North Korea in Todays World

Abstract
Since the formation of the two Koreas the South has progressed and is one of the most
progressive and developed economies of the region. However, North Korea is a political and
economic shambles. In addition to being a burden on the economies of nations and organizations
that provide aid, South Korea has become a major threat to world peace. At the cost of starving
the people of a poor country it has diverted available resources to the development of nuclear
capability in the military field. Its recent tests of seven missiles on July 4, 2006 are a wake-up
call to the entire world community to take notice of the threat posed to the region and the rest of
the world. North Korea has adopted a communist culture, a preposition that has failed
worldwide and has sealed itself in behind its borders and refuses to heed the call of reason, even
when it comes from its traditional ally China. All countries have joined hands to attempt to
make this country and its leadership see reason, through the UN resolution passed on July 17,
2006.
Introduction
The Korean War began as soon as World War II was over and ended in 1953. The
Korean peninsula was divided into two parts; North and South Korea. Ever since then North
Korea has isolated itself from the world, while their relationship with all other countries are
strained they have maintained close relationships with the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).
While South Korea progressed on all fronts and is one of the most developed, modern economies
of the region, the North is an economic and political shambles. Technically speaking, the United
States and North Korea are still at war with each other.
Geography
The Korean peninsula is located in the northeast of the Asian continent. It shares its
northern boundary with PRC along the Yalu River and Russia and PRC along the Tumen River.
The peninsula juts south-east from the mainland towards Japan and has the Sea of Japan on its
east and the Yellow Sea between it and mainland China on the west. The total area of the
peninsula is about 220 thousand square kilometres and of this approximately 100 thousand is

under North Korea. The north-western province of Pyong-an-do is mostly flatlands and the base
of most of the agricultural activity in the country. The rest of the country is mountainous and
does not support much commercial activity. North and South Korea are divided by the Military
Demarcation Line (MDL) that runs along the 38th parallel. This line is also called the
Hyujeonseon line (or the ceasefire line). Both the North and South Korean Governments hold
that the MDL is not a permanent border. A four kilometer wide demilitarized zone extends on
either side of the DMZ. Pyongyang, is the Capital city of North Korea.

Economy
North Korean economy, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated, faces
desperate conditions. Industries are nearly beyond repair as a result of years of neglect. No new
investments have been made in industry other than those having military significance. Industrial
and power output has declined. Since the mid-1990s the country has experienced a severe lack of
food, which claimed the lives of up to 2 million North Koreans. By nearly all reports the
economy is unable to meet the needs of its people.
International food aid deliveries have allowed them to escape mass starvation and the
population remains victim of prolonged malnutrition and deteriorating living conditions in 2005
the World Food Program reported that the average 7-year old boy in North Korea weighs 20
pounds less and is eight inches shorter than a boy the same age from South Korea. The donors of
food and fuel aid are now tired and looking at the increasing tensions due to the military stance
of the government the aid flow has started slowing down. Despite this the government continues
to divert money into military spending, and taking an aggressive stand against nearly all
countries of the world. There are thriving black markets for everything and prices continue to

rise following the increase in official prices and wages in the summer of 2002. This has left some
vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and unemployed, unable to buy goods and facing
starvation. The regime relaxed restrictions on farmers' market activities in spring 2003, leading
to an expansion of market activity (CIA Fact-book) but not much progress has been seen in the
economy that continues to worsen. In 2003 North Korea received over $133 million in food aid
through the World Food Program plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental
organizations.
The Gross Domestic Product of the country was estimated at $ 29.58 billion in 2004,
translating to $ 1300 per capita and showed one of the lowest growth rates of 1 percent during
that period. Contributions to the GDP are almost equally shared between agriculture, industry
and services. The main agricultural products are rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses, cattle,
pigs and poultry. Industry is centered on military products, machine building, electric power,
chemicals, mining (coal, iron ore, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals)
metallurgy; textiles and food processing. North Korea has no production of Oil and imports its
total requirement but is self sufficient in the production of power.
China is its largest trading partner and strongest ally and keeps its sick economy on life
support. China supplies about half of the $1.8 billion in aid the regime receives annually,
including virtually all of its oil (Elegant, Time). Main imports are petroleum, coking coal,
machinery and equipment; textiles and grain, these come from China, Thailand, Japan, Germany
and South Korea. The country exports minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including
armaments); textiles and fishery products mainly to South Korea, China, and Japan. The
currency of the country is the Won which has an exchange rate of about 200 won to the US
dollar.

To generate money to finance its economy and increasing military ambitions it has
resorted to large scale drug running and counterfieting of currencies. In March 2003 North
Korea's long suspected revenue-raising exercise of narcotics exportation was highlighted with
the Australian seizure of the drug running vessel the Pong Su. North Korea's counterfeiting
operations have resulted in large numbers of high-quality fakes entering into circulation. In 1994,
several North Koreans were arrested in Macao for depositing $250,000 in counterfeit U.S.
currency in a bank. This activity continues unabated, according to The Economist, North Korea
prints $100 million in fake dollars each year.
Culture and Religion
The two Koreas share a common heritage and culture, while the south has been careful in
preserving its culture, it is difficult to say anything about the North since no outsider is allowed
into the country. Though affected by other Asian cultures, the roots of Korean culture lie deep in
the long traditions of history, and shares many aspects with Japan and China. The delicate
styling and fine craftsmanship of their celadon pottery illustrates the refinement of the arts
achieved. Korea also claims right to many inventions such as the first printing press predating
Gutenberg's, the first ever iron-clad battleship. The Korean alphabet, devised by a group of
scholars in the 15 century, remains largely unchanged today. Calligraphy, the art of brush writing,
is a traditional art form. Korean architecture is typical and the influence of Japanese and Chinese
architecture easy to see. Traditional architectural designs are also incorporated in many modern
buildings throughout the country. The food is quite simple and depends heavily on rice as the
staple, fish and poultry. The Koreans love dog-meat and rice wine.
After the partition of the two Koreas, North Korea criticized and rejected all kinds of
traditional family ties and religious/ social organizations, viewing them as being feudalist and

imperialist. In their place it established a Communist Culture that put value in a collective
spirit placing the interest of the group above that of the individual. In practice the collective spirit
finds expression of loyalty to the Party and the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung. The country is
comparable to the medieval church-state (Kim Philo,1991, p101).
The human rights record of North Korea is extremely difficult to fully assess due to the
secretive and closed nature of the country. While it is difficult to piece together a clear picture of
the situation within the country, it is clear that the government of North Korea controls virtually
all activities within the nation. Citizens are not allowed to speak freely and the government
punishes those who criticize the regime. The only legal radio, television, and news organizations
are operated by the government and universally praise the administration of Kim Jong-Il, who
remains the unelected leader of the country. The use of political prison camps and torture to
control the population is common and documented by many sources. Some human rights
organizations including Amnesty International and the United Nations have condemned North
Korea on its human rights record. In 2004, the United States passed the North Korean Human
Rights Act of 2004, which criticized North Korea and outlined steps the United States should
take to promote democracy and freedom in that country. With the exception of the international
abductions issue, which it says has been resolved fully; North Korea denies all reports of human
rights violations.
The country's political and economic system is much better known. Although two minor
parties exist, the ruling Korean Worker's Party holds almost all power in the government. North
Korea's government runs a command economy and markets are officially illegal.
Foreign Relations

The North Korean government has literally sealed itself from the outside world. While it
shares a close relationship with PRC its relations with the rest of the world are very poor. The
South Korean government keeps an open face towards its northern neighbor and goes to great
lengths to avoid conflict, through its Sunshine Policy (Wikipedia).
During the 1970s and 80s North Korea carried out a series of kidnappings of Japanese
and South Korean citizens, while this has stopped, it continues to counterfeit currencies and
strengthen its economy through drug running, terrorism and selling of nuclear and missile
technology to other countries. At present the nuclear program and missile technology have
become issues that need to be resolved on an urgent basis. In 2004 North Korea admitted to the
existence of uranium enrichment facilities and formally withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. All this while it kept on asking for negotiations with the United States and
finally agreed to talks between six nations, the US, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan which
resulted in the agreement of September 2005 after two years of discussions. This agreement was
of no value because immediately North Korea went back on almost all that was agreed upon.
South Korea continues to make efforts to reunite the two countries and their people. After
secret meetings the two came to an agreement to work towards reunification in 1972. This also
broke down when South Korea decided to seek independent entry into the United Nations and
North Korean intelligence kidnapped Kim Dae-Jung the leader of opposition in South Korea
from Tokyo in 1973. Discussions were restarted in 1984 but once again North Korea suspended
all talks in 1986 when North Korea and the US undertook joint military exercises under code
name Team Spirit. There were brief talks in 1988 when the issue of co-hosting the Olympic
Games came up; these discussions were aborted following the bombing of KAL flight 858 in
1987.

In 1988 South Korean President Roh Tae Woo took the initiative and fresh discussions
began, these resulted in two major agreements being reached. In 1991 the Basic Agreement that
covered reconciliation, non-aggression, exchanges and co-operation was signed but this
agreement and its follow-up action ground to a halt when the nuclear tensions began rising in
1992. The second agreement was the Joint Declaration signed in December 1991 which forbade
both countries to manufacture, test, possess and deploy nuclear weapons. North Korea also
signed a nuclear safeguards agreement with the IAEA in 1992. In March 1992 a Joint Nuclear
Control Commission was set up by North and South Korea for mutual inspection and verification
that the terms of the agreement were being adhered to by both sides. This commission never took
off and the situation became worse when North Korea refused access to inspectors from the
IAEA to two suspected nuclear waste disposal sites and announced that it intended to withdraw
from the NPT. During US President, Carters visit in 1994 it was agreed that North and South
Korea would meet and discuss the nuclear proliferation issues, this meeting could not take place
due to the death of Kim Il Sung.
Relations with countries outside the peninsula have fared no better, with the exception of
China. The establishment of diplomatic relations by South Korea with the Soviet Union in 1990
and with the PRC in 1992 put a serious strain on relations between North Korea and its
traditional allies. The fall of communism in eastern Europe in 1989 and the disintegration of the
Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in a significant drop in communist aid to North Korea. Despite
these changes and its past reliance on this military and economic assistance, North Korea
proclaims a militantly independent stance in its foreign policy in accordance with its official
ideology of juche, or self-reliance.

North Korea has been named as a member of both the "axis of evil" and the "outposts of
tyranny," lists created by the United States that name states it feels are a threat to world peace
and human rights. In February, 2005 North Korea declared that it has nuclear weapons, bringing
widespread expressions of dismay and near-universal calls for the North to return to the six-party
negotiations aimed at curbing its nuclear program. On May 14, South Korea announced that at
the north's request the two countries would resume talks on the reunification of the countries.
North Korea's diplomacy with the United States and Japan is marked by frequent dire
warnings (through KCNA) about its military capabilities. It is one of the few countries that has
no diplomatic relations with the US. On every little pretext or statement by South Korea or the
US North Korea says it sees this as an open declaration of war, and threatens to turn Korea into a
"sea of fire" by firing its nuclear missiles into the South.
The recent tests of seven long range missiles carried out on July 4, 2006 (BBC) have
made the situation even worse and have strained the patience of long term ally China (Elegant,
Time) also. The UN Security council passed a resolution on Monday July 17, invoking Chapter 7
of the UN charter, which has been signed by China and Russia for the first time calling for China
to stop providing safe passage for suspected consignments from and to North Korea and for
Syria and Iran to stop buying nuclear and missile technologies from it (Shannon, Time).
Conclusions
It is evident that the situation in North Korea is extremely precarious both from an
internal as well as from the external point of view. Within its borders the country is on the verge
of economic collapse and has lagged its southern neighbour by a margin that seems
unbridgeable. On the other hand its relations with other countries is deteriorating and even its all
time allies like China are turning away because of its belligerence and determination to develop

and exploit nuclear technology. The situation has reached boiling point and all responsible
countries of the world have to get together to find a solution to this problem that has the potential
to become a major human disaster.
What solutions can be found for such a case? For one the chance of foreign intervention
must be totally ruled out. This has never worked, as history has shown us, recent examples being
Vietnam, Afghanistan and now Iraq. It is the people of North Korea who have to find a solution
for themselves. To the mind of this writer the country is ripe for a revolution that will necessarily
have to dispose off the present regime and replace it with a decent democracy. Finally the only
way a long term solution can be found to this problem is for the two Koreas to merge into one
and the north is helped by the developed and neighbouring countries to develop its economy and
the quality of life for its people.

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