English Harbour, Kanton

Merchant marine:
total: 1 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 1,291 GRT/1,295 DWT
by type: passenger 1 (2004 est.)

Airports:
20 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 17
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 12
under 914 m: 4 (2004 est.)

Military Kiribati

Military branches:
no regular military forces; Police Force (carries out law
enforcement functions and paramilitary duties; small police posts
are on all islands)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
NA

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
NA

Military - note:
Kiribati does not have military forces; defense assistance is
provided by Australia and NZ

Transnational Issues Kiribati

Disputes - international:
none

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005

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@Korea, North

Introduction Korea, North

Background:
An independent kingdom under Chinese suzerainty for most of the
past millennium, 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 in the southern portion by force, North Korea 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 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 KIM's future successor in 1980 and assumed a growing
political and managerial role until his father's death in 1994, when
he assumed full power without opposition. After decades of economic
mismanagement and resource misallocation, the North since the
mid-1990s has relied heavily on international food aid to feed its
population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army
of about 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development and
research into nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and massiv