North Korea

North Korea
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국), often abbreviated to DPRK or PRK, and commonly referred to as North Korea (About this sound listen), is a country in East Asia, located in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok River, or Yalu River, and the Tumen River form the international border between North Korea and the People's Republic of China. A small section of the Tumen River in the far northeastern region of North Korea is located along the border with the Russian Federation.

The Korean peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire from the late 19th century to early 20th century, until it was annexed by the Empire of Japan, following the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1910.

Following the surrender and dissolution of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II, the Korean peninsula was divided into two occupied zones in 1945, the northern half of the peninsula being occupied by the Soviet Union, and the southern half of the peninsula being occupied by the United States, in a move that was opposed by nearly all Koreans.

North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and the Republic of Korea in the south. North Korea and South Korea both claimed sovereignty over the entire Korean peninsula, which led to the start of the Korean War in mid-1950. The United Nations' Armistice Agreement of 1953 ended the fighting in a cease-fire, however, the two countries remain officially still at war against each other to this day, for a formal peace treaty ending the war was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.

North Korea is a single-party state under a united front led by the Korean Workers' Party (KWP). The country's government follows the Juche ideology of self-reliance, developed by the country's first and only President, Kim Il-sung. After his death, Kim Il-sung was declared the country's Eternal President. Juche became the official state ideology, replacing Marxism-Leninism, 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.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, North Korea lost a major trading partner, and an important strategic ally. This, combined with a series of natural disasters, led to the North Korean famine, which lasted from 1994 to 1998, killing an estimated 800,000 and 3,500,000 people through starvation. Facing these circumstances, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il adopted Songun, or a "military-first" policy in order to strengthen the country and its government. In 2009, references to Communism were systematically removed from legal documents altogether.
Many outside organizations describe North Korea as a totalitarian, Stalinist dictatorship with an elaborate cult of personality around the Kim family and one of the lowest-ranking human rights records of any country. The North Korean government denies this. North Korea is one of the world's most militarized countries, with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel. It is a nuclear-weapons state and has an active space program.
Where is North Korea

 

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