North Korea

What is North Korea?

North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a communist state occupying the northern part of the Korean Peninsula - bordering China and Russia to the north, and South Korea to the South.

The country is ruled by a reclusive autocratic leader, Kim Jong-Il, the son of the country's founder, Kim Il-Sung - who remains its 'eternal president' in law.

North Korea is a "totalitarian" state, where the majority of the public live in absolute poverty and where outbreaks of famine and power cuts are commonplace.

The DPRK has, however, since the 1970s been widely accused of being a sponsor of international terrorism. It has a highly developed military technology sector, and has reportedly supplied arms to Libya, Iran and Syria.

Background

After the Second World War, Japanese domination was ended, and the peninsula was partitioned. The north came under the domination of the Communists and the south under the influence of the West.

Kim Il-Sung, then a major in the Soviet Army, was put in charge of forming a Stalinist government - and he became the country's premier in 1948, surviving in that post until 1994 - when he was succeeded by his son, Kim Jon-Il.

In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea - beginning the Korean War, which lasted until 1953 and was one of the 'hottest' episodes of the Cold War. From 1953, Kim Il-Sung created an austere, militarised and highly regimented North Korean society that worshipped him as a deified leader - based on his philosophy of 'Juche'. The DPRK still has pretensions to the conquest of South Korea, and huge numbers of troops today face one another over the demilitarised border zone.

Controversies

The DPRK is one of the most secretive and insular countries in the world. It has a long history of refusing to deal with the outside world, and of great unpredictability in what it does do.

The unpredictability ascribed to the North Korean leadership, its possession of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and other Weapons of Mass Destruction, its belligerent intentions towards South Korea and the desperation of its population, lead the DPRK to be perceived in many quarters as one of the most serious sources of international threat in the world.

The DPRK began a civil nuclear programme, with Soviet assistance, in the 1960s - and is believed to have begun to militarise its nuclear research in the 1980s. In 2002, the DPRK backed out of a 1994 agreement to shut down its nuclear plants - and in 2003, it told the US and China that it has nuclear weapons.

In July 2006, North Korea tested one long-range and five medium-range missiles. However, the long-range Taepodong-2 missile crashed after less than a minute.

But two months later, in October, the government claimed to have detonated a nuclear bomb at an underground test site. The secretive nature of the state means no definitive figures are available on the strength of the explosion, but it was condemned by all members of the UN Security Council, including China. However, South Korea, China and Russia ruled out the possibility of military retaliation and the Security Council instead agreed resolution 1718, imposing some economic and military sanctions on North Korea.

In February 2007 an agreement was finally reached in the Six Party Talks, begun in 2003 between North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the US. Under the agreement the US would remove North Korea from its list of terrorist states (which also includes Syria, Sudan, Cuba and Iran) in return for nuclear disablement.

But the deal was beset with difficulties and in October 2008 North Korea stated that it had halted the dismantling of its nuclear programme because it had still not been removed from the terrorist blacklist. President Bush, in order to salvage the deal, then announced that North Korea had been delisted in return for verification of the country's nuclear declaration.

However, many members of Mr Bush's own party, including the presidential candidate Senator John McCain, remained unconvinced that North Korea would follow through and co-operate fully with the nuclear verification programme. And the Democrats too, whilst welcoming the move, were equally sceptical about North Korea's commitment to the deal.


Statistics

In July 2008 the population of North Korea was estimated to be 23,479,088 -
68.2% - 15-64 years; 22.9% - 0–14 years; 8.8% - 65 years and over

In 2007 its GDP was estimated at $40 billion

Source: CIA World Factbook – 2008


Quotes

"I expect the administration to explain exactly how this new verification agreement advances American interests and those of our allies before I will be able to support any decision to remove North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism."

Senator John McCain, Republican presidential candidate – October 2008

"If North Korea refuses to permit robust verification, we should lead all members of the six-party talks in suspending energy assistance, reimposing sanctions that have recently been waived and considering new restrictions."

Senator Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate – October 2008