North Korea

North Korea (officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)), is a country in the northern part of the Korean peninsula. North Korea is next to China, Russia, and South Korea. The capital city of North Korea is Pyongyang, which is also the largest city.
The country was founded in 1948 after it had been freed from Japanese occupation, and a socialist state backed by the Soviet Union was established. The Republic of Korea is the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, and was occupied by the United States, and the U.S. set up a democracy in the south. At first, there was a war between the north and south which is called the Korean War, but while the fighting stopped in 1953, the war never officially ended. North Korea had ties with China and Russia but never was formally allied with either and became more isolated over time. Soon afterwards, the North's main trading partners the Soviet Union, collapsed. This left North Korea stranded and isolated. Throughout the 1990s, North Korea suffered from famines and natural disasters. As South Korea got richer, North Korea got poorer and life became worse there. Afterwards, things stabilized but continued to lag behind the South. Worldwide economic sanctions and embargoes are thought to have significantly impacted the quality of life in North Korea.
North Korea is described as a totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship by western media, while North Korea describes itself as a democratic worker's state. The country's leader Kim Il-sung said that the government was following his own ideology of "Juche", which means "self-reliance". Later on, the country's leaders began to remove "communism" from North Korean laws and philosophy, although Juche can be described as a variant of communism. After Kim Il-sung died during the disasters of the 1990s, his son Kim Jong-il took his place and was promoted by the government as the leader who led North Korea out of the disasters. North Korea was the only communist country in history where leadership was directly given to the former leader's son after his death. This is called hereditary rule. Kim Jong-il enacted a new policy of "Songun", or "military-first", which turned the country into a military state. When he died in 2011, his youngest son Kim Jong-un took his place and continues to rule the country today.
History
Early History
Historians believe that the Korean people have lived in the area for thousands of years. Before 1910, Korea was one country. It had a king and people were mostly farmers. The country was peaceful and was not communist. In 1910, that changed. Japan and Russia went to war. Since Japan and Russia were both very close to Korea, Japan took Korea for themselves as part of Japan. Japan then had control.
Divided Korea
Between 1910 and the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was considered a part of Japan due to Japan's colonization of Korea. In 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan and the United States bombed it (Nagasaki and Hiroshima); severely weakening its empire and forcing Japan to surrender. Japan's weak status allowed the Soviets to enter Korea fairly, freely and occupy the northern half whilst the United States took the southern half. The line that splits North Korea and South Korea is called the 38th parallel. Each created governments supporting their own ideologies, Marxist-Leninist Single Party State (North) and Democratic Capitalist State (South).
The Korean War
In 1950, North Korea sent soldiers to South Korea. North Korea wanted to bring together North and South Korea to form a single Korean country, and Korean families that had been split by the division of North and South to be together again. The North Korean leaders wanted South Korea to be communist, like North Korea and the Soviet Union were.
The United Nations sent soldiers to Korea. These soldiers came from many countries. These countries did not like Communism (to learn more, see the article about the Cold War). If South Korea became Communist, then maybe other countries would too. General Douglas MacArthur led the soldiers.
North Korea had taken over much of South Korea by force. With the help of the other countries, South Korea took back their land, and even much of North Korea, up to the Yalu River, which forms the border between North Korea and China. China, which was also communist, helped the North Koreans to get the land back that the South Korean soldiers had taken.
After three years, in 1953, North Korea and South Korea both decided that no one would win the war and both countries signed an armistice, which is an agreement that made both countries stop fighting. North Korea and South Korea were divided by a demilitarized zone, or DMZ, which is a special place that surrounds the border between North and South Korea where both countries can not place lots of soldiers, so that fighting does not start again.
Modern Times
Even though the Korean Demilitarized Zone is meant to stop problems between the two countries, sometimes soldiers on both sides of the border fire their guns at each other. A special town in the zone, Panmunjom, is called the Joint Security Area, or JSA, and sometimes the leaders of both countries meet there to talk about possibly coming back together.
North Korea is one of the few countries in the world that has made nuclear missiles, which can kill many people if they are exploded. North Korea will not say how many nukes it has, but other countries think that the North Korean government probably has built ten missiles so far out of a deadly element called plutonium.
In October 2006, North Korea said that it tested one of its nuclear bombs. Although the North Korean government said that the test was not dangerous, many other countries and the United Nations were nonetheless enraged.
Three years later in 2009, North Korea did another test, which broke a United Nations law called Resolution 1718, which said North Korea could not keep building and testing nuclear bombs.
In 2010, a South Korean warship sank, killing over 40 soldiers. An international investigation concluded that North Korea had sunk a South Korean warship with a torpedo. North Korea strongly said that it did not have anything to do with the sinking. When the United States and South Korea planned to set up defenses in case North Korea tried to attack again, North Korea's National Defense Commission threatened on to start a war with its nuclear weapons.
In April 2012, North Korea launched a rocket called Bright Star 3. The reasons for the launch were science and the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, Kim Il-Sung.
The government said the rocket carried a weather satellite so the government could find out what the weather would be. However, other countries said that the weather satellite was a story made up by the government so the real purpose of the rocket would not the known--which most countries thought was to test a nuclear missile that could be launched at the United States or South Korea. South Korean leaders said it would shoot the rocket down when it came over South Korea.
Because of this rocket, other countries stopped helping North Korea, even though the government invited other countries to see the rocket launch to make it seem like the North Koreans had nothing to hide from other countries. The rocket was eventually launched, but it did not work and crashed just a minute and thirty seconds after it was launched. In December 2012, the government tried to launch the rocket again. It worked this time and went into orbit circling the Earth, though the United States said that it was very unstable and might fall back to Earth. Experts in Europe noticed the satellite's reflection was fluctuating (getting brighter then dimmer); indicating that the satellite is tumbling in its orbit.
In February 2013, North Korea tested a nuclear bomb for the 3rd time, causing much outrage from other countries. The government also released many videos that depicted possible missile targets in the United States. North Korea however does not posses missiles that could reach US mainland but some say Hawaii is a possibility. It is highly unlikely that North Korea would ever fire against the US, Japan or South Korea. Many missiles depicted in DPRK parades are fakes used to exaggerate North Korea's military strength. Most of its inventory dates from the Soviet years.
Politics and Government
People often think that North Korea is a communist country. It is actually a socialist-military dictatorship. In its most recent constitutional change, the word 'communism' was removed. Large pictures of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin were removed from Kim Il-Sung square in 2012. The government has a similar structure to the former Soviet Union (USSR), once a close ally, but it is very different from the USSR. Leaders of the USSR were elected by a group of government officials. In North Korea, the new leader is the current leader's male heir. For this reason, North Korea is often referred to as a hereditary dictatorship.
North Korea's official state ideology is Juche. That is a form of socialism developed by the country's founder, Kim Il-Sung. Juche means self-reliance. It teaches that to achieve true socialism and become self-sufficient, the state must become fully isolated from the rest of society.
The first head of state and Chairman of the Workers Party of North Korea was Kim Tu-bong.
In the late 1950s, the second head of state and party leader was Kim Il-Sung.
In July 1994, Kim died. His son, Kim Jong-Il, took over. He became the third supreme leader and party general secretary.
In December 2011, Kim died. His son, Kim Jong-Un became the head of the government.
Songun is a North Korean idea. It means "army first." The job of every North Korean person is to feed the Army. Kim Jong-Un is the "General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea". That is one of many jobs he has. He is like a king, and can do what he wants. The average North Korean citizen makes around $900 a year. Kim Jong-Un makes around $800,000 a year. He lives in a palace. He has lots of soldiers who go wherever he goes to protect him.
North Korea is technically a multi-party state since other parties do exist besides the Korean Workers' Party (KWP). However, the KWP also controls the other parties so it can stay in power. The constitution claims that North Korea's citizens have freedom of speech, religion and press. In real life, these citizens do not have these rights. People can be jailed if they criticise the party, government, or leaders. North Koreans are encouraged to report family members to the police if they think they are doing something illegal. In return they get more privileges. If someone is caught doing a crime, their whole family will be sent along with them to a labour camp. Most die there, but a few escape.
North Korean people have very little freedom of speech. They get their news from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The KCNA makes sure all the country's television, radio, and newspaper news makes the government look good. This is called propaganda. The government blocks access to the Internet. Only a few trusted military officials and party members can access the world Internet. It has been reported that almost all North Koreans do not know that men have landed on the moon. The government runs an intranet service that is available on all North Korean computers. It is nothing like the real Internet but is filled with propaganda that makes the government, party, and leaders look good. The government also tries to keep ideas from other countries out of North Korea.
Capital punishment is a common type of punishment in North Korea. Stealing, murder, rape, drug smuggling, attempted murder, spying, slaughtering cattle for food, trying to challenge the laws of North Korea, traveling without permission, looking at media unapproved by North Korea (which includes South Korean dramas, pornography, and Western movies), possessing a USB drive, and practicing religions that are against worshipping Kim Jong-un and his family can all result in the death penalty.
In parts of the country, there is not enough food. Currently, other countries give food to some people in North Korea. This is called foreign aid. The aid sometimes stops coming if North Korea is thought to be testing nuclear bombs. Very recently, North Korea's food aid stopped after the government launched a satellite in April 2012. Other countries said North Korea had broken their side of an agreement. The North Korean government said that it was the United States that had broken the agreement.
It is hard for people from other countries to visit North Korea. Visitors must be guided by two army members called "minders". The minders try and make sure the people do not find out about anything that might make the government look bad.
Economy
North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world. This is due to the government not wanting to allow North Koreans to earn their own money outside of their government-given jobs, to allow people to work the jobs they want, and to trade with other countries.
Although Pyongyang (which is the one of the few areas foreign travelers are allowed to visit) makes the country look like it is richer and more prosperous than it truly is, life looks extremely different throughout the rest of the country. Only the highest-ranking North Koreans are allowed to live in Pyongyang, and they must have permission from the government to do so. Unlike the rest of the country, people often own cars and bicycles, there is a subway system, and power exists throughout the city. Meanwhile, very few people in the countryside own a car, or even a bicycle, and animal-drawn carts are very common. Electricity in rural areas is rare, if it even exists at all. Proof of this is that when seen from space, there are almost no lights that can be seen outside of Pyongyang. Even in Pyongyang, power cuts are common.
As said earlier, starvation is very common way to die throughout the country. The soil in most of the country is not good enough to grow enough crops to feed people without any kind of fertilizer. As a result, people often steal human poop to fertilize the soil. People also go out into nature to look for anything to eat such as grass, bark, frogs, worms, etc.
Since the government does not provide the average North Korean person enough resources to survive, most North Koreans get what they need from the black market. Even though buying and selling on the black market is illegal, people are able to avoid punishment by bribing officials. They might give things such as money, gifts, or sexual favors. Most people buying and selling at the black market are women. This is because all adult men are required by law to go to work during workhours, even when their workplace cannot or will not pay them for their work.
Since electricity is rare throughout North Korea, tasks such as cooking and washing clothes take much longer and are more tiring. People often wash clothes in a river or creek and must start fires before they can cook.
Although healthcare is free in North Korea, most hospitals and doctor's offices do not have the medicines or supplies needed to correctly treat patients. As a result, many patients die or become crippled for the rest of their lives in the hospital. On one occasion, North Korea hired an eye surgeon from Nepal to because there was not a single eye surgeon in the country.
In order to raise money for the country, the government sometimes sends North Korean citizens to its allies, like China and Russia, to do work there. These jobs include food service in North Korean restaurants and logging. Even outside of North Korea, these North Koreans are often not allowed to interact with the local people outside of work, are forced to live in North Korean communities, and must obey North Korean laws.
Other ways North Korea makes money is through selling illegal drugs to other countries, making fake money of other countries, and stealing money online.
Culture and Religion
Historically, both South Korea and North Korea have the same set of values. In 1945, the peninsula was divided. Since then, the government of both North and South Korea were different. This has led to different developments in both North and South Korea.
Human Rights Watch says that free religious activities do not exist in North Korea. The culture in Korea has been influenced by that of China. Despite this, Korea has developed a cultural identity that is different from that of Mainland China.
Literature and arts in North Korea are state-controlled. Specialized committees of the KWP are responsible for this. Film is also a significant artistic medium in North Korea and Kim Jong Il's manifesto The Cinema and Directing (1987) is the basis for the nation's filmmakers.
Korean culture came under attack during the Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. Japan enforced a cultural assimilation policy. During the Japanese rule, Koreans were forced to learn and speak Japanese, adopt the Japanese family name system and Shinto religion, and were 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 Palace and documents which portrayed the Japanese in a negative light were revised.
Both Koreas share a Buddhist and Confucian heritage and a recent history of Christian 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 non-religious. However, the cultural influence of such traditional religions as Buddhism and Confucianism still have an effect on North Korean spiritual life.
It seems that Buddhists are accepted more than other religious groups. Christians are said to be severely persecuted by the authorities, often by throwing them in prison or executing them publicly. Buddhists are given limited funding by the government to promote the religion, because Buddhism played an integral role in traditional Korean culture. In May 2014, an American tourist was arrested at Pyongyang Sunan Airport after it was discovered he left a Bible in a nightclub on the DPRK's east coast. He was convicted of attempting to overthrow the government but was eventually released several months later. At the time of his imprisonment, there were two other American citizens held by North Korea awaiting transfer to political prison camps. Both have since been released.
Armed Forces
Even though the country only has fewer than 25 million people, the country still has the world's fourth largest standing military at 1.29 million soldiers. This is because North Korea has a law that requires all men to join the military for at least ten years after they graduate high school.
The government says it keeps a large military to protect the country from its enemies, particularly the United States and Japan. However, it is more likely that it exists to keep the government in power and to stop people from speaking out.
Provinces
The land of North Korea is divided into nine areas called provinces and two cities.
The nine provinces are:
Pyongannam
Pyonganbuk
Chagang
Hwanghaenam
Hwanghaebuk
Kangwon
Hamgyongnam
Hamgyongbuk
Ryanggang
The main cities are:
Pyongyang, the capital city and also the largest city
Rason, a special city where other countries can make money, called a Special Economic Zone.