North Korea

HISTORY 

North Korea was founded on September 9, 1948 after Korea had been freed from Japanese occupation. The socialist Democratic People's Republic of Korea, backed by the Soviet Union was established in the north half of the peninsula. The U.S. set up a democracy in the southern half.

One of the guerrilla leaders during the Japanese occupation, the communist Kim Il-sung, became premier.

The flag of North Korea was adopted on September 8, 1948. The prominent red star is a universal symbol of communism, the red stripe expresses revolutionary traditions. The two blue stripes stand for sovereignty, peace and friendship. The white stripes symbolize purity.

In 1950 North Korea, seeking unification of the Korean peninsula, launched a large scale invasion of South Korea. After three years fighting the Korean War ended in stalemate with no land lost or gained.

North Korea became a totalitarian dictatorship and an elaborate cult of personality developed around Kim Il-sung and his successors.

North Korea built a fake village with empty buildings lit by automatic timers in the 1950s in an effort to lure South Koreans to defect across the border.

The CIA parachuted hundreds of people into North Korea throughout the 1950s to start resistance networks. Despite never hearing from most of them again, they continued to parachute more in until an inquiry in the 1970s questioned the morality of such an initiative.

North Koreans born after the Korean War are about two inches shorter than South Koreans on average.

North Korea reportedly launched its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, on August 31, 1998. The launch was met with international condemnation, as many countries viewed it as a test of North Korea's long-range missile technology. The United States Space Command reported that the satellite failed to reach orbit and disintegrated in the atmosphere. However, North Korea claimed the satellite was a success and that it is now in orbit around the Earth.

An inquiry report of the United Nations Human Rights Council, officially titled "Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," and issued in February 2014, found systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights in North Korea. The report found North Korean citizens faced torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, political imprisonment, enforced disappearances, religious persecution, forced labor, and widespread hunger.

North Korea created “Pyongyang Time” in 2015, moving its clocks 30 minutes back making it 8.5 hours ahead of GMT. This was done to symbolically break away from Japan's legacy of colonial rule over Korea. The change was announced by the North Korean government on August 7, 2015, and it took effect on August 15, which is the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese rule. 

POLITICS 

Even though he died in 1994, Kim Il-sung remains president of North Korea. The constitution was revised in 1998, declaring him 'Eternal President of the Republic', making North Korea the world’s only necrocracy—the only government that still operates under the rules of a former, dead leader.

North Koreans bowing in front of statues of Kim Il-sung (left) and Kim Jong-il

North Korea holds elections every five years. All seats are won by the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. According to official reports, turnout is near 100%, and approval of the Democratic Front's candidates is unanimous or nearly so.

A North Korean official who was also Kim Jong Un's uncle was executed for clapping half-heartedly when Kim was elected.

North Korea has a list of 375 state-approved slogans and catch-phrases, one of which being "Let us construct additional pylons!"

MILITARY 

North Korea uses a fax machine to send threats to South Korea.

North Korea has the fourth largest army, the largest special forces, And the largest submarine fleet in the world.

Korean People's Army (KPA) soldiers at Panmunjom. By David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada 

SOCIETY 

The official North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, was first published under the name Chongro on November 1, 1945.  It was founded by the Korean Workers' Party (KWP) as a propaganda organ, and it has continued to play that role ever since.

North Korea has a system of social classification called songbun, established by Kim Il sung, in the late 1950s. It has been expanded to five main groups: special, nucleus (core), basic (wavering), complex and hostile. Where you can live or study, what job you can do, and even what food you can eat are controlled by your songbun. An individual's songbun depends mainly on what their paternal ancestors did in the first half of the 20th century during the Japanese colonial period and the Korean War. Perceived disloyalty during that time is punished with low sungbun. So too is perceived disloyalty now. Christians are therefore classed as hostile and suffer greatly as a result.

North Korea's tallest building is 330m (1,082ft), 105 storeys tall. Construction of the Ryugyong Hotel (dubbed the Hotel of Doom), in Pyongyang, began in 1987 under Kim Il-Sung, but was halted five years later. It was then slated to open it in 2012, the centenary of Kim Il-sung’s birth, but this was then cancelled. The Ryugyong Hotel holds the Guinness World Record for tallest unoccupied building in the world.

An Ohio man was detained in North Korea for nearly six months for leaving a Bible at a nightclub.

In North Korea, people don't celebrate birthdays on July 8 and December 17, since those are the dates that Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il died.

North Koreans born since the 1950s are on average two inches shorter than South Koreans.

ECONOMY 

North Korean propaganda claims that North Korea is the world's only tax-free country. The North Korean state, however, still collects revenue from its citizens in the form of hidden taxation through various sales taxes.

The Korean Peninsula at night. North Korea is almost completely dark, the bright spot is Pyongyang

North Korea doesn't make much from tourism – about 2,500 people visit a year.

Tourists to North Korea are not allowed to use the local currency (the North Korean won), and instead must use a special debit card tied to foreign currencies.

Chinese tourists taking boat tours in North Korea purchase small bags of bread and biscuits and throw them on shore for North Koreans to pick up and eat, like at a zoo.

North Korea generates about $2 billion a year by forcing its poorest citizens to work as slaves in other countries.

North Korea is sitting on 6-10 trillion dollars worth of minerals it can't access due to lack of technology and equipment.

CULTURE

Only around 1000 people in North Korea have access to the real internet and computers are just straight up illegal unless you have specific government permission.

In North Korea viewing pornography or reading the Bible are each punishable by death. Generally the method is execution by firing squad.

North Korea finally got its first pizzeria in 2009, thanks to Kim Jong-il’s obsession with pizza.

The Chollima, a mythical winged horse, is the national animal of North Korea.

North Korea is the only country where marijuana is 100% legal to grow, sell, possess and use.

Source Daily Express