North Korea: Overview

Introduction

North Korea (officially referred to as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK) is a communist dictatorship that in the twenty-first century remained a gloabl outlier in human rights, with some observers describing it as the most repressive country in the world. In addition to its human rights abuses, North Korea's government drew criticism from the international community for a number of other actions, particularly its development of nuclear weapons. The former leader of the country, Kim Jong-il, alienated many parts of the world, including the United States, which he claimed imposed unfair sanctions on North Korea through the United Nations. Kim Jong-il died on December 17, 2011, and was succeeded in command by his son, Kim Jong-un.

Many critics claimed that the US government, during the early 2000s, essentially ignored Kim Jong-il's assertions that his country possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), particularly since the alleged presence of WMDs in Iraq was the rationale of the US administration under President George W. Bush for invading that country in 2003. Critics also claimed that the retroactive rationale for the Iraq war, that Saddam Hussein was a murderous dictator who needed to be removed from power, applied equally well to the Kim dynasty, which began when Kim Jong-il's father, Kim Il Sung, established rule over North Korea when it was founded in 1948.

Following the death of his father, Kim Jong-un took control as the supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea in 2011. As head of state and leader of the military, Kim Jong-un's ascension initially seemed to mark a shift toward transparency, blurring the lines of isolationism established by his father by giving televised addresses—something Kim Jong-il did not do during his seventeen years in power—and making public efforts to rein in the military by purging rivals. However, Kim Jong-un continued the development of nuclear weapons, conducting nuclear tests and test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The United States has long tried to deter North Korea from pursuing its nuclear weapons program by implementing sanctions, conducting military exercises with longtime ally South Korea, committing cybersabotage of its missiles program, and appealing to China—North Korea's major trading partner and longtime ally—to intervene. In 2018, US President Donald Trump effected a remarkable breakthrough in US-North Korea relations by meeting face -to-face with Kim Jong-un, a first in US–North Korean relations. The two agreed in general terms to work toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but practical details were unclear and subsequent meetings in 2019 also did not yield concrete solutions. Amid ongoing failures to find a diplomatic solution to this crisis, North Korea continued testing missiles and further developing its nuclear program during the early 2020s, and 2022 saw the country conduct a record number of missile tests.

Understanding the Discussion

Juche (also Chuch'e, Juche Sasang): The official ideology of North Korea, originally proposed by Kim Il-sung as part of his "Kimilsungism" philosophy. Essentially, Juche requires that the state allow individuals to have independence and self-reliance in thought, action, politics, economics, and defense, and that policy embrace the needs and desires of the public.

National Defense Commission (NDC): The principal military organization in North Korea, which is also possibly in charge of all political and economic affairs.

Socialism: An economic system, pioneered by Karl Marx, in which property and wealth are distributed based on communal decision, rather than by individual merit. Communism is considered a type of socialism; both are direct reactions to perceived shortfalls of capitalism. North Korean socialism, referred to internally as "socialism of our own style," incorporates both democracy and dictatorship; Kim Jong-il has claimed that dictatorship is necessary for making class-conscious objectors conform to the socialist ideas. Those who accept North Korea's socialism are ostensibly ruled by democracy.

Weapon of mass destruction (WMD): A weapon capable of causing widespread and indiscriminate destruction and death.

Worker's Party of Korea: The dominant political party in North Korea, and, according to Kim Jong-il, the only party that should be allowed to have power, since it claims to represent the working class. Kim Jong-un was named chairman of the Worker's Party in 2016.

History

Korea has had a turbulent history since its founding in the third millennium BCE. During the second century BCE, the Chinese Han Dynasty attacked the kingdom of General Wiman and established colonies that survived for many years, spreading Chinese influence throughout Korea. The native Koreans resented Chinese rule, eventually destroying all of the Chinese colonies, after which the country was divided into three kingdoms, which united in 668 CE, and later ruled by monarchies such as the Joseon Dynasty, which lasted from 1392 until 1897. Much later, during the late nineteenth century, Japan sent troops to southern Korea, to protect its financial interests in the country, while Russia attempted to exert control over the northern portion of the country, with which it shared a border. After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, US President Theodore Roosevelt brokered a treaty that officially established Korea as a Japanese colony.

For thirty-six years, Japan ruled Korea, establishing the capital in Seoul, in the southern half of the country. The period of Japanese rule was marked by suppression of Korean culture and human rights abuses, particularly during World War II (1939–45). Following Japan's defeat and disarmament at the end of World War II, Korea was liberated in August 1945. Rather than becoming completely autonomous, however, the country was divided into two parts along the 38th parallel. The northern half was occupied and ruled by Soviet troops, while the southern half was occupied by American troops. Kim Il-sung became the premier of the newly formed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and soon organized an invasion of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), taking advantage of weaponry provided by the Soviets. The United States' forces responded, along with fifteen other countries, under the auspices of the United Nations. North Korea, in turn, employed the aid of communist China.

The Korean War officially lasted for three years, from June 1950 until July 1953, functionally ending when the two sides signed a ceasefire in the village of Panmujom, although technically the two countries remained at war. Since then, North Korea has been trying to force US troops out of South Korea, where they have remained since the end of the Korean War. Meanwhile, the US maintained a strong military presence in South Korea, which became a major US ally in the region.

Kim Il-sung remained president of North Korea until his death in 1994, by then having already named his son Kim Jong-il as his successor. During Kim Il-sung's rule, he attempted to establish plans for improving North Korea's economy. None of the plans were effective, however, and the country fell into famine and economic distress following his death in 1994. North Korea's famine and economic troubles at this time were also related to the collapse of the Soviet Union, its longtime ally and supporter, in 1991. After Kim Il-sung's death, years passed without any official communication between North and South Korea. Communication channels between the two countries were severed by North Korea in 2016, following the implementation of sanctions due to North Korea's nuclear test that February of that year.

Kim Jong-il maintained his father's Juche philosophy, which aims to strengthen North Korea's ideological initiatives, and thus to improve morale and worker efficiency. The North Korean government's strict control over all aspects of society also continued under Kim Jong-il's leadership and the country continued to carry out numerous human rights abuses against its population. According to Kim Jong-il, molding Koreans' ideology to a productive, communist mindset was the most important policy to enact.

Throughout the Cold War, North Korea attempted to gain support and allies for its plan to unite the Koreas under communist rule. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, North Korea has been subject to severe UN sanctions. The country did make a deal with the United States in 1994 to cease production of nuclear weapons, in exchange for materials for nuclear power plants and fuel oil from the United States.

Relations between the United States and North Korea improved for several years, to the point that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited North Korea and met with Kim Jong-il in 2000. Shortly thereafter, relations again deteriorated, particularly following Kim Jong-il's 2002 announcement that, despite his promise, North Korea had maintained its nuclear weapons program. The following year, the United States created the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), with the objective of intercepting weapons being transported to and from North Korea. The United Nations also began six-party talks in 2003, bringing together representatives from the United States, North Korea, China, South Korea, Russia, and Japan to discuss the tense situation in North Korea.

As a result of the six-party talks, Kim Jong-il once again promised to dismantle his country's nuclear weapons program in September 2005. The United States and South Korea, in exchange, promised to remove any and all nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula, and the United States promised not to attack North Korea.

In October 2006, just over a year after its second pledge to cease work on its nuclear weapons program, North Korea performed its first test of a nuclear bomb. The nuclear explosion from North Korea's device was estimated at less than a kiloton; the Hiroshima bombing in 1945 yielded about a ten-kiloton explosion. The United States and other countries immediately condemned the action, and the United Nations Security Council immediately imposed sanctions that banned the sale of nuclear materials to or from North Korea and tightened the country's trade regulations.

The Japanese government also took a firm stance on North Korea after the nuclear tests, barring North Korean citizens, products, and ships from entering Japan. (The country later banned exports to North Korea in 2009.) Both Japan and South Korea had ceased their aid efforts in North Korea following July 2006 missile tests, although South Korea approved an $8 million aid package, consisting of nutrition supplements and vaccinations for pregnant women and children, in September 2017. The US State Department included North Korea in its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

North Korea's May and June 2009 missile launches and deployment of its longest-range missile drew criticism from the administration of US president Barack Obama, which urged its allies to "stand up" to North Korea. Obama called North Korea's tests "reckless" and a "grave threat" to international security and urged that the United States and the international community take action in response, noting that North Korea had abandoned a previous pledge to halt its nuclear program and has with its actions violated United Nations' resolutions.

The escalating tensions between North Korea and the United States have also spilled over into South Korea. South Korea's government announced on May 26, 2009, that it would join a US-led naval expedition to stop any shipments of materials usable in making weapons of mass destruction. The following day, North Korea threatened South Korea and declared the North-South Armistice signed at the end of the Korean War to be null and void.

In November 2010, North Korea fired artillery on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, killing two people and wounding more than a dozen others. The incident was heavily criticized by US officials and UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon. Although the event ratcheted up tension between North Korea and the international community, no further military action occurred. Despite Kim Jong-un’s comparatively lax style of governance, reports of human rights abuses continue to come from the closed-off nation, and it is widely believed that Kim Jong-un had a hand in the bombardment of Yeonpyeong. The number of refugees escaping from the North to the South dropped following Kim Jong-un's rise to power, leading many to believe that the young ruler in fact tightened control of his citizens.

In 2014, US–North Korean relations sank to a new low when North Korea objected strenuously to the planned release of the motion picture comedy The Interview, about a fictitious American plot to assassinate the North Korean leader. In a letter to the United Nations, North Korean officials called the film an "act of war" and equated it with state-sponsored terrorism. In November, a large-scale cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, the company that produced the film, was made public. A large volume of private email and personal information about Sony employees was made public in the hack, and Sony canceled the film's theatrical release amid online threats of violence at movie theaters. The North Korean government denied responsibility for the cyber attack, but US government officials announced they had evidence the attacks originated in North Korea. In early January 2015, the Obama administration announced new economic sanctions against North Korea in response to the hack. After being pulled from a theatrical release, the film was released online in late January 2015.

Later in 2015, there was a significant spike in tension between North and South Korea that nearly led to war. Two South Korean soldiers were injured by landmines, an incident that South Korea blamed on North Korea. South Korea installed loudspeakers at the borders that broadcasted propaganda into North Korea. North Korea initiated an exchange of rocket fire on August 20. Leaders from both countries started negotiations and by August 25 had signed an agreement that guaranteed that South Korea would turn off the loudspeakers, while North Korea would stand down their military alert. The two nations held talks again in October and December 2015 to further ease tensions and reestablish relations, but no agreements were settled upon.

Despite economic sanctions and diplomatic pressures, North Korea continued to develop its nuclear program under Kim Jong-un, conducting nuclear tests in February 2013, January 2016, September 2016, and September 2017. The country has also conducted a series of missile tests, which escalated in frequency and sophistication in 2017; between February and September 2017, North Korea fired twenty-two missiles in fifteen tests. In August and September 2017, North Korea launched missiles over Japan. In response, US president Donald Trump signed an executive order on September 21, 2017, to expand the authority of the US Treasury Department over people and institutions conducting business with North Korea in an effort to cut off sources of revenue that could be used to fund the country's weapons development program. He also initiated a war of words with Kim Jong-un, threatening the North with "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States. Kim Jong-un responded with similarly bellicose rhetoric.

North Korea Today

US–North Korean relations underwent a sudden and unexpected thaw in 2018, coincident with closer relations between North and South Korea. In April 2018, South Korean president Moon Jae-in met directly with Kim Jong-un in the first inter-Korean summit in eleven years. Moon also returned from that summit with an invitation from Kim to meet directly with Donald Trump, an invitation Trump accepted. Following hasty preparations, the first-ever meeting between a US and a North Korean leader took place on June 12, 2018, in Singapore. At the end of the summit the two leaders signed an agreement vowing to "work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," as well as to work to establish offical peace between North and South Korea and return POW/MIA remains from the Korean War. The US canceled a planned joint military exercise with South Korea, and North Korea dismantled an ICBM facility outside Pyongyang. However, detailed plans for the total decommissioning of North Korea's nuclear arsenal remained elusive in late 2018.

Though Trump and Kim met for a second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019, the meeting was ended rather abruptly and attempts at an agreement failed reportedly due to Kim's insistence that the United States lift all sanctions against the country as part of the deal. Still, Trump emphasized the potential to reach an agreement and that he was building a relationship with the North Korean leader. While Trump then made another significant step by becoming the first US president to step over the armistice line into North Korea in June, the brief talk he had with Kim at that meeting also did not lead to any agreements regarding denuclearization. Meanwhile, beginning in early May, North Korea tested a series of short-range ballistic missiles. The next formal discussions, this time between officials other than the nations' leaders and held in Sweden in October, additionally broke down without a resolution.

In the absence of a lasting agreement between the US and North Korea, Kim Jong-un continued to prioritize his country's nuclear weapons program and tested numerous missiles between 2021 and 2023. In 2022 North Korea test-launched over 70 ballistic and cruise missiles, a record number of tests in a single year. One of these missiles was fired over Japan, the first time North Korea had done this since 2017, which inflamed tensions in the region and prompted harsh criticism from the US and Japan. In January 2024 North Korea tested an intermediate-range missile which observers noted could reach US territories in the western Pacific region; by that time, intelligence experts estimated that North Korea's arsenal contained dozens of nuclear warheads.

North Korea also pursued other advances in military and espionage technology during that time. Perhaps most notably, in November 2023, the country successfully launched an operational spy satellite into orbit. By February 2024 space officials in multiple countries had confirmed that the satellite was operational, though its exact capabilities remained unknown at that time.

With tensions remaining high amid North Korea's frequent missile tests, confrontations between North and South Korea grew more frequent and raised concerns around the world. For example, in December 2022, five North Korean drones entered South Korea's airspace; one of these drones was able to enter a no-fly zone in the South Korean capital of Seoul. In January 2024 Kim Jong-un stated that North Korea was no longer interested in reuinification with South Korea, a major departure from the Kim dynasty's decades-long goal of reuinification, and instead emphasized that North Korea considered its southern neighbor to be an adversary.

As relations with the US and South Korea remained at a low point, North Korea also faced tensions with other countries in the region, notably Japan. In addition to Japanese concerns over the North Korean nuclear weapons program and the firing of missiles over Japanese territory, the two countries also had an unresolved dispute related to the North Korean government's involvement in the kidnapping of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s. While by 2024 North Korea had admitted kidnapping thirteen Japanese citizens during this time period, some observers, including Japanese government officials, suspected the total number of kidnappings may have been in the hundreds.

Still, despite remaining isolated on the global stage, North Korea also maintained a close relationship with China and worked toward building new alliances under the leadership of Kim Jong-un. Notably, North Korea country pursued a stronger partnership with Russia, which had found itself increasingly isolated following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In September 2023 Kim Jong-un met with Russian president Vladimir Putin and pledged North Korea's support for Russia's war effort; by March 2024, South Korean officials alleged that North Korea had sent over 7,000 containers of munitions to Russia. In return, Russia allegedly gave North Korea multiple forms of economic assistance, including food. Russia also was accused of unfreezing millions of dollars of North Korean assets and helping North Korea look for ways to avoid economic sanctions in order to access global financial markets.

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