Overview of North Korea: History

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In 1910, Korea was annexed by Japan. An exploitative and brutal Japanese occupation lasted until 1945 when Japan was defeated by the Allied Forces ending World War II in the Pacific. Based on an agreement between the Allies, the Korean peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel to facilitate the surrender of Japanese forces. The Soviet Union and the United States occupied the northern half and southern half respectively. Unfortunately the two states disagreed over the form an election for a unified Korea should take, and before long both sides created their own governments. The Soviet Union fostered a communist northern half under Kim Il Sung and the United States fostered a western-leaning southern half under Rhee Syngman. In June, 1950, a civil war erupted on the Korean peninsula when the North invaded the South and a United Nations force led by the United States entered the war on the South Korean side.

After nearly being driven out of Korea, on September 15-16th, 1950, Gen. Douglas MacArthur led a daring amphibious landing of the UN forces at Inchon, just west of Seoul, that dramatically turned the tables. The North was on the verge of defeat with scattered UN forces actually reaching the Yalu River border with China. But then massive Chinese forces secretly entered North Korea and launched a counterattack that pushed the UN forces back south of Seoul. The battles raged back and forth across the 38th parallel for almost three more years. In the end, little was accomplished except the death of over three million people, the vast majority Koreans. An armistice was finally agreed to in 1953 by China, North Korea and the UN forces, with South Korea refusing to sign, therefore leaving no settlement. Korea remains divided after over 60 years with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and the Republic of Korea in the south. Kim Il-Sung ruled as dictator until his death in 1994, and his son Kim Jong-Il has ruled North Korea ever since.

The entire Korean peninsula had been economically devastated during the Korean War, but the North, which had been the industrial half of the country while the South had been the agricultural half, rapidly rebuilt its industry and took an early economic lead over the South. In line with central planning theory the North developed its own agriculture using collectivization, machinery and fertilizers relying heavily on support from the Soviet Union. This system began to unravel in the late 1970s and 1980s as the Soviet system began to falter. With the end of Soviet aid in 1991 there was no way to continue to support the agricultural systems need for fuel, fertilizer and equipment. After so many years of government mismanagement, and the bad timing of severe flooding, the North's agricultural system collapsed in the mid-1990s leading to widespread famine and death for countless North Koreans. The North finally allowed international relief agencies to assist and the worst aspects of the famine were contained. However the DPRK continues to rely heavily on international food aid to feed its population while at the same time continuing to expend resources on its "songun", or "military first" policy based on a perceived threat by the United States.

Today the DPRK maintains an army of about 1 million men, most stationed within a few miles of the DMZ which divides the two Koreas. North Korea's long-range missile development and research into nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community. In December 2002, North Korea reneged on a 1994 "Agreed Framework" which required the shut down of its nuclear reactors, expelling UN monitors and further raising fears that the nation would produce nuclear weapons. Missile testing was conducted in 1998, 2006, and most recently April 2009. In October 2006 North Korea announced that it had conducted its first nuclear test. These actions have led to UN, and other international sanctions.

Current negotiations, most notably the "Six-Party Talks" involving China, Russia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the United States, are aimed at bringing about an end to the DPRK nuclear weapons program, in hopes that a peace treaty to officially end the Korean War may finally be agreed upon, paving the way for the opening of diplomatic ties between North Korea and the United States.