Korea, North
The nation of North Korea occupies the northern half of the Korean peninsula, a block of land that juts out from the Asian mainland. South Korea occupies the southern part of the peninsula. The people of North Korea and South Korea share a long history, a common ethnicity and language, and many traditions. However, since the late 1940s Korea has been divided into two countries with different forms of government—a Communist state in the north and a republic in the south. Since then, the two Koreas have existed as enemies, or, at best, untrusting neighbors. North and South Korea face each other across a heavily guarded border zone some 150 miles (240 kilometers) long.
The Koreas are part of East Asia. North Korea is bordered by China to the north, and it also touches Russia to the northeast. North Korea has an area of 47,399 square miles (122,762 square kilometers), occupying just over half of the Korean peninsula. The capital is Pyongyang.
North Korea's eastern shore is washed by the East Sea, which is also called the Sea of Japan. Its western shore is on the Yellow Sea. There are dozens of islands off the west coast. The islands Ch'o, Sinmi, and Ka are among the largest.
Most of the land consists of mountains and valleys. The Hamgyong Mountains are in the extreme northeast. The country's highest point, Mount Paektu, lies at the northern edge of the Kaema Highlands, in the northeast. Mount Paektu rises some 9,022 feet (2,750 meters) above sea level. The Nangnim Mountains run from north to south through the middle of the country. The Taebaek Mountains extend across the southeastern corner of the country into South Korea. One peak in this range, Mount Kumgang, is especially beautiful and attracts large numbers of tourists.
North Korea's two longest rivers are the Yalu and the Tumen. They run along the border with China. The Tumen River flows into the East Sea. All the other major North Korean rivers flow into the Yellow Sea. The large river valleys in the west provide good farmland.
The winters in North Korea are long and cold. The snowfall can be heavy in some places, such as in the Taebaek Mountains. The summers are warm. There are usually major rain storms between June and September. Tropical storms called typhoons sometimes strike during the rainy season.
Forests once covered most of North Korea, but farms and cities now occupy most of the valleys and hills. Forests of fir, spruce, larch, and pine trees are still found in the northern mountains. In the southern mountains, there are mixed forests of oak, pine, elm, beech, and poplar trees.
Because many of the forests have been destroyed, there are smaller numbers of the types of animals that lived in the forests. There are now few deer, mountain antelope, goats, tigers, and leopards remaining in North Korea. Many birds are seen in the valleys, including wild pigeons, herons, and cranes. Rabbits are common, as are other small mammals, reptiles, and fish. In the rivers, there are large numbers of carp and eels.
Nearly all the people of both North and South Korea are ethnically Korean. A tiny number of Chinese make up the only other significant ethnic group in North Korea. All Koreans speak the Korean language.
Because the government restricts churches, more than two thirds of North Koreans are either nonreligious or atheist. However, the traditional values of many Koreans are based on the Confucian ethical system, which emphasizes being calm, obedient, and respectful. About one in seven North Koreans practice Chondogyo, which means “Teaching of the Heavenly Way.” It was begun in 1860 and combines Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity.
About 60 percent of the population lives in cities. Most North Koreans live near the coasts. Pyongyang, near the west coast, is by far North Korea's largest city. It is about three times larger than either Nampo or Hamhong, the country's next largest cities. Most of North Korea's cities were destroyed during the Korean War (1950–53), but they were rebuilt later.
The North Korean government directly controls the economy. In the 1990s North Korea's economy declined, because its main customers—the Soviet Union and the Communist nations of Europe—broke into smaller nations or stopped ordering North Korean products. Since then, North Korea's main trading partners have been China and Japan. North Korea imports large amounts of oil, coal, machinery, trucks, chemicals, and grain. Its main exports include minerals, metals, cement, food products, cloth, and clothing.
Most of the people work on farms or in factories. Rice is the main crop. Other leading crops are potatoes, corn, cabbages, apples, soybeans, wheat, and pears. North Korea does not produce enough food to feed its people, however. It buys large amounts of grain from other countries. Fish are also an important part of North Korea's food supply.
North Korea has many more minerals than South Korea. The most important are iron ore and coal. Gold, magnesite, lead, and zinc are also mined. North Korea's magnesite deposits are the largest in the world. North Korea has much heavy industry, which produces iron and steel, chemicals, machinery, and cement.
People have lived on the Korean peninsula since at least 10,000 BC. After about 3,000 BC, fishing villages grew up along the rivers and the seacoasts. The ancient kingdom of Choson developed in the northwest. The Chinese conquered Choson in 108 BC.
In the 1st century BC, the peninsula was divided between three Korean states. These Three Kingdoms were Koguryo in the north, Paekche in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast.
The Three Kingdoms battled each other for centuries. With help from China, Silla defeated the Paekche and Koguryo kingdoms in the 7th century AD. Silla then controlled most of Korea.
During the peacetime that followed, the Chinese strongly influenced Korea. In this period, Korea made great advances in astronomy, medicine, metal casting, sculpture, and textile making. Ships from Silla and China traded many products.
In the 9th century, Silla lost much of its territory. However, Korea was united again under the Koryo state in 935. The Koryo state held onto power until 1392. During this period, the Koreans copied some parts of the Chinese system of government. Buddhism had been introduced from China several centuries earlier, and many Buddhist temples were built during the Koryo period. The Koryo ruled from Kaesong, which is now part of North Korea.
In 1392 the Korean general Yi Songgye took power. He named his state Choson, after the ancient kingdom.Yi built his capital in the south, at what is now Seoul, South Korea. The Choson kings ruled until 1910. Under their rule, powerful landowners caused Buddhism to decline in Korea. Confucian values were promoted instead. The Korean alphabet was created by the mid-15th century.
Korea was often the target of attacks by foreign powers. The kingdom was invaded by Japan in the 1590s and by a Chinese group in the 1620s and 1630s. The Korean Choson rulers remained under some Chinese influence until the late 1800s. However, Korea largely shut out other foreign contact beginning in the mid-1600s.
In 1894 a group of Korean peasants rebelled, demanding better treatment by the government. Both Japan and China sent armies to Korea to help stop the rebellion. Soon, the Japanese and Chinese armies began to fight each other. This started the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. Japan won the war. In 1910 Japan made Korea into a Japanese colony. The Japanese brought modern ways, but they treated the Koreans very poorly.
Division into North and South Korea
Near the end of World War II, in 1945, an army from the Soviet Union took over the northern part of Korea. Troops from the United States occupied the south.
South Korea became an independent country in August 1948. One month later, North Korea became an independent country, with Kim Il-sung as its ruler. He led the country until he died in 1994. Like the Soviet Union, North Korea adopted a Communist form of government—in which the government owns all the country's farms and industries and distributes the wealth among the people.
In 1950 the North Korean army invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War. The United Nations voted to aid South Korea. United States troops made up the largest part of the army sent to help South Korea. China, which had a Communist government, supported North Korea. About 1,800,000 Koreans were killed during the war, along with hundreds of thousands of Chinese, Americans, and soldiers from other countries.
In 1953 the war ended, with the peninsula still divided into North and South Korea. The Korean War devastated the country. The Soviet Union and China helped North Korea recover.
North Korea and South Korea continued to have a troubled relationship. Ever since the war, large armies have kept watch on both sides of the border. In the late 1960s, North Korea began to strengthen its armed forces. North Korea was responsible for an attempt to kill South Korea's president in 1968 and for two bombings in the 1980s. A small North Korean submarine was found spying on South Korea in 1996. Nevertheless, the two nations have held peace talks several times. Both countries were allowed to join the United Nations in 1991.
After Kim Il-sung died in 1994, his son Kim Chong Il replaced him as the country's leader. From 1995 to 1999, a famine in North Korea killed at least 100,000 people, and perhaps as many as 3,000,000. Japan, South Korea, the United States, and other countries began to send food and other help.
The leaders of North and South Korea met in 2000, and the two countries seemed willing to work for a peaceful future. However, tensions remained high into the 21st century. One area of particular concern was the suspicion that North Korea had the ability to produce nuclear weapons. After years of international questions about the possibility, North Korea revealed the existence of a secret nuclear program in 2002. Population (2001 estimate), 21,968,000.
