Korean government exercises tight control over many aspects of the nation's culture, and this control is used to perpetuate a
cult of personalityA cult of personality arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships and Stalinist governments....
surrounding Kim Il-sung, and, to a lesser extent, Kim Jong-il. While visiting North Korea in 1979, journalist Bradley Martin noted that nearly all music, art, and sculpture that he observed glorified "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung, whose personality cult was then being extended to his son, "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il. The song
No Motherland Without YouNo Motherland Without You is North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's signature tune. It proclaims the talent and virtues of Kim Jong-il, and the attachment of the Korean people for him...
, sung by the North Korean Army Choir, was created especially for Kim Jong-Il and is one of the most popular tunes in the country. Kim Il-sung is still officially revered as the nation's "Eternal President". Several landmarks in North Korea are named for Kim Il-sung, including
Kim Il-sung UniversityKim Il-sung University, founded on October 1, 1946, is the first university built in North Korea. The decision was made in July 1946 by the Workers' Party of Korea. It is located in Pyongyang, the nation's capital. The university bears the name of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the Democratic People's...
,
Kim Il-sung StadiumKim Il-sung Stadium is a large stadium located in Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Originally Kirim Stadium, a baseball field built during the Japanese occupation, it was the site of Kim Il-sung's first speech after returning from exile in 1945...
, and
Kim Il-sung SquareKim Il-sung Square is a city square in Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and is named after the founding leader of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung. Opened in August 1954, the square is located on the west bank of the Taedong River, directly opposite the Juche Tower on the other side of the...
. Defectors have been quoted as saying that North Korean schools deify both father and son. Kim Il-sung rejected the notion that he had created a cult around himself and accused those who suggested so of "
factionalismPolitical faction is a grouping of like-minded individuals, especially within a political organization, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group. There is no single, widely accepted definition of factions or factionalism, nor broad agreement as to whether factionalism is inherent in...
".
Critics maintain Kim Jong-il is the centre of an elaborate personality cult inherited from his father and founder of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung. He is often the center of attention throughout ordinary life in the DPRK. His birthday is one of the most important public holidays in the country. On his 60th birthday (based on his official date of birth), mass celebrations occurred throughout the country. Kim Jong-il's personality cult, although significant, is not as extensive as his father's. In 2004, some of his official portraits were taken down from public buildings. One point of view is that Kim Jong Il's cult of personality is solely out of respect for Kim Il-sung or out of fear of punishment for failure to pay homage. Media and government sources from outside of North Korea generally support this view, while North Korean government sources say that it is genuine hero worship.
Korean reunification
North Korea's policy is to seek reunification without what it sees as outside interference, through a federal structure retaining each side's leadership and systems. Both North and South Korea signed the
June 15th North-South Joint DeclarationIn August 2000, after over 50 years’ separation, members of the visiting groups of separated families and relatives in the North and the South had a meeting with separated family members in Pyongyang and Seoul in August when the Korean people’s reunification zeal heightened after the historic...
in which both sides made promises to seek out a peaceful reunification. The Democratic Federal Republic of Korea is a proposed state first mentioned by North Korean president Kim Il Sung on October 10 in 1980 proposing a federation between North and
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
in which the respective political systems would initially remain.
See also
- Index of Korea-related articles
- Korean War
The Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
- North Korea Uncovered
North Korea Uncovered is a comprehensive set of mappings of North Korea. It includes in-depth coverage of thousands of buildings, monuments, missile-storage facilities, mass graves, secret labour camps, palaces, restaurants, tourist sites, and main roads of the country, and even includes the...
Further reading
- Ben Anderson, Interview on visit to North Korea, Frontline World, January 2003
- Jasper Becker Rogue Regime: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea Oxford University Press (2005) , hardcover, 328 pages, ISBN 13: 9780195170443
- Gordon Cucullu, Separated At Birth: How North Korea Became The Evil Twin Globe Pequot Press (2004), hardcover, 307 pages, ISBN 1-59228-591-0
- Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and specializes in modern Korean history and contemporary international relations in East Asia.-Biography:In his youth, Cumings was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea for...
, Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History, W.W. Norton & Company, 1998, paperback, 527 pages, ISBN 0-393-31681-5
- Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and specializes in modern Korean history and contemporary international relations in East Asia.-Biography:In his youth, Cumings was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea for...
, Origins of the Korean War (Vol. 1) : Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes 1945-1947, Princeton University PressThe Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large....
, 1981, paperback, ISBN 0-691-10113-2
- Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and specializes in modern Korean history and contemporary international relations in East Asia.-Biography:In his youth, Cumings was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea for...
, Origins of the Korean War (Vol. 2): The Roaring of the Cataract 1947-1950, Cornell University Press, 2004, hardcover, ISBN 89-7696-613-9
- Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and specializes in modern Korean history and contemporary international relations in East Asia.-Biography:In his youth, Cumings was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea for...
, North Korea: Another Country, New Press, 2004, paperback, ISBN 1-56584-940-X
- Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and specializes in modern Korean history and contemporary international relations in East Asia.-Biography:In his youth, Cumings was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea for...
, Living Through The Forgotten War: Portrait Of Korea, Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, 2004, paperback, ISBN 0-9729704-0-1
- Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and specializes in modern Korean history and contemporary international relations in East Asia.-Biography:In his youth, Cumings was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea for...
, Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth About North Korea, Iran, and Syria, New Press, 2006, paperback, ISBN 1-59558-038-7
- Delisle, Guy, Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, Drawn & Quarterly Books, 2005, hardcover, 176 pages, ISBN 1-896597-89-0
- Nick Eberstadt, aka Nicholas Eberstadt, The End of North Korea, American Enterprise Institute Press (1999), hardcover, 191 pages, ISBN 0-8447-4087-X
- John Feffer, North Korea South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis, Seven Stories Press
Seven Stories Press is an independent publishing company known for both cutting-edge works of fiction and a wide array of nonfiction by leading progressive voices of conscience and dissent. Located in New York City, it was founded by editor Dan Simon in 1995 after he parted company with Four Walls...
, 2003, paperback, 197 pages, ISBN 1-58322-603-6
- Ron Goodden, North Korea commentary (August, 2007)
- Michael Harrold, Comrades and Strangers
Comrades and Strangers is the memoir of Michael Harrold, one of the first Britons to reside in North Korea. The book was written to demystify North Korean society.-History:...
: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea, Wiley Publishing, 2004, paperback, 432 pages, ISBN 0-470-86976-3
- Helen-Louise Hunter, Kim Il-song's North Korea. Praeger, 1999. ISBN 0-275-96296-2.
- Lee Soon Ok
Lee Soon Ok is a prominent former political prisoner and defector from North Korea, now living in South Korea.Since escaping with her son via China to South Korea in 1995, Lee has dedicated her life to exposing the numerous atrocities of the government of North Korea...
. Eyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean WomanEyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean Woman recounts the experiences of former North Korean political prison survivor and refugee Soon Ok Lee....
. Living Sacrifice Book Co, 1999, ISBN 978-0882643359
- Hyejin Kim, Jia: A Novel of North Korea, Cleis Press
Cleis Press is an independent publisher of books in the areas of sexuality, erotica, feminism, gay and lesbian studies, gender studies, fiction, and human rights. The press was founded in 1980 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by Frédérique Delacoste and Felice Newman. They wrote and published the press's...
, 2007, ISBN 1573442755
- Christian Kracht
Christian Kracht is a Swiss writer and journalist.-Life:Kracht, who is among the best known exponents of contemporary German "pop literature", attended several elite boarding schools, including the Schule Schloss Salem in Baden and Lakefield College School in Ontario, Canada. He graduated from...
, Eva Munz, Lukas Nikol, "The Ministry Of Truth: Kim Jong Il's North Korea", Feral House, Oct 2007, 132 pages, 88 color photographs, ISBN 978-1932595277
- Mitchell B. Lerner, The Pueblo Incident: A Spy Ship and the Failure of American Foreign Policy, University Press of Kansas, 2002, hardcover, 408 pages, ISBN 0-7006-1171-1
- Andrei Lankov, 'North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea , McFarland & Company (April 24, 2007), paperback, 358 pages, ISBN 978-0786428397
- John Feffer, North Korea South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis, Seven Stories Press
Seven Stories Press is an independent publishing company known for both cutting-edge works of fiction and a wide array of nonfiction by leading progressive voices of conscience and dissent. Located in New York City, it was founded by editor Dan Simon in 1995 after he parted company with Four Walls...
, 2003, paperback, 197 pages, ISBN 1-58322-603-6
- Don Oberdorfer
Don Oberdorfer is an American professor at Johns Hopkins University and was a journalist for 38 years, 25 of them with The Washington Post. He is the author of five books and several academic papers....
. The Two Koreas : a contemporary history Addison-Wesley, 1997, 472 pages, ISBN 0-201-40927-5
- Kong Dan Oh, and Ralph C. Hassig, North Korea Through the Looking Glass, The Brookings Institution, 2000, paperback, 216 pages, ISBN 0-8157-6435-9
- Osmond, Andrew, High, Minnow Press, 2004, paperback, 216 pages, ISBN 978-0953944828 Includes a fictional account of the creation of a new state of New Korea.
- Quinones, Dr C. Kenneth, and Joseph Tragert, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding North Korea, Alpha Books, 2004, paperback, 448 pages, ISBN 1-59257-169-7
- Sigal, Leon V., Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea, Princeton University Press
The Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large....
, 199, 336 pages, ISBN 0-691-05797-4
- Chris Springer, Pyongyang: The Hidden History of the North Korean Capital Saranda Books, 2003. ISBN 963-00-8104-0.
- Vladimir, Cyber North Korea, Byakuya Shobo, 2003, paperback, 223 pages, ISBN 4-89367-881-7
- Norbert Vollertsen, Inside North Korea: Diary of a Mad Place, Encounter Books, 2003, hardcover, 280 pages, ISBN 1-893554-87-2
- Wahn Kihl, Y. (1983) "North Korea in 1983: Transforming "The Hermit Kingdom"?" Asian Survey, Vol. 24, No. 1: pp100–111
- Robert Willoughby, North Korea: The Bradt Travel Guide. Globe Pequot, 2003. ISBN 1-84162-074-2.
- Hyun Hee Kim, "The Tears of My Soul
The Tears of My Soul is the memoir of Kim Hyun Hee, the North Korean espionage agent who in 1987 carried out the mission to blow up Korean Air Flight 858.-Synopsis:...
", William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1993, hardcover, 183 pages, ISBN 0-688-12833-5
- Ducruet, Cesar et Jo, Jin-Cheol (2008) Coastal Cities, Port Activities and Logistic Constraints in a Socialist Developing Country: The Case of North Korea, Transport Reviews, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 1–25:
External links