North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK listen), is a country in East Asia constituting the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang is the nation's capital and largest city. To the north and northwest the country is bordered by China and by Russia along the Amnok (known as the Yalu in China) and Tumen rivers;[13] it is bordered to the south by South Korea, with the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two.
In 1910, Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan. After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was divided into two zones along the 38th parallel by the United States and the Soviet Union, with the north occupied by the Soviets and the south by the Americans. Negotiations on reunification failed, and in 1948, separate governments were formed: the socialist Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and the capitalist Republic of Korea in the south. An invasion initiated by North Korea led to the Korean War (1950–1953). The Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire, but no peace treaty was signed.[14]
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North Korea officially describes itself as a self-reliant socialist state[15] and formally holds elections. Critics regard it as a totalitarian dictatorship. Various media outlets have called it Stalinist,[24] particularly noting the elaborate cult of personality around Kim Il-sung and his family. International organizations have assessed that human rights violations in North Korea have no parallel in the contemporary world.[25][26][27] The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), led by a member of the ruling family,[28] holds power in the state and leads the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland of which all political officers are required to be members.[29]
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Juche, an ideology of national self-reliance, was introduced into the constitution as a "creative application of Marxism–Leninism"[30] in 1972.[31][32] The means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises and collectivized farms. Most services such as healthcare, education, housing and food production are subsidized or state-funded.[33] From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered a famine that resulted in the deaths of between 0.24 and 3.5 million people, and the country continues to struggle with food production.[34] North Korea follows Songun, or "military-first" policy.[35] It is the country with the highest number of military and paramilitary personnel, with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel. Its active duty army of 1.21 million is the fourth largest in the world, after China, the United States and India.[36] It possesses nuclear weapons.[37][38] North Korea is an atheist state with no official religion and where public religion is discouraged.[39]
North
Korea
21st century
North Koreans bowing in front of the statues of Kim Il-sung (left) and Kim Jong-il at the Mansudae Grand Monument
The international environment changed with the election of U.S. president George W. Bush in 2001. His administration rejected South Korea's Sunshine Policy and the Agreed Framework. The U.S. government treated North Korea as a rogue state, while North Korea redoubled its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons to avoid the fate of Iraq.[69][70][71] On 9 October 2006, North Korea announced it had conducted its first nuclear weapons test.[72][73]
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In August 2009, former U.S. President Bill Clinton met with Kim Jong-il to secure the release of two American journalists who had been sentenced for entering the country illegally.[74] U.S. president Barack Obama's position towards North Korea was to resist making deals with North Korea for the sake of defusing tension, a policy known as "strategic patience."[75] Tensions with South Korea and the United States increased in 2010 with the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan[76] and North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.[77][78]
On 17 December 2011, the supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-il died from a heart attack. His youngest son Kim Jong-un was announced as his successor.[79]Over the following years, North Korea continued to develop its nuclear arsenal despite international condemnation. Notable tests were performed in 2013 and 2016.[80]
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Human rights
North Korea is widely accused of having one of the worst human rights records in the world.[235] North Koreans have been referred to as "some of the world's most brutalized people" by Human Rights Watch, because of the severe restrictions placed on their political and economic freedoms.[236][237] The North Korean population is strictly managed by the state and all aspects of daily life are subordinated to party and state planning. Employment is managed by the party on the basis of political reliability, and travel is tightly controlled by the Ministry of People's Security.[238]
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Amnesty International reports of severe restrictions on the freedom of association, expression and movement, arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment resulting in death, and executions.[239] North Korea applies capital punishment, including public executions. Human rights organizations estimate that 1,193 executions had been carried out in the country as of 2009.[240]
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The State Security Department extra judicially apprehends and imprisons those accused of political crimes without due process.[241] People perceived as hostile to the government, such as Christians or critics of the leadership,[242] are deported to labor camps without trial,[243] often with their whole family and mostly without any chance of being released.[244]
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Based on satellite images and defector testimonies, Amnesty International estimates that around 200,000 prisoners are held in six large political prison camps,[242][245] where they are forced to work in conditions approaching slavery.[246] Supporters of the government who deviate from the government line are subject to reeducation in sections of labor camps set aside for that purpose. Those who are deemed politically rehabilitated may re assume responsible government positions on their release.[247]
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North Korean defectors[248] have provided detailed testimonies on the existence of the total control zones where abuses such as torture, starvation, rape, murder, medical experimentation, forced labor, and forced abortions have been reported.[137] On the basis of these abuses, as well as persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, forcible transfer of populations, enforced disappearance of persons and forced starvation, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry has accused North Korea of crimes against humanity.[249][250][251]
The International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK) estimates that over 10,000 people die in North Korean prison camps every year.[252]
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Military
The Korean People's Army (KPA) is North Korea's military organization. The KPA has 1,106,000 active and 8,389,000 reserve and paramilitary troops, making it the largest military institution in the world.[164] About 20 percent of men aged 17–54 serve in the regular armed forces,[36] and approximately one in every 25 citizens is an enlisted soldier.[37][165] The KPA has five branches: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Special Operations Force, and Rocket Force. Command of the Korean People's Army lies in both the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea and the independent State Affairs Commission. The Ministry of People's Armed Forces is subordinated to the latter.[166]
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Of all KPA branches, the Ground Force is the largest. It has approximately one million personnel divided into 80 infantry divisions, 30 artillery brigades, 25 special warfare brigades, 20 mechanized brigades, 10 tank brigades and seven tank regiments.[167] They are equipped with 3,700 tanks, 2,100 armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles,[168] 17,900 artillery pieces, 11,000 anti-aircraft guns[169] and some 10,000 MANPADS and anti-tank guided missiles.[170] Other equipment includes 1,600 aircraft in the Air Force and 1,000 vessels in the Navy.[171] North Korea has the largest special forces and the largest submarine fleet in the world.[172]
North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, but its arsenal remains limited. Various estimates put its stockpile at less than 10 plutonium warheads[173][174] and 12–27 nuclear weapon equivalents if uranium warheads are considered.[175] Delivery capabilities[176] are provided by the Rocket Force, which has some 1,000 ballistic missiles with a range of up to 3,000 kilometres.[177]
According to a 2004 South Korean assessment, North Korea possesses a stockpile of chemical weapons estimated to amount to 2,500–5,000 tons, including nerve, blister, blood, and vomiting agents, as well as the ability to cultivate and produce biological weapons including anthrax, smallpox, and cholera.[178][179] Because of its nuclear and missile tests, North Korea has been sanctioned under United Nations Security Council resolutions 1695 of July 2006, 1718 of October 2006, 1874 of June 2009, and 2087 of January 2013.[180]
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The military faces some issues limiting its conventional capabilities, including obsolete equipment, insufficient fuel supplies and a shortage of digital command and control assets due to other countries being banned from selling weapons to it by the UN sanctions. To compensate for these deficiencies, the KPA has deployed a wide range of asymmetric warfare technologies like anti-personnel blinding lasers,[181] GPS jammers,[182] midget submarines and human torpedoes,[183] stealth paint,[184] electromagnetic pulse bombs,[185] and cyberwarfare units.[186] KPA units have attempted to jam South Korean military satellites.[187]
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Much of the equipment is engineered and produced by a domestic defense industry. Weapons are manufactured in roughly 1,800 underground defense industry plants scattered throughout the country, most of them located in Chagang Province.[188] The defense industry is capable of producing a full range of individual and crew-served weapons, artillery, armored vehicles, tanks, missiles, helicopters, surface combatants, submarines, landing and infiltration craft, Yak-18 trainers and possibly co-production of jet aircraft.[138] According to official North Korean media, military expenditures for 2010 amount to 15.8 percent of the state budget.[189]
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