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This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Korea, North

Introduction
Korea, North

Background:

An independent kingdom for much of its long history, Korea was
occupied by Japan in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War. Five
years later, Japan formally annexed the entire peninsula. Following
World War II, Korea was split with the northern half coming under
Soviet-sponsored Communist domination. After failing in the Korean
War (1950-53) to conquer the US-backed Republic of Korea (ROK) in
the southern portion by force, North Korea (DPRK), under its founder
President KIM Il Sung, adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and
economic "self-reliance" as a check against excessive Soviet or
Communist Chinese influence. The DPRK demonized the US as the
ultimate threat to its social system through state-funded
propaganda, and molded political, economic, and military policies
around the core ideological objective of eventual unification of
Korea under Pyongyang's control. KIM's son, the current ruler KIM
Jong Il, was officially designated as his father's successor in
1980, assuming a growing political and managerial role until the
elder KIM's death in 1994. After decades of economic mismanagement
and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied
heavily on international aid to feed its population while continuing
to expend resources to maintain an army of approximately 1 million.
North Korea's history of regional military provocations,
proliferation of military-related items, and long-range missile
development - as well as its nuclear, chemical, and biological
weapons programs and massive conventional armed forces - are of
major concern to the international community. In December 2002,
following revelations that the DPRK was pursuing a nuclear weapons
program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement
with the US to freeze and ultimately dismantle its existing
plutonium-based program, North Korea expelled monitors from the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In January 2003, it
declared its withdrawal from the international Non-Proliferation
Treaty. In mid-2003 Pyongyang announced it had completed the
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods (to extract weapons-grade
plutonium) and was developing a "nuclear deterrent." Beginning in
August 2003, North Korea, China, J