North Korea

North Korea, 1948 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed

In 1948, two separate governments were formed in Korea: the Soviet-aligned Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and the Western-aligned Republic of Korea in the south. The North Korean invasion of South Korea in 1950 started the Korean War. In 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire and established a demilitarized zone (DMZ). From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered a famine with the population continuing to suffer from malnutrition.

Seat of power: Pyongyang

Rulers

Kim Il-sung

Supreme Leader of North Korea, 1948–1994

Kim Il Sung founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), also known as North Korea, in 1948, and led it until his death in 1994. Kim Il Sung authorized the invasion of South Korea in 1950, triggering an intervention in defense of South Korea by the United Nations led by the United States. Under Kim's leadership, North Korea was established as a totalitarian, socialist, personalist dictatorship with a centrally planned economy.

Portrait of Kim Il-sung: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file

Kim Jong-il

Supreme Leader of North Korea, 1994–2011

Kim Jong Il was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his own death in 2011. Like his father, Kim ruled North Korea as a repressive and totalitarian dictatorship. Kim strengthened the role of the military with his Songun (military-first) policies, making the army the central organizer of civil society.

Portrait of Kim Jong-il: Presidential Press and Information Office, CC BY 4.0, file

Kim Jong-un

Supreme Leader of North Korea, 2011 to today

Kim Jong Un has been serving as the supreme leader of North Korea since 2011, following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. Like his father and grandfather before him, Kim Jong Un rules North Korea as a repressive and totalitarian dictatorship, and his leadership has maintained the Kim family cult of personality. Kim has promoted the Byungjin policy of parallel development of the country's nuclear weapons program alongside the country's economy, named after the similar policy of Kim Il Sung.

Portrait of Kim Jong-un: Владимир Смирнов / ТАСС, CC BY 4.0, file

Culture

North Korea is a totalitarian hereditary dictatorship with a comprehensive cult of personality around the Kim family.
Amnesty International considers the country to have the worst human rights record in the world.
Kim Il Sung, North Korea's first leader, consolidated power and promoted his personal philosophy of Juche as the state ideology.
Considered a sacred place by North Koreans, Mount Paektu holds significance in Korean culture and has been incorporated in the elaborate folklore and personality cult around the Kim family.

Picture

Pyongyang is the capital and largest city of North Korea and lies on the Taedong River.

Image: Clay Gilliland, CC BY-SA 2.0, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.