| Horoscope |
|---|
|
|
|
| |
|
North Korea Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on North Korea
Official Name: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Capital: Pyongyang
Area: 120,540 square kilometres ( 46,541 square miles )
Major cities (Population)
Pyongyang 2,470,000 (1995 estimate)
Chongjin 754,100 (1984 estimate)
Namp’o 691,300 (1984 estimate)
Sinôiju 500,000 (1984 estimate)
Population: 23,917,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 1.9 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Communist state; Stalinist dictatorship
Independence: 9 September 1948
NOTE: 15 August 1945, date of independence from the Japanese and celebrated in North Korea as National Liberation Day.
Constitution: Adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972; revised again in April 1992.
Voting Rights: Universal at age 17
Government
The president is head of state, and a premier is technically head of government. The 687-member Supreme People’s Assembly forms the legislature. It is elected for a four-year term from a list of candidates approved by the Communist Korean Workers' Party. In all elections, a single candidate is chosen to run for each office. Voters can only vote “yes” or “no” for each person; they invariably vote “yes”. The voting age is 17.
Recent History
Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 and subjected to harsh colonial rule, including an attempt to eliminate its cultural identity. At the end of World War II, Korea was liberated from Japan. The United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) agreed to allow Soviet forces to accept the Japanese surrender in the northern part of Korea and US forces to do so in the south. In the north, former anti-Japanese guerrilla Kim Il Sung, with the full support of the Soviet command, took power in 1948. For more than a quarter of a century until his death in 1994, he remained in firm control and ruled the country as a dictator, carrying out many political purges of his rivals.
On 25 June 1950, the North Korean army invaded South Korea, initiating a war that lasted three years, devastating the peninsula and killing perhaps 4 million people. The US and a military force from the United Nations (UN) supported the south, and China supported the north. In July 1953 a truce was established along the 38th parallel, the original pre-war boundary. Near the town of Pamanjon, a demilitarized zone created as part of the truce now separates the two Koreas.
Technically, the two nations are still at war as a peace treaty has never been signed. There have been some minor border incidents and acts of terrorism in the past, but no major fighting since 1953.
Reunification of the Korea Peninsula has been a key issue on both sides of the border. In 1990 representatives from both countries held a series of historic meetings designed to promote better relations and encourage eventual unification. Talks continued until 1992, but little progress was made. Minor protocols, statements, and agreements were signed, but serious differences remain. Each side distrusts the other, and the obstacles to an agreement are enormous, not only because of the difficulties of integrating two opposing political and economic systems, but also because of the unresolved question of North Korea's nuclear capability. The death of Kim Il Sung in 1994 made the future even more uncertain. He was succeeded in July 1994 by his son Kim Jong II (“Dear Leader”).
|
|
