North Korea

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The Korean Peninsula was first inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th century BCE. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Silla and Balhae in the late 7th century, Korea was ruled by the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). The succeeding Korean Empire (1897–1910) was annexed in 1910 into Japan. In 1945, after the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, Korea was divided into two zones along the 38th parallel, with the north occupied by the Soviet Union and the south occupied by the United States.

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Etymology

The modern spelling of Korea first appeared in 1671 in the travel writings of Hendrick Hamel, a sailor of the Dutch East India Company.

After the division of the country into North and South Korea, the two sides used different terms to refer to Korea: Chosŏn (조선) in North Korea, and Hanguk (한국) in South Korea. In 1948, North Korea adopted Democratic People's Republic of Korea (조선민주주의인민공화국; 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國; Chosŏnminjujuŭiinmin'gonghwaguk; ) as its official name. According to Daily NK, the country's official name is frequently shortened to just "the Republic" (공화국; 共和國; Konghwaguk) within North Korea.

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History

In the late 19th century, Korea came under the influence of Japan, which had become a significant regional power after winning the First Sino-Japanese War against Qing China and the Russo-Japanese War against the Russian Empire. Japan compelled Korea to become its protectorate in 1905 and formally annexed it in 1910. What followed was a period of forced assimilation, in which Korean language, culture, and history were suppressed. This led to the March First Movement protests in 1919 and the subsequent foundation of resistance groups in exile, primarily in China.

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Geography

North Korea occupies the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula, lying between latitudes 37° and 43°N, and longitudes 124° and 131°E. It covers an area of 120,540 square kilometers (46,541 sq mi). To its west are the Yellow Sea and Korea Bay, and to its east lies Japan across the Sea of Japan.

Early European visitors to Korea remarked that the country resembled "a sea in a heavy gale" because of the many successive mountain ranges that crisscross the peninsula. Some 80 percent of North Korea is composed of mountains and uplands, separated by deep and narrow valleys.

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Governance and politics

North Korea is a highly centralized communist state that self-identifies as a socialist state. North Korea is unique among communist states due to the political dominance of the Kim family. The three supreme leaders of North Korea have all been members of the Kim family, and other members of the Kim family are prominent in North Korean political life as well; because of this North Korea's political system has been characterized as hereditary or dynastic. Kim Jong Un, the current supreme leader, heads all major governing structures: he is the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea, the head of state, and the commander-in-chief of the Korean People's Army.

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Economy

North Korea has maintained one of the most closed and centralized economies in the world since the 1940s. For several decades, it followed the Soviet pattern of five-year plans with the ultimate goal of achieving self-sufficiency. Extensive Soviet and Chinese support allowed North Korea to rapidly recover from the Korean War and register very high growth rates. Systematic inefficiency began to arise around 1960, when the economy shifted from the extensive to the intensive development stage.

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Demographics

With the exception of a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese, North Korea's 25,971,909 people are ethnically homogeneous. Demographic experts in the 20th century estimated that the population would grow to 25.5 million by 2000 and 28 million by 2010, but this increase never occurred due to the North Korean famine. The famine, which began in 1995 and lasted for three years, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 240,000 to 420,000 North Koreans.

International donors led by the United States initiated shipments of food through the World Food Programme in 1997 to combat the famine.

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Culture

Despite a historically strong Chinese influence, Korean culture has shaped its own unique identity. It came under attack during the Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945, when Japan enforced a cultural assimilation policy. 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.

After the peninsula was divided in 1945, two distinct cultures formed out of the common Korean heritage. North Koreans have little exposure to foreign influence.

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