Democratic People's Republic of Korea

From Encyc

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a country in Eastern Asia, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The capital and largest city is Pyongyang. North Korea shares a land border with China to the north and north-west, along the Amnok (Yalu) and Tumen rivers. A small section of the Tumen River also forms North Korea's border with Russia to the northeast. The Korean Demilitarized Zone marks the boundary between North Korea and South Korea. The legitimacy of this border is not accepted by either side, as both states claim to be the legitimate government of the entire peninsula.

The Empire of Japan annexed Korea in 1910. After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was divided into two zones 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 two separate governments were formed: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and the Republic of Korea in the south. These conflicting claims of sovereignty led to the Korean War (1950-53). Although the Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire, no official peace treaty was ever signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.

The DPRK holds elections, and officially describes itself as a self-reliant socialist state. .

Over time North Korea has gradually distanced itself from the global communist movement. Juche, an ideology of national self-reliance, was introduced into the constitution as a "creative application of Marxism–Leninism" in 1972. In 2009, the constitution was amended again, removing the brief references to communism, however there are still references to socialism.

The means of production are owned by the workers through state-run enterprises and collectivized farms. Most services such as healthcare, education, housing and food production are subsidized or state-funded. In the late 1990s, North Korea suffered from a famine that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians as a result of economic chaos following the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, though the country has mostly recovered.

North Korea follows Songun, or "military-first" policy. It is the world's most militarized society, 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 U.S., and India. It also possesses nuclear weapons.

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