North Korea (Modern World Nations)

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North Korea Second Edition

Christopher L. Salter University of Missouri–Columbia

Series Editor

Charles F. Gritzner

South Dakota State University

Frontispiece: Flag of North Korea Cover: A bicyclist and his passenger ride past the Grand People’s Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea, Second Edition Copyright © 2007 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Salter, Christopher L. North Korea / Christopher L. Salter. — 2nd ed. p. cm. — (Modern world nations) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7910-9513-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7910-9513-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Korea (North)—Juvenile literature. 2. Korea (North) I. Title. II. Series. DS932.S26 2007 951.93—dc22 2007010507 Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Series design by Takeshi Takahashi Cover design by Joo Young An Printed in the United States of America Bang NMSG 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.

Table of Contents

1 Introducing North Korea

8

2 Physical Landscapes

16

3 North Korea Through Time

27

4 People and Culture

35

5 Government and Politics

46

6 North Korea’s Economy

75

7 Regional Geography

87

8 North Korea Looks Ahead Facts at a Glance History at a Glance Bibliography Further Reading Index

104 111 114 115 117 120

North Korea Second Edition

1 Introducing North Korea

I

n the middle of the seventeenth century (1642), Korea made the decision to close its borders to all foreigners. The government allowed one trade exchange per year with China, only because Korea had certain needs and this giant neighbor had the power and the goods to make a yearly exchange beneficial. With this ­decision—and the subsequent closure that lasted for approximately two ­centuries— Korea came to be known as the Hermit Kingdom. Today, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Hermit Kingdom has again become noteworthy for its role in international affairs. Since its founding in 1948, North Korea has been more inaccessible and less interactive than any other nation in East Asia. In fact, it has remained one of the most deliberately isolated of all of the world’s countries. South Korea, the other country carved from the Korean Peninsula after the conclusion of World War II, competed actively for the



Introducing North Korea right to host the 1988 Summer Olympics. This event brought the country into the global spotlight. Clearly, the two Koreas have taken vastly different routes in their development since the conclusion of World War II in 1945. One is an ­ outward­looking, growing economic powerhouse; the other remains more like the Hermit Kingdom. In recent years, Western media have helped North Korea gain a rather powerful—and extremely negative—image. In his 2002 State of the Union Address, for example, President George W. Bush named North Korea as one of the original three “Axis of Evil” countries (the others are Iraq and Iran). The press quickly saw this as an evocative label for a country that has not only industrial strength, but also a steadfast allegiance to Communism, a governmental system that the United States considers diametrically opposed to the American concept of liberty and free market development. Despite these negative depictions, since early 1998, North Korea and South Korea have engaged (although erratically, depending on short-term political happenings) in talks that have been viewed as very significant. One of the main issues initially discussed was the possibility of opening gateways between the two Koreas. This would allow family members, who have been separated for more than 60 years, to pass freely between the countries to visit one another. The overall policy movement that has supported these discussions is called Sunshine Diplomacy, or Sunshine Policy. These channels of communication were opened by the 1997 election of Kim Dae Jung as president in South Korea. He was noted for his remarkable success in staging the first North/South Korea summit since the 1953 armistice was signed between the two countries. The June 1997 summit that grew from President Kim Dae Jung’s Sunshine Policy did not produce monumental changes in policy. But it did represent a critical shift in the apparent attitudes of the governing leaders in South Korea and Kim Jong Il of North Korea. There slowly emerged a sense—especially in South



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North Korea Korea—of the value in achieving a more focused concern on the potentials of future cooperation. In the past, the emphasis had been on taking revenge for past offenses. Sunshine Diplomacy has waxed and waned since President Kim Dae Jung’s initiation of these early talks. But there has been a general “climate change” in the overall potential for greater cooperation between the two Koreas since the beginning of this policy innovation. These early talks were thought to be a good beginning to a more critical set of discussions that might ultimately lead to an armistice that would formally end the bloody Korean Conflict that raged for three years from 1950 to 1953. Although the open fighting stopped in July 1953, there have been continued tensions, allegations, troop movements, spying, and gunfire along the arbitrary border that separates the two Koreas. The East Asian peninsula of Korea has had a unique cultural and economic history that can be traced back more than 3,000 years. The northern segment of that land has followed its own distinctive—and often disruptive—path since the mid-1940s. This is the story of North Korea, a nation that has earned, yet again, the title of the Hermit Kingdom, because it has fought so hard to stay unknown and remain largely unseen by the larger world. Its detonation of a nuclear weapon on October 9, 2006, has likely signaled an end to such isolation. The Geographic Power of a Peninsula: The Korean World The Korean Peninsula is an extension of the Asian continent. North and South Korea together occupy an area almost exactly the size of the state of Utah. Korea is located in a critical geographic position. To the northwest lies the enormous country of China, and to the far northeast, the Korean Peninsula borders the even larger nation of Russia. To the east lies the island country of Japan, which, though not a particularly large country, has had a significant economic and cultural impact on the Korean

Introducing North Korea

North Korea is located on the Korean Peninsula and is bordered by South Korea to the south, China to the northwest, and Russia to the northeast. Covering an area of 46,541 square miles (120,540 square kilometers), it is about the size of the state of Mississippi.

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North Korea world for more than 3,000 years. North and South Korea make up a world that is truly shaped by geographic location. This peninsula—as is true of the present-day countries of North and South Korea—has origins and a history that have been continually influenced by the proximity of China. For nearly 2,500 years, Chinese settlers have had interest in the alluvial valley of the Yalu River that serves as the border between the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China, an area that the West best knows as Manchuria. As early as the Chinese Shang Dynasty (c. 1766–1122 b.c.), there are records of Chinese settlers occupying the river valley of the Taedong River, which flows near the present-day North Korean capital of Pyongyang. From another direction came early migrants from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. These people, known as the Jomon (today called Ainu), settled in the southern section of the Korean Peninsula. Although there is no record of early migrating peoples from Russia settling on the Korean Peninsula, the current history of both North and South Korea shows strong Russian influences as well as continuing evidence of Chinese and Japanese cultural heritage. The Korean Peninsula has been known by two names to the Western world. Traditionally, it was called “The Land of the Morning Calm.” This name represents the Koreans’ pride in being the stable, productive, and creative country that received the sun’s early rays as it rose over Japan and worked its way toward China and the world located farther to the west. Korea, as noted above, also has been known as the Hermit Kingdom. From 1642 until 1873, the Koreans limited foreign contact to “the annual imperial embassy from Beijing,” which became the only legal exchange of goods and ideas Korea allowed with a foreign country. Wooden palisades were constructed along the floodplains of the Yalu and Tumen rivers in the northwest corner of the peninsula in order to keep out overland traffic as much as possible. In the twenty-first century,

Introducing North Korea North Korea continues to play its traditional hermit role, not only in East Asia, but in broader global affairs as well. A good example of North Korea’s uncertain contemporary image is illustrated in this observation, which comes from Bruce Cumings’s Korea’s Place in the Sun. It relates to a British film crew’s anticipation of their 1987 assignment in Pyongyang: During a visit in 1987 with members of a British film crew, I learned that they all expected Pyongyang to be something like Tehran [the capital of Iran] in the 1980s, they assumed that cars filled with “revolutionary guards” would be careening through the streets, machine guns dangling out of the windows. [They had put in for and received the equivalent of combat pay from their employer.] Or they thought it would be a poorer version of China, the masses pedaling to work on bicycles, clad in drab blue work clothes. They were ill prepared two decades ago for the wide tree-lined boulevards of Pyongyang, swept squeaky clean and traversed by determined, disciplined urban commuters held in close check by traffic women in tight uniforms, pirouetting with military discipline and a smile, atop platforms at each intersection. . . . North Korean villages were Spartan, plain, clean, and evocative of the rustic atmosphere of the Korea past so lacking in the capital. They were linked by a network of hardpacked roads, whereas cities are connected by extensive railways. Residents planted vegetables raised for home consumption or the small private market on every square meter of land right up to the edge of streets; electric wires ran to all peasant homes, but television aerials were much less apparent than in the cities. Unlike the isolated North Korea, South Korea has focused on expanding its interaction with global markets and cultural

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North Korea

Pyongyang, the capital and largest urban center of North Korea, is home to more than 3,200,000 residents. This aerial view from the Grand People’s Study House shows the Corée du Nord in downtown Pyongyang. On the left is a large mural of former president Kim Il Sung and in the distance is the 150,000-seat Rungnado May Day Stadium, which is located on Runga Islet in the Taedong River.

linkages. Hosting the 1988 Summer Olympics at Seoul (the capital of South Korea) was symbolic of the country’s desire to be seen as more than a “developing nation” within the cluster of countries that often seemed to be considered of only modest consequence in economic or cultural matters in the global picture of the late twentieth century.

Introducing North Korea The Korean Peninsula continues to hold the attention of the rest of the world for many reasons. North Korea, for example, has had only two leaders since the country was created in 1948. Kim Jong Il is the son of Kim Il Sung, who was declared leader of North Korea in 1948 and held the post until his death in 1994. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with their political stance, this is an impressive demonstration of governmental stability. North Korea’s Kim Il Sung also spoke continually about the political need for his country to build atomic weapons. In support of the program, he cited the fact that neighboring nations and the United States, in particular, seemed intent on eliminating North Korea. (A claim that began in the late 1940s and one that the current North Korean government espouses.) In retaliation for such a perceived threat, Kim Jong Il has announced that his country has the technology to create—and perhaps use—nuclear weapons. A number of events have stressed this ongoing North Korean threat, but the setting off of a nuclear device on October 9, 2006, has made this political posture become very real. Due to North Korea’s newfound capabilities, the United States and other nations have had to engage in ever-stronger diplomatic efforts to rein in this isolated and secretive country. Due to North Korea’s new position on the global stage, it is important to gain an understanding of its history, people, government, economy, and geography.

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2 Physical Landscapes

T

he Korean Peninsula is fundamentally a land of mountains, substantial hills, small coastal plains, and river valleys. None of the peaks or mountain ranges can compare to the scale of similar landforms in either Japan or China. Still, there is an overall presence of mountains in both North and South Korea that, at least from the air, creates an impression that geographer George Cressey described as “[a land that] resembles a sea in a heavy gale.” Cressey went on to point out, “High mountains are uncommon; it is their profusion here that is impressive. No plain is so extensive that the encircling mountains cannot be seen on a fair day.” The sources of the peninsula’s two longest rivers are in the same general area. The Yalu River (also known as the Amnok-kang) is 501 miles (806 kilometers) long and flows from Paektu-san in the far northeastern part of the peninsula. The Yalu travels southwestward

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Physical Landscapes into the Korea Bay, a body of water that blends into the Yellow Sea. The Yalu River is the political boundary between North Korea and China. The Tumen River, which flows to the northeast for 324 miles (521 kilometers) and pours into the Sea of Japan, also originates in the Paektu-san area. Unlike the Tumen, the largest and most important North Korean rivers tend to flow to the southwest toward the Korea Bay, or the Yellow Sea. Paektusan, an extinct volcano, is North Korea’s highest point at 9,003 feet (2,744 meters). Topped by a large crater lake, Paektu-san has both the height and the scenic beauty to make it a popular place for local and some international tourism. North and South Korea are separated in part by a system of valleys and plateaus that divide the peninsula from the northeast to the southwest. These landforms serve as a strong visual as well as topographic boundary between the two sections of the peninsula. The Kaema Plateau is one of the most notable parts of this natural border. It lies to the west of the ­HamgyongSanmaek Mountains and to the northeast of the Nangnim­Sanmaek Mountains. The Kaema Plateau is home to some of the richest forest regions of North Korea. This forest cover extends onto the higher slopes of the adjacent mountains. Korea can be divided into regions that can be used to delineate distinct landscapes and land use on the peninsula. Six main regions make up the peninsula’s landscapes. Three of these regions are found predominantly in North Korea. Regions The Korean Peninsula extends approximately 670 miles (1,078 kilometers) from north to south. It is surrounded by more than 3,000 islands, but few people live on most of them. North Korea has about 1,550 miles (2,495 kilometers) of coastline. The Korean Strait and Sea of Japan lie to the south and the east, and the Korea Bay and Yellow Sea lie to the west.

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North Korea

0

RUSSIA

50 Miles a Toud

Onsong

o

Tu m

CHINA

Sonbong Najin Puryong 42 °N

en

Paektu-san 9,003 ft. 2,744 m

u

Chasong

Chongjin

Hyesan

Ya l

Kilchu

Huich’on Sinuiju

Myohyang-san 6,822 ft. 2,079 m

Anju

Ko r e a B ay Pyongyang

NANGN IM S AN MA EK

Kanggye

Taedong River

Sariwon

Changjin

Kimch’aek Pukch’ong

Sinp’o Hamhung

40°N

NORTH KOREA

Wonsan

Nam

Namp’o

Changjin River

Kumya

Imjin

Kosong DEMARCATION

E LIN

Sea of Ja p a n

Haeju

38°N

Kaesong Seoul

SOUTH KOREA

Ye l l ow Sea

36°N

126°E

128°E

ktong

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130°E

North Korea is made up of three geographic regions: the Northwestern Plain, the Northern Mountains, and the Eastern Coastal Lowlands. The highest point, Paektu-san, is located in the northeastern part of the country, along the border with China, and reaches an elevation of 9,003 feet (2,744 meters).

Physical Landscapes The Northwestern Plain The Northwestern Plain is a major landscape feature of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. It stretches from the Hanju Bay, which is bordered by the 38th parallel—the arbitrary line that has separated the two Koreas since 1948—in the south, all the way north to the Yalu River. The Yalu forms a significant part of North Korea’s northern border with China. Because of this political border, the Yalu River was a significant military feature in the Korean War. The Northwestern Plain is made up of low, rolling hills that come off the flanks of the mountain systems that form the backbone of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. This region also has numerous small coves, bays, and river estuaries—all of which help create distinctive and relatively densely settled landscapes. The plain is home to both the majority of North Korea’s agricultural land and a substantial industrial base that has been developed vigorously by the government during the past half century. Pyongyang, the capital city and the country’s largest urban center, is located in the Northwestern Plain. This region is home to more than half of North Korea’s population. The Northern Mountains This region lies at the heart of North Korea’s landscape. It is made up largely of the Nangnim-Sanmaek Mountains, the range that forms the peninsula’s central spine. The mountains extend from just north of the 38th parallel to the border with China, and from this point, they continue northward as China’s Changbai range. In the northeastern corner of the country, a second major range—the Hamgyong-Sanmaek Mountains—runs in a general north to northeast direction. The Nangnim Mountains cut into the valley of the Yalu River, and the Hamgyong Range intersects the Tumen River. These ranges and rivers define the borders of North Korea and have long presented a demanding and ­difficult

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North Korea landscape to migrating and warring groups. Approximately 25 percent of the population of North Korea lives in and along the river margins of the Northern Mountains region, primarily in the river floodplains and low flanks of the foothills. The Eastern Coastal Lowlands This third region makes up the settlement zone for the final one-quarter of the North Korean population. The region extends from Yonghung Bay on the eastern side of the peninsula, beginning just north of the 38th parallel. The Eastern Coastal Lowlands are characteristically home to both farming and fishing and many small associated rural peasant and village settlements. The Sea of Japan is a major resource for the coastal settlements of this region. The rolling lowlands that come from the eastern flanks of the two major mountain systems have distinct patterns of grain farming. There is also considerable mining activity in the mountains that border this region to the west. There is some industrial activity along the coastline, but the west side of the peninsula is traditionally characterized by more manufacturing activity and denser population settlement. There is one other small region in North Korea. It is formed by the northward extension of the Central Mountains. Here, the Taebaek Range (which begins in the southern part of the peninsula) extends along the eastern coast of the peninsula and into a small part of North Korea, where it gives way to the Eastern Coastal Lowlands. The 38th parallel cuts across the northern tip of the Taebaek Range. Climate North Korea’s regions can further be defined by climate. On the Korean Peninsula, the most dynamic climatic factor is the seasonal shift of winds that occurs because the peninsula is surrounded by the Sea of Japan, the Korea Bay, the Yellow Sea, the Korea Strait, and the massive East China Sea. Most of

Physical Landscapes East Asia is strongly influenced by the monsoon patterns that create periods of heavy precipitation during the summer and much drier winters. The seasonal monsoon is the single-most important element in shaping the climate of both North and South Korea. The Monsoon Monsoons are winds that shift seasonally and bring changes in weather conditions that are often pronounced. Air mass movement greatly influences all climates. It is the engine for all climate patterns, and its fuel is insolation, incoming solar radiation. The different temperatures of air masses cause a steady lateral flow of huge pockets of air from one location to another. The difference of heating of land as opposed to water is generally the factor that sparks this movement. As the sun’s rays shine down on Earth, the surfaces being warmed will heat at different rates and develop distinct temperatures. The same amount of insolation received by soil, rock, or tree cover will have a very different impact if it is received by a sea, lake, or ocean. Seas and ocean surround the Korean Peninsula. Both the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea absorb large amounts of insolation before they begin to warm to temperatures anywhere near those of the peninsula’s land surface. Although the bodies of water receive the same amount of insolation as the land, when it strikes a water body, insolation penetrates to great depths and is also scattered by waves and currents. Therefore, land gets much warmer during the high sun season—July to September in the Northern Hemisphere—than do adjacent water areas. Air masses move in response to differential temperatures. Cooler and drier high-pressure air masses tend to move toward warmer, moister, low-pressure air masses. Put simply, land is warmer in the summer, but water is warmer in the winter. This seasonal difference in land-water temperatures is what causes monsoon winds. Summer monsoon winds move from the

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North Korea

During the last decade, North Korea experienced a series of floods that devastated the country. Here, a family inspects their damaged home in the county of Unsan, 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Pyongyang, after an August 2004 flood killed 20 North Koreans and left another 3,000 homeless.

sea over land, bringing on a wet season that lasts from April to September. During the cooler season—October through March—the winds reverse direction. They move from the land toward the sea, bringing a dry season. This is the essence of the

Physical Landscapes monsoon pattern that characterizes Korea’s climate more than any other geographical factor. Because warm, moist air is pulled from the surface of the sea by monsoon forces during the summer, it is the months of July, August, and September that receive the year’s heaviest rainfall. The moist air masses flow from the sea toward the hot interior lands of the Asian continent during these high sun months. As such air masses are pulled up over the mountainous landscape of the Korean Peninsula, the air cools and condenses. Areas that received only 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 centimeters) of precipitation in March and April receive 10 to 14 inches (25 to 36 centimeters) in July and August. During the low sun months of January and February, the monsoon forces are reversed. The sea is relatively warm, and cold high-pressure air masses rush toward the sea. As they flow across the Korean Peninsula and toward Japan, moisture is picked up from the Sea of Japan—causing very wet snows to fall on the west side of that island country. In both North and South Korea, however, the winter air masses are intensely cold, because their source area is located in the depths of Asia. Since winds blowing eastward out of the Asian continent toward the Korean Peninsula pick up little moisture, there is not as much snowfall as might be anticipated. The snow that does fall, falls mostly in the northern and western parts of the peninsula, and as is the case in most hilly and mountainous areas, there is more snowfall at higher elevations. Temperature and Precipitation North Korea lies at latitudes similar to those of the East Coast of the United States, from Delaware to Massachusetts. The temperatures of both areas reflect the influence of latitude and proximity to large bodies of water. Neither location has the extreme heat or cold experienced in the interior of Asia or North America. In Korea, the number of frost-free days varies from 130 to

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North Korea 150 in the northern part of the peninsula to as many as 225 in the south. Summer weather varies little throughout the entire peninsula. July temperatures average about 70°F (21°C) in the north and 80°F (27°C) in the south. Conditions tend to be humid, so the air often feels hot and muggy. The mountains that run along the eastern side of both North and South Korea provide a buffer from colder winter winds. In South Korea, winter temperatures average about 35°F (2°C), whereas in the north the average is much colder. In the north, the average growing season is only 28 weeks. South Korea, on the other hand, can have as many as 44 frost-free weeks. Geographer Albert Kolb wrote about the range of temperatures in North and South Korea: Contrasts in heat loss between continental interior and maritime areas, and in solar radiation, combine to produce a very striking variation in temperatures between the north and south of Korea. Between Cheju Island in the south and the bend of the Yalu River in the Manchurian-North Korean uplands, the mean January temperatures reckoned at sea level vary from +6°C to -19.4°C—a gigantic range unequalled anywhere else in the world. Most of North Korea receives an average of 30–60 inches (76–150 centimeters) of precipitation a year, which is enough to support the growth of farm crops without irrigation. More than two-thirds of North Korea’s precipitation occurs in the period from June to September, when the summer monsoon winds bring moist air masses from the seas that lie to the east and south of the peninsula. Typhoons (called hurricanes when they occur in the North Atlantic Ocean) are another significant factor that contribute to the climate of the Korean Peninsula. These destructive late summer and early autumn storms usually come from tropical

Physical Landscapes latitudes to the south or southeast. They are accompanied by ferocious winds and often bring enormous amounts of rainfall. Although they do not often go very far inland, they pound coastal cities and villages and represent a severe threat to crops and buildings. They tend to be more destructive in the southern part of the peninsula, but both the northern and southern regions of Korea have to deal with these often devastating storms. Plant and Animal life The Korean Peninsula has been settled, farmed, and traveled across for thousands of years. Even though only about one-fifth of the landscape is arable (good for farming), there is active settlement across most of the peninsula. The types of flora and fauna have been widely influenced by the peninsula’s role in the ever-shifting interaction between the Asian continent and the Japanese archipelago (chain of islands). Bears, lynx, tigers, panthers, and leopards once lived here, but these animals are very rare today. Small populations do still exist in more remote upland areas. Larger populations of deer and wild boar remain, but even they face a constant struggle to survive as the human population grows and expanding settlement reduces their habitats. Other types of North Korean fauna include an abundance of bird species, such as the white heron. This statuesque bird has long been an important symbol in Korean poetry and nature imagery. North Korea is rich in woodland resources. Particularly in the more mountainous areas of the north, extensive forests of spruce, larch, Siberian pine, and fir blanket slopes at higher elevations. Logging has long been a major industry, resulting in widespread deforestation. Today, however, the government is actively involved in a reforestation program to counter deforestation. An estimated 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares, or 800 square miles) are reported to be replanted with trees each year.

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North Korea Regional Identity in the Korean Peninsula Korea’s identity is very strongly influenced by its location. The peninsula lies at the edge of two huge and powerful ­countries— China and Russia. Korea juts into the Sea of Japan and toward the Japanese archipelago, and ocean currents move both northward and southward between the two locations. Korea is also located within the “Ring of Fire,” a huge zone of volcanic and seismic (earthquake) activity that surrounds most of the Pacific Basin. These forces have shaped much of the region’s natural landscape. People and ways of thinking that came from many distant places have also influenced Korea’s cultural landscapes. The geographical influence of being a “bridging” peninsula thrust between the Asian mainland and Japan has played a dominant role in everything from plant and animal diffusion and human migration to formation of cultural habits and expressions. Due to the peninsula’s location, Korean culture developed in the shadow of China, Japan, and some of the various nomadic—and often militarily ambitious—peoples of Inner Asia.

3 North Korea Through Time

H

umans are a species very fond of mobility; they are constantly on the move. The average student travels from home to school, from school to recreation, from home to markets, from place to place to see friends, to go to shows, or to go to events downtown. All of these little everyday trips are examples of the human fascination with traveling and mobility. HUMAN MOBILITY In thinking about the same kind of motion over time, one can quickly recall hearing of migrations over large distances. Many young Americans have ancestors who came to the United States from Europe, Africa, Latin America, or Asia. All of those trips took enormous amounts of energy, dedication, courage, and probably money. These ambitious travels illustrate clearly that people are fond of mobility. Yet, despite recurring human movement, people also become very

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North Korea fond of the place they call their own—a place they identify as home, or their homeland. In the case of the Korean Peninsula, it is important to think once again about the basic physical geography of the region. The entire peninsula is a corridor of land that is about 86,000 square miles (222,000 square kilometers) in size. That is about the size of the state of Minnesota or Utah. The peninsula, which juts off the eastern side of the largest continent in the world, looks much like a land bridge that falls just 100 miles (160 kilometers) short of the Japanese islands. Over time, the flow of ideas, foods, and peoples from the Japanese archipelago have reached the regions of East and Southeast Asia. Korea was sometimes the launchpad and sometimes the destination for culture and material goods associated with such diffusion. Just as important, the Korean Peninsula borders both China and Russia and is at the crossroads between the power of East Asia and the historic Mongol forces of North and Inner Asia. However, the peninsula does not actually lie between these places. Its physical geography, though, has placed Korea in the position of being a territory that a raiding or warring group had to deal with as it was moving across northern Asia toward eastern China or Japan. For this reason, the history of Korea has been linked to the mobility of many other peoples. When a geographer tries to determine patterns of human migration, he or she looks for clues that might suggest origin. One of the most interesting features of the Korean Peninsula is that the Korean language is not related to Sino-Tibetan (the language of the Chinese who make up a large segment of the East Asian population). The Korean language comes from a language family that includes the tongues of people now living far to the west—Turkish, Hungarian, and Finnish, as well as Japanese. This language family is called Ural-Altaic. It is a group of related languages spoken within a broad band that stretches across Europe and Asia.

North Korea Through Time The Racial Origins of Koreans Koreans are thought to be of a racial (physical) stock that is a blend of Caucasian and Mongoloid peoples. This suggests that they originated perhaps near what is now the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan. The settlers who came to the peninsula during the Neolithic period—about 7,000 to 5,000 years ago—already knew how to grow crops and to make bronze weapons and tools. They wore woven clothes (revealing that they had textile skills and an advanced culture) and they already had developed a village culture. By about 5000–4000 b.c., later peoples came through migration paths that had been trending more and more eastward from Central Asia, finally reaching the Korean Peninsula. Researcher Kenneth Lee described them: “It is known that the people of Korea were galloping horsemen, who moved swiftly, conquering any who stood in their way.” The Chinese term for these people was the Tungu, or the Tungi. From this Ural-Altaic stock came the Mongolian pastoralists (animal herders) who, by the mid-thirteenth century a.d., created the world’s largest empire, stretching across the breadth of Europe and Asia. The fierce Mongols, including the famous leaders Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan, controlled territory from the Korean Peninsula all the way to the edge of Poland in eastern Europe. These horse-riding warriors attacked villages and raided them for food, supplies, and sometimes, wives. The Koreans generally feel great pride that they have such powerful ancestors. At the same time that peoples were coming from interior and eastern Eurasia to settle the Korean Peninsula several thousands of years ago, there were also periodic crossings from Japan to the southern tip of the peninsula. Large shell mounds show that a fishing culture once existed there, and there is also evidence of rice cultivation. In one mound, a Chinese coin from the second century b.c. was found. It is assumed that these settlements near the southern coast of the peninsula ­supported

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North Korea

By the mid-thirteenth century, the Mongols controlled the largest empire in the history of the world: from Korea in the east to the border of modern-day Poland in the west. By the time of Kublai Khan’s reign (1260–1294), the empire had begun to fall apart, but the Mongols would continue to hold sway over Korea until 1368.

themselves by fishing, gathering berries and other food in the hillside forests, and by engaging in some farming and hunting as well.

North Korea Through Time Koreans and the Chinese Chinese lore tells the story of a group of migrants who left the northern Chinese Shang Dynasty (1766–1122 b.c.) capital of An-yang. They crossed the Yalu River that separates the Korean Peninsula from China and proceeded to Pyongyang, where they founded a Chinese community. According to Albert Kolb, It was here in the northwest [of the Korean Peninsula] that China’s five main crops, including rice and wheat, were introduced, and in time those crops and other products of Chinese culture began to spread. The native tribes gave up their foxtail millet [a coarse type of grass grown for use as a grain] wherever it was possible to introduce the new larger grained cereals. This continued the exchange of culture elements between the Chinese and the Koreans. In general, history indicates that the flow of culture and ideas went from China to Korea and then on to Japan. Sometimes, however, that movement of ideas and materials actually traveled in a number of directions. The Chinese made their first fully documented incursion onto the Korean Peninsula at the very end of the second century b.c. In 108 b.c., they took over a major section of what is now North Korea, establishing their center of control at the ­ present-day city of Pyongyang. This was followed by the formation of three states within the confines of the peninsula. The state of Koguryo was created in the northeast. Paekche was founded in the southwest. Silla was established in the southeast. The creation of this trio of states marked the start of the “Three Kingdoms” era in Korea, which was well established by the third century a.d. These three kingdoms did not initially have a single language, or even similar cultural roots, even though the peoples came from the Ural-Altaic stock that had been moving across the plains of Eurasia for millennia. In Chinese records, it was

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North Korea

The Kingdom of Silla was established in the second century a.d. in the southeastern part of Korea, and by the seventh century, it became allied with China and conquered all of Korea. Pictured here are the burial mounds of the Silla kings at Gyeongju, in southeastern South Korea, which is part of Gyeongju National Park.

noted that there was a more unified culture in the north, where Chinese influence had been stronger. As the Three Kingdoms period went on, the Koreans became a more closely related people. By a.d. 660, the Kingdom of Silla had grown strong enough to conquer both Paekche and Ko­guryo, thereby unifying the peninsula. Silla became stronger in its support of Confucianism (a system of social order based on the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius). This set

North Korea Through Time the stage for the introduction of even more Chinese cultural elements and somewhat weakened the strength of a unified Korea. By the early tenth century a.d., General Wang Kon brought the various sections of Korea back together and founded the Koryo government in 932. It was from this name that the peninsula and country received their current English name, Korea. It was under the rule of the Koryo government that the world’s first movable metal printing type was invented in 1234. This was more than two centuries before a German, Johannes Gutenberg, was credited with the invention of the first movable metal printing type in 1436! During the 1230s, the Mongols began a three-decade-long effort to conquer the Koryo government and take over the Korean Peninsula. In 1259, they finally succeeded. Korea represented the easternmost margin of the Mongol Empire. The Mongols ruled enormous areas of Eurasia, including China, until their defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1368. The Mongols left Korea the same year. The period of the Ming Dynasty in China (1368–1644) was a time of growth for Korea, at least until near the end of the sixteenth century. The Ming Court was made up of Chinese leaders who replaced the earlier Mongol leaders who had governed China’s Yuan Dynasty from 1265 to 1368. During the Ming Dynasty, the border of Korea was pushed northward to its present-day boundary between North Korea and China. In Korea, this period was known as the Yi Dynasty (1392–1910). Koreans take considerable pride in the length of the Yi Dynasty. Even though there were periods when Korea was vulnerable to outside influences, there was an overall Korean dynastic continuity for more than five centuries. THE KOREAN HANGUL SCRIPT Historically, the Koreans had acquired much of their early language from Chinese written characters. In terms of spoken communication, all of the Three Kingdoms had distinct languages, but from about the seventh century until the tenth

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North Korea c­ entury a.d., the language of the Silla was dominant. All through this period, however, Chinese characters and style continued to influence the Korean language. In about the middle of the fifteenth century, Koreans no longer wanted to be dependent on China and pushed for the development of their own written language. In 1446, King Sejong of the Yi Dynasty helped transform the Korean language into a new written language called Hangul, which had its own distinctive alphabet. This is the only language in East Asia that has an alphabet. Although Hangul was not in use in 1234—when Koreans invented the world’s first movable metal plate printing process—thanks to its alphabet, it lent itself well to the press. Hangul Korean has 19 distinct consonants, 10 vowels, and y and w. The Chinese language, on the other hand, has thousands upon thousands of unique characters, as does Japanese. Although all three languages are “character” languages, only Korea developed an alphabet with a small number of characters. The development and use of Hangul is another source of pride for Koreans. By the sixteenth century, the essential elements that we recognize today as being “Korean” were in place. Subsequent developments will be discussed in the following chapters.

4 People and Culture

I

n thinking about population, it is important to realize that the word refers to more than just the number of people who reside in a particular place. The elements that make up a population framework include traditional demographic features such as birthrate and rate of natural increase. But population patterns also help one get a sense of cultural and material preferences of a people. These traits are central to a geographer’s study of a country’s people and culture.

Population Dynamics In the mid-1960s, the population of North Korea totaled approximately 11 million. This was a decade after the conclusion of the Korean War (1950–1953). More than four-fifths of the population was rural, living outside of cities in country settings. By the early twenty-first century, however, the two Koreas had developed into

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North Korea very different populations. This is illustrated in a comparison of 11 demographic traits and their significance as you try to build images in your mind of the people and culture of North Korea. Consider these demographic features of the North Korean population: The Korean Comparison Sheet: 2007

North Korea

South Korea

Asia



46,541 sq. mi

38,023 sq. mi.

12,262,691 sq. mi.

Area

120,540 sq. km 98,480 sq. km

31,760,223 sq. km

Population

23,301,725

49,044,790

3.968 billion

Birthrate

15/1,000

10/1,000

20/1,000

7/1,000

6/1,000

7/1,000

23/1,000

6/1,000

49/1,000

Rate of Natural Increase 0.9%

0.4%

1.2%

Total Fertility Rate

2

1.3

2.4

Population <15 years

27%

19%

29%

Population >65 years

8%

10%

6%

Pop. Density

497 per sq. mi. 1,265 per sq. mi. 324 per sq. mi.

Urban

60%

82%

38%

Life Expect. (average)

M 69 F 75

M 74 F 81

M 66 F 70



Death Rate



Infant Mortality

* Source: Population Reference Bureau 2001, 2002, 2006; Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year 2002, 2006.

population and population density With some 23 million people (such figures are only approximate, since the government seldom provides exact statistical information), North Korea has a population density of 500 people per square mile (193 per square kilometer). Although this is more than six times the population density of the United States, it is only about 40 percent that of South Korea. The population density is also about half that of the continent of Asia overall (324 per square mile, or 125 per square kilometer).

People and Culture

Residents of Pyongyang rely on the city’s public transportation system, because there are only about 2,000 cars in the city, most of which are reserved for government officials. Here, residents get on and off a crowded tramcar in downtown Pyongyang.

What figures such as population density really mean relates to the demands that are put on a country’s natural environment and resource base by its population. A high population density affects electricity requirements, medical services and availability, agricultural needs, highway and railway requirements, and much more. In general, it relates to how intensely a

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North Korea country will have to utilize certain aspects of its infrastructure. (Infrastructure refers to the services and features of the built environment, such as highways, railroads, communication systems, and other means of production and distribution that people need to lead productive lives.) According to the 2006 Population Reference Bureau World Data Sheet, the North Korean population density index suggests a relatively low intensity in the population’s use of natural resources when compared to South Korea, which has a population density of 1,265 people per square mile (488 per square kilometer). Japan (876 people per square mile, 338 per square kilometer) and Taiwan (1,633 people per square mile, 631 per square kilometer) represent two nations that also have higher densities. North Korea’s population density is higher, however, than China’s figure of 355 people per square mile (137 per square kilometer). Density figures, however, tell only part of the population story. Births per 1,000 Population The North Korean figure of 15 births per 1,000 people (not just women, but per 1,000 people overall) is one and a half times the South Korean figure of 10 births per thousand. The North Korean figure is somewhat less than the Asian average of 20. This statistic is critical in determining the growth rate, or rate of natural increase (RNI), of a country’s total population. When a government attempts to slow down the growth of its population—often because a growth pattern that is too fast makes excessive demands on a nation’s infrastructure—it is in the births per 1,000 population figure that the government hopes to see a change. In most countries, this number steadily drops as a greater percentage of the population moves from the countryside to the city. Usually, the higher the percentage of population classified as urban—those who live in cities—the lower the birthrate, or births per 1,000 people. As that number goes down, the annual net population increase also tends to decline.

People and Culture In North Korea, this model is confused somewhat by its distinctive pattern of economic growth. Most commonly, as more and more rural people move to urban-industrial settings, as has occurred since World War II in Asia, there has generally been a steady increase in the urban availability of consumer goods. In fact, it is these very goods—items such as tennis shoes, televisions, toasters, and rice cookers—that have made people begin to consider having smaller families. With fewer children, families have more disposable income to purchase urban consumer goods. The equation in the city is clear: Children cost more to raise and such expenditures mean that a family has less money to spend on aspects of an urban lifestyle. However, in North Korea, industrialization and economic development have been more focused on the manufacture of military hardware (both for export and the national military buildup) than on the production of consumer goods. Variables in family size, income, and the ability to purchase consumer goods are important keys to understanding the “profile” of a country’s population. Such data help geographers and other scientists learn a great deal about a country and its level of prosperity and human well-being. The connection, for example, between electronic household conveniences and the number of children a set of parents may decide to have occurs globally. This is because the forces that drive a nation toward more rapid economic development often include other cultural factors than economics alone. As information and media coverage of the broader world comes to a country along with economic change, people begin to learn about foreign family patterns and consumption habits. This new information will often have an impact on decisions about family size and urban lifestyle patterns. In the simplest but significant sense, a family may opt for more convenience goods instead of more children. In North Korea, this global pattern exists in a somewhat distinctive form. This is because, although the ratio of people

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North Korea living in the city compared to the countryside has changed steadily, there is still a larger percentage of rural people in North Korea than in South Korea. Also, as people have migrated to the cities in North Korea, they have found relatively few consumer goods available. This means that the relative decline in the number of children being born in North Korea each year probably relates more to governmental programs that encourage family planning and birth control than the population’s shift of focus from family to consumer goods. By contrast, in South Korea, there has been major expansion in the production of consumer goods. The availability of consumer items and the desire to achieve a better life (in a material sense) has played an important role in family decisions to have fewer children in South Korea. Deaths per 1,000 Population North Korea’s rate of 7 deaths per 1,000 people is the same as the Asia average and slightly higher than the South Korean figure of 6. The mortality (death) rate of a population relates to many factors, including food production and distribution, medical services and hygiene, transportation systems, water quality, and levels of education. These factors and the resulting death rate have constituted the single-most important element in the historical change in population growth during the past two centuries. Not just in North Korea, but also throughout the world, there has been enormous improvement in public health facilities and systems that ensure governmental re­sponse to famines and natural disasters. Consequently, there has been a nearly universal decline in the mortality rate of the human population. Today, almost all human societies have lower death rates than ever before. As death rates have dropped, there has been rapid growth in overall population, unless the birthrate has also dropped. In North Korea, the decline in mortality rate has taken place in concert with the steady lowering of the rate of natural increase as well.

People and Culture

North Korea has one of the highest infant mortality rates in Asia: 23 children per 1,000 births. In recent years, famine and food shortages have been major causes of infant mortality. The United Nations World Food Program, which took this photo of six North Korean infants sleeping at a government-run nursery in Unpha County, has played an integral role in attempting to provide nourishment to the country’s children.

Infant Mortality In North Korea, the infant mortality rate in 2007 was 23. This means that in an average population of 1,000 live births in a year, 23 infants did not live to reach their first birthday. In South Korea, the infant mortality rate was 6 in the same year,

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North Korea but the Asian average was 49. In East Asia, the range of such infant mortality rates varies from 3 in Japan to 22 in China. Infant mortality serves as a reasonable marker for a country’s availability of hospital facilities, medical personnel and care, sanitation and hygiene, and general health conditions. However, in the case of North Korea, this particular rate is also potentially shaped by ongoing news of famine and food shortages that began in the middle of the 1990s. Rate of Natural Increase (RNI) If the annual death rate is subtracted from the annual birthrate for North Korea, the resulting figure is the number of people, per 1,000 in the population, who are added to the country’s population each year. The rate of natural increase (RNI) for North Korea is 0.9 percent. This is just slightly lower than the Asian average RNI (1.2), but it is more than double the RNI for South Korea (0.4). The current RNI for both North and South Korea over the past three decades or so is the lowest that it has been in recent history. What does this mean? Why is this important? The government of North Korea, like every government, generally is expected to provide for the basic needs of its people. With a slowly decreasing RNI, the highway and railway planning divisions, housing bureau, national education administration, and other public service agencies are able to plan more carefully and better stay ahead of population growth. North Korea’s government has been very short of funds since the mid-1990s—and probably longer. A declining RNI gives the government a little relief from the pressures of trying to keep the development of the country’s infrastructure on pace with a traditionally higher RNI. In North Korea, this financial equation has been changed, also, by the considerable governmental investment in military development and the effort to establish a nuclear presence in East Asia. In comparison, South Korea’s RNI is so low because of the high percentage of the population living in cities and the rapid pace of economic growth in the national economy.

People and Culture Total Fertility Rate The total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime. In North Korea, the 2007 rate was 1.8, while in South Korea, it was 1.3. The average in Asia is 2.4. North Korea’s rate is the highest in East Asia, but it is considerably lower than most Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, 3.0; Myanmar, 2.0; Philippines, 3.1). One of the most influential factors in the steady reduction of the TFR is the increasing percentage of a country’s population residing in cities. The process of internal migration from the country to the city almost always is associated with a decline in the TFR. South Korea’s population is now more than 80 percent urban, helping to account for its lower total fertility rate. Percentage of Population under 15 and over 65 The next two demographic categories offer an image of the age of the North Korean population. These figures are very significant in terms of the government’s efforts to develop the economy. The percentage of population under the age of 15 helps indicate future needs, such as schooling and job opportunities, particularly in manufacturing and services. In North Korea, 27 percent of the entire population is under the age of 15. These young people are continually in need of formal education, and millions of them will be entering the workforce and looking for jobs in the near future. However, in the case of North Korea, they also represent a major resource because of the money and energy spent in building up and maintaining a standing army of nearly 1,000,000 soldiers. In South Korea, 19 percent of the population is aged 15 or under. In North Korea, 8 percent of the people are over the age of 65. In South Korea, people over 65 represent 10 percent of the total population. This senior population represents a new cohort (age group) of people for which the government has to provide care. In the past, in traditional Korea (both North and South), the extended family generally provided care for the senior population. Grandparents lived with their children

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North Korea

As of 2006, 27 percent of North Korea’s population was under the age of 15. However, in the near future this segment of the population will supply much-needed laborers for the country’s workforce, which will help develop North Korea’s infrastructure. Pictured here is a group of girls heading to school in Pyongyang.

and helped care for their grandchildren. It was not unusual for three generations to live in a single household. In fact, in the countryside, such a pattern had a long tradition. As the two Koreas have begun to change from predominantly rural nations to more urban (North Korea still lags behind South Korea in this transition), it has become increasingly difficult and costly to care for people older than 65. In the city, extra

People and Culture space is more expensive, and there are fewer useful chores that can be performed by young and old alike in an urban household. By caring for the children of working parents, grandparents can ensure that they see their grandchildren and “earn” their keep in the city. However, the Korean extended-family tradition is weakening. Increasingly, the government must assume a greater role in the care of the dependent senior citizens. In North Korea, as elsewhere, a demographic profile of the population—age, birth- and death rates, the rate of population increase, and other valuable data—affords the geographer and other scientists an opportunity to see the real cultural and geographic foundation of the country. During the past decade, the North Korean population has had to deal with persistent elements of famine. Drought and floods have also taken a toll, creating significant stress in both rural and urban environments. In the countryside, the farming tradition has often enabled local families to provide assistance to their own population during times of flood or drought. However, in times as desperate as the floods and famines of the mid-1990s, the devastation was simply too widespread to be absorbed by local families. In such cases, neither the rural nor the urban worlds have been able to deal with the hunger and dislocation caused by these natural disasters. With the infrastructure damaged or destroyed, many of the services needed to help people through hard times simply are not in place. All of these geographic elements affect not only the population, but also the economic and social framework of the country. It is the government that has to step in and provide major assistance and planning to handle aspects of population management like the ones North Korea has had to face since the mid-1990s.

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5 Government and Politics

I

n viewing the world through the eyes of a geographer, it is common to begin the observation and analysis of a country by considering its location, physical setting, and resources. In the case of North Korea, it is important to remember that the Korean Peninsula has, for all historical time, existed as an avenue of east–west military and cultural movement. Virtually all aspects of Korean government and political history have been shaped by the peninsula’s strategic location between Japan and China, along with Russia and Inner Asia on the north and west. This means that Chinese influences on early societies and during the formative centuries of the kingdoms of Koguryo, Silla, and Paekche (75 b.c. to a.d. 932) were the strongest in the development of the Korean nation. With the creation in a.d. 932 of a new government that called itself Koryo, the peninsula gave education added

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Government and Politics importance. As noted, in 1234, the world’s first movable metal printing type was invented in Korea. This innovation made possible more efficient communication between the people and the Koryo government. In 1392 came the Yi Dynasty, and with it a new focus on Buddhism. Over the following centuries, there was continued tension between the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Manchus of northern China. During these troubled times, the Korean Peninsula served as a theater for military campaigns, religious diffusion, and political struggles. These battles between opposing forces have been part of the dynamics of Korea throughout the peninsula’s history. Important Dates in the Evolution of Korean Government Although geography is keenly concerned with places, it is also attentive to dates and the sequence of change in the history of places. The following dates are benchmarks for building an understanding of those influences that have led to the creation of North Korea’s present government. 108 b.c. Early in the second century b.c., the Chinese first established a government in Korea. The area it ruled spread across roughly the northern half of the peninsula. It was divided into three districts that later became the Three Kingdoms. There were continual fights between the Chinese and various Korean territories that wanted to be free of Chinese control. This conflict continued for centuries. As mentioned, over the next several centuries, the major Korean forces were the Three Kingdoms of Koguryo in the north, Paekche in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast, and a much smaller region called Kaya around present-day Pusan at the southern end of the peninsula.

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North Korea 313 In this year, Korean forces drove the Chinese out of the peninsula, beginning a period of both stability and change. This era is often considered part of the Three Kingdoms Period (a.d. 57–668). During this time, the government adopted a legal code modeled after that of the Chinese. The old capital was moved from far northern Korea to the site of today’s North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Buddhism was introduced in 372. In addition, the first Korean university was founded and a pattern of Chinese agricultural taxes and mass group labor was established. It is clear from all of these borrowed traits that during this Three Kingdom Period, the source of many aspects of the Korean government was China. a.d.

932 The Koryo Dynasty was founded in 932. This was the most unified Korean government that the peninsula had seen in centuries. The Koreans spent considerable effort and material in building a new capital city called Kaesong (also known as Hansong), just north and west of present-day Seoul, South Korea. This new city was modeled after the traditional Chinese capital city of Chang-an (present-day Xi’an, in northern China). It was designed with an urban checkerboard grid pattern that was typical of Chinese governmental cities. The Chinese method of selecting government officials through an examination system was also instituted in 958. 1259 In this year, the Mongol armies that had conquered China and established themselves as the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty also extended their control over Korea. From this Korean base, one of the Mongols’ ongoing efforts was to cross the Sea of Japan, which lies to the east of Korea, in order to invade Japan. Three such efforts—in 1261, 1274, and 1281—failed, but still the Mongols maintained their control over Korea.

Government and Politics 1392 In this year, nearly four centuries of Koryo dynastic rule came to an end with the accession of General Yi Song-gye and the beginning of the Yi Dynasty (although one century of that time was actually under Mongol control). The Yi Dynasty would control the peninsula for more than five centuries, until 1910. During the Yi Dynasty, Korea established tribute status with China’s Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). This meant that Korea accepted the fact that China was the dominant political, cultural, and military power of the region. It also meant that Korea provided financial support to China in return for Chinese military and cultural support. One of the most dramatic innovations made by this new government (besides providing the word from which the current name for the peninsula, Korea, originates) was the establishment of a totally new land tenure system. At the beginning of his new dynasty, in 1392, Yi Song-gye confiscated and burned the land registers. This, in essence, turned all Korean farmland into a resource controlled by the new dynasty. In traditional fashion, Yi gave the best lands and the lands closest to the seat of power to his most dedicated and trustworthy subordinates. The produce of these lands was used to support the Yi Dynasty’s bureaucracy. The land farther away from the capital city was given to Yi’s second tier of supporters. That land and what it produced was used to support the military. This meant that the military had a strong interest in the continued productivity of the outer ring of farmlands, while the government kept strong control of the inner circle of Korean farmlands. In both cases, the destruction of the traditional land ownership records reduced or eliminated the potential political power of landowners who might have been opposed to a new government taking control at the outset of the Yi Dynasty. This series of events was particularly important in Korea. In the centuries prior to the Yi Dynasty, Korean landowners were the

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North Korea dominant power of the state. The new system of land redistribution opened the door for major changes in political authority on the peninsula. 1640 Over the course of the first three centuries of the Yi Dynasty, the Japanese actively made efforts to gain control of Korea. In the 1590s, several invasions were undertaken, and at least for a time, were successful. Through strong and persistent resistance, however, the Koreans were able to drive the Japanese back to their island empire to the east. In the 1630s, the Manchus of northeastern China successfully attacked Korea. In 1637, they were able to occupy seats of government because of the strength of their military troops and the relatively expansive size of their land base. This is the same military power that would seize political power from the Chinese Ming Dynasty in 1644. In Korea, the traditional role of king was maintained, although power really rested in the Manchu government. Eventually, the Manchus began to turn their attention to China. They hoped to win this much larger prize within the East Asian realm—a goal they were able to achieve with the beginning of the Ch’ing (Qing) Dynasty in China in 1644. For Koreans, the early 1640s were very important. It was then that the Yi government closed the Korean Peninsula to all foreign trade, except for a tightly controlled interaction with Ch’ing (Manchu) China. The event began two centuries of selfimposed isolation that severed Korea from virtually all foreign influences. This effort was meant to prevent foreign missionaries, merchants, and other visitors from reaching the Korean peoples and landscape. Most important, the government hoped to isolate Korean culture. During this period, an actual wooden palisade was constructed along the Yalu and Tumen rivers at the northern boundary of Korea. No foreign trade was allowed. Attempts

Government and Politics to leave the country for trading or other purposes were punishable by death. Only one ship a year was allowed to enter Korean waters—the ship sent from Peking, China. Foreign sailors, whose ships sank in Korean waters, found themselves in trouble if they made it to the Korean coast. Korean sailors who violated the country’s law of forced isolation by sailing out of coastal waters were put to death if they were caught. It was during this period that Korea came to be known as the Hermit Kingdom. 1873 During the 233 years that Korea closed it borders and denied its people access to the outside world, the global scene changed profoundly. The Age of Discovery, during which European naval and trading powers established colonies on all continents (except Antarctica), had accelerated the diffusion of Western military techniques, industrial patterns, religious beliefs, and popular culture. Like Korea, Japan also had closed its borders and experienced more than two centuries of isolation. In 1853–1854, the United States effectively opened the door to Japan. The U.S. government sent Commodore Matthew Perry and a fleet of four ships into Yokohama (then Yedo) Harbor, requesting that the government allow the United States to buy coal in Japan. In addition, the United States also wanted assurance that American sailors shipwrecked on Japanese shores would be treated well. Finally, the United States demanded that Japan open all of its seaports to foreign trade. With great reluctance, the Japanese agreed to these terms in early 1854, and soon thereafter there was an effort to open Korea’s borders. In 1866, the French made an ineffective effort to trade with the Koreans, and the United States did the same in 1871, with the same result. Finally, in February 1876, the Japanese forced a treaty upon the Koreans. As the Japanese had done 22 years earlier, Korea opened its borders to a new era of foreign trade and interaction with the West.

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North Korea As a result of the first Sino (Chinese)-Japanese War in 1894– 1895 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the political landscape in East Asia changed drastically. From the time it opened its borders to foreign trade in 1854 and the subsequent 1878 Meiji Restoration (a bold effort at major modernization led by the Japanese government), Japan had engineered a monumental political power swing away from China and Russia. As has often been the case, Korea’s political future changed in direct relation to Japan’s military victories. By 1910, Japan had defeated the Yi Dynasty, which had provided the basic governmental structure in Korea for more than five centuries, and took control of Korea. Japan then took the Korean Peninsula under its military, economic, and cultural wing. From the Japanese came an edict that Korea was now to be ruled by a governor-general as part of the expanding ­Japanese Empire. 1945 At the end of World War II, changes in East Asia came about quickly, and they had an enormous impact on the Korean Peninsula. The Soviet Union entered the Pacific Theater of World War II two days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan (August 6, 1945). Their formal entry into the war enabled the Soviets to gain a foothold in the part of the Korean Peninsula that lay north of the 38th parallel. This was a brilliant move for the USSR, because the Japanese had spent decades building up the industrial resource base of the northern part of the peninsula. In the early years of Japanese efforts to colonize much of East and Southeast Asia, they saw the peninsula as a strategic link between the Japanese archipelago and the Asian mainland. Incredibly, the Soviets were involved in the Pacific Theater of World War II for barely one week, yet they then played a major role in the realignment of the lands that the Japanese had controlled during the war. U.S. troops secured the lands of South Korea as the Japanese were sent home. For two years, the United States and

Government and Politics

In 1945, a line of demarcation—between Soviet-controlled North Korea and U.S.-controlled South Korea—was established at 38° north latitude, better known as the 38th parallel. Since September 9, 1948, when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was established, this line has served as the border between North and South Korea. Here, a UN transport vehicle crosses the border into South Korea after UN forces were forced to withdraw from North Korea in 1950.

the Soviet Union tried unsuccessfully to reunite the peninsula. In 1947, the United States submitted the problem to the new United Nations (UN) in an effort to find out what the new

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North Korea world organization could accomplish. Nearly six decades later, however, the peninsula is still divided. 1947–1948 On September 9, 1948, North Korean Communists established the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). During the final years of World War II, Kim Il Sung had been working with Soviet troops in Soviet training camps located in Manchuria. As a Korean major in the Red (Communist) Army, he came to prominence in the northern section of the newly divided Korea in 1945. In October of that year, the Soviets introduced him as a national hero for his service in fighting the Japanese in China and they decided to have Kim Il Sung serve as the first premier of the North Korean Communist regime. Kim came into power in 1948 and held complete control of the country until his death in 1994. 1950 It is difficult to know exactly what led the North Koreans to spill south across the 38th parallel and invade South Korea in 1950. Soviet troops had left the north and U.S. forces had left the south. The North Korean regime under Kim Il Sung had rejected all efforts to reunify North and South Korea during the final years of the 1940s under the terms that had been put forth by South Korea and other governments. Kim Il Sung did possess a powerful belief that it was necessary to reunify the peninsula, but he wanted it to be accomplished only through the force and governing system of North Korea. June to September In June 1950, Kim’s forces crossed the 38th parallel and quickly took a commanding position over the smaller South Korean Army whose troops were not as well trained or equipped as their countrymen from the north. North Korea had 135,000 soldiers under orders, whereas South Korea had only 95,000.

Government and Politics The South Korean Army had few planes and no tanks or heavy guns. In the first three months of the war, North Korean forces pushed the ragtag South Korean Army southward all the way to the port city of Pusan, at the southeast corner of the peninsula. At that point, more than 90 percent of the peninsula was controlled by Kim Il Sung’s army. In North Korea, there was the anticipation of a forceful reunification of the two Koreas under the North Korean government, with the understanding that both the Soviets and the new Chinese Communist government (declared in 1949) would play strong supporting roles. When President Harry S. Truman saw that North Korean troops had stormed into South Korea in 1950, he decided that such an action required a strong response. He believed that the North Korean attack was a symptom of the serious threat of Soviet expansion in war-torn East Asia. At the time—June 1950—the Soviet Union was boycotting the UN Security Council because of the UN’s failure to recognize the People’s Republic of China. This was perhaps the most costly absence for the Soviet Union during its time as a member of the UN. Because the Soviet representative was not present at the UN vote to declare North Korea the aggressor, the motion passed. Since the Soviet Union’s negative vote would have vetoed any UN action, the Korean War was initiated only because the Soviet seat at the meeting table was empty. As a result, after Truman had the United States declare to the UN Security Council that North Korea was the aggressor in the Korean Conflict and promised to provide U.S. troops, the UN organized a 15-nation fighting force and undertook what was called a “police action” to bring an end to the fighting. Truman put General Douglas MacArthur in charge of an American response to this invasion by North Korea. The North Koreans inherited considerable war material from the Soviets (particularly tanks, heavy mortars, and planes). In the first six weeks of the conflict, the North Korean forces—better trained, better armed, and riding on the momentum of early victories

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North Korea in Seoul and in the middle part of the peninsula—staged a number of significant victories while driving the South Korean and U.S. and UN forces ever farther south. Many thought that the North Koreans were destined for victory and would unite Korea by the fall of that year. MacArthur, stunned at the success of North Korea and the weak resistance by the South Korean forces, rallied UN and U.S. forces in and around Pusan in the far southeastern edge of South Korea. U.S. military materials were flowing into the peninsula from Japan. It is clear that General MacArthur believed that the Communist threat, which had taken over China and Russia, had to be stopped in Korea. In the late summer and fall of 1950, UN forces rebounded from their near defeat in the Pusan region. From Pusan, MacArthur launched an unexpected counterattack. He led a surprise force up to the port of Inchon—halfway up the west side of the peninsula—in the middle of September. This military strategy meant that the overland linkage from the northern part of the peninsula, which had been providing supplies and reinforcements for the North Korean Army pushing toward Pusan, was broken completely. Over the next two months, UN forces and the South Korean Army pushed the North Koreans back to the northern borders of the Yalu and Tumen rivers, near the North Korea–China border. Now, the defensive forces occupied nearly 90 percent of the peninsula. At this time, the Chinese became alarmed. They believed UN forces were on a clear track that could lead to an invasion of their axial northeast industrial zone (Manchuria). This region was the heartland of China’s heavy industry and a region of major resources for the manufacture of iron and steel. It was at this time that MacArthur sought President Truman’s approval for an attack into China. He sought to crush much of the Chinese military force that was mounting in China’s northeast, which was ready to “volunteer” to assist the North

Government and Politics Koreans in their effort to quash South Korea and its American and UN allies. He believed that China, allied with Soviet forces and resources, was going to undo the United States’ hardfought World War II victory in the Pacific. MacArthur believed that his troops—the forces fighting under the UN flag—were strong enough to defeat or at least weaken Communist China. He argued that a punishing hit to China’s industrial heartland could be accomplished. Such a strike, MacArthur believed, would define the American presence in East Asia in the most forceful way. Truman, however, refused General MacArthur’s request. He believed the United States was weary after the costly world war that it had fought and won. He felt that the UN effort in Korea was intended solely to reestablish the border between North and South Korea that had been created at the end of World War II. Truman therefore refused to give MacArthur permission to push his troops farther north. When the general rejected this restraint, Truman relieved him. It was the first major standoff between the U.S. president and the top commander of the U.S. military in decades. Communist China’s interest to amass “volunteer” forces to protect the northeastern part of their country is easy to understand because it was in this region that the Japanese developed their most productive industrial base during the years of nearcolonial control leading up to World War II. October 1950 to January 1951 In October 1950, the Chinese sent some 300,000 Chinese “volunteer” forces to Korea. Many of these troops had gained significant fighting experience in the Sino-Japanese War of 1937 to 1945. With their entry into the conflict, the UN and South Korean forces were soon pushed back to Seoul, well south of the 38th parallel. Fighting was intense and bloody battles took place through the final months of 1950. Despite

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North Korea South Korea’s setbacks, the U.S. Air Force inflicted major damage as it worked to break the supply lines that fed troops and equipment into North Korea from China and the Soviet Union. As previously noted, this area in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula had undergone decades of industrial development by Japan. The U.S. Air Force did all that it could to eliminate the industrial base that North Korea had been left by Japanese “colonization” and by Soviet efforts to fortify this region immediately following the conclusion of World War II. It was in this area that U.S. bombers dropped a greater number of bombs than U.S. forces had throughout all of World War II! April 1951 to July 1953 In April 1951, President Truman made the decision to relieve General Douglas MacArthur of his command of the UN forces. For some time, MacArthur had been calling for the bombing of bases in northeastern China. These bases were of critical importance to supplying troops and weapons to the North Koreans. MacArthur had been vocal in claiming that there was no “substitute for total victory.” Only an extended battle theater (northward into China) would provide the opportunity for a complete victory over the North Koreans and the destruction of the Chinese industrial heartland in Manchuria. Truman, however, refused to allow such bombing, and on April 11, 1951, the president officially relieved MacArthur. It was during the Korean War that U.S. fighter jets first encountered Soviet MIG planes. Although the U.S. government would not allow U.S. jets north of the Yalu River, there were continual battles in northern North Korea between the capital, Pyongyang, and the Yalu River, in a zone that came to be called “MIG Alley.” In June 1951—one year after the Korean War started— truce talks began in Kaesong, South Korea, and then moved

Government and Politics

During the Korean War (1950–53), many Chinese and North Korean prisoners refused to be repatriated to their respective countries and instead preferred to stay in prisoner camps, where they were often fed well. Pictured here are Communist prisoners of war receiving food rations at the UN prisoner camp on Koje Island, South Korea, in March 1952.

to Panmunjom in the area now called the DMZ (demilitarized zone). At the start of the peace talks, there was an initial sense of possible movement toward a genuine truce. Prisoner repatriation, however, became a thorny and seemingly impossible

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North Korea issue to resolve. There were many North Korean and Chinese prisoners who refused to be returned to their respective Communist countries, and this led to such political embarrassment for China and North Korea (and the Soviet Union, as well) that talks stalled by April 1952. An armistice was finally signed on July 27, 1953, and the DMZ was formally established as a buffer zone between the two Koreas. Prisoners were returned to their home countries through the offices of the Neutral Nations’ Repatriation Commission. The costs of the 37-month conflict were high. The United States had invested some $67 billion in the effort and had also lost 54,000 military personnel, with another 103,000 troops wounded. North Korea had 624,000 dead or wounded, and it is estimated that nearly one million Chinese troops were killed or wounded in the conflict. South Korea suffered the greatest losses, with more than 2 million people dead or injured. It is estimated that more than 3 million people from the armed forces and civilian populations had been killed in these three years of war. But even with the cessation of open hostilities, the war was not yet officially concluded. 1953 In July 1953, an armistice was finally signed. It involved the 15 UN member nations (including South Korea) that had sent troops to the Korean Peninsula, as well as North Korea and the Soviet Union. Although the great majority of UN troops were South Korean and American, it was not until 2001 that a major tribute was created in Washington, D.C., to honor the 54,000 American war dead from the “UN Police Action.” This armistice, however, did not conclude the Korean War. Neither South nor North Korea signed a treaty ending the war. The United States and South Korea signed a mutual defense treaty on October 1 of that year, linking them to a military alliance that underpins the current stationing of approximately 30,000 U.S. troops in South Korea.

Government and Politics 1954 In 1954, a conference led by Soviet officials was held in Geneva, Switzerland. The Soviets hoped to resolve various issues that remained between North and South Korea. At the very outset, the issue of reunification became a major stumbling block. Finally, in 1992, 38 years after the conference, an agreement to work toward a peace treaty was signed by both North and South Korea. Once again, however, negotiations fell apart. Now, more than a half century after open hostilities ended, no formal peace treaty has yet been signed and ratified by North and South Korea. 1966 Soviet Premier Aleksey Kosygin visited North Korea in an effort to secure a more stable relationship with the somewhat erratic North Korean government of Kim Il Sung. From that visit emerged four policies adopted by North Korea: 1) juche (autonomy or self-reliance) in ideology; 2) Independence in politics; 3) Self-sustenance in economy; 4) Self-defense in national defense. These four goals were suggested partly in order to get the Soviets and the Chinese to provide financial aid for North Korea. By the late 1960s, North Korea had secured financial support from the Soviet Union, China, and various Eastern European nations. Because of a Soviet decision to reduce aid to North Korea in the mid-1960s, however, the government made a continuing effort to achieve greater self-reliance in all aspects of its development. 1968 On January 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo, a U.S. naval intelligence ship, was captured off the coast of North Korea. Eighty-two

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North Korea crewmembers were held as prisoners by North Korea for 11 months. The United States claimed that the Pueblo had been in international waters while it was doing surveillance work. North Korea was unrelenting in its claim that the ship had entered its territorial waters. The crew was finally released on Christmas Eve, 1968, after the U.S. government admitted that the ship had mistakenly entered North Korean waters and apologized for the intrusion. Upon the return of the crewmembers, the U.S. government disclaimed the “confessions” that had been made by some of the Pueblo crew. This incident made relations between the United States and North Korea particularly difficult for many years. 1971 For some time leading up to 1971, North and South Korea had been furtively making efforts to negotiate an agreement that might allow for discussions about reuniting divided families or even the possible reunification of the peninsula. In August 1971, two Red Cross societies (one from each of the Koreas) met in Panmunjom, where most of the discussions that had led to the 1953 armistice had taken place. These meetings led to no real policy changes. 1985 In 1985, North Korea signed an agreement with the USSR that provided support for Kim Il Sung through the Soviet construction of two light-water reactors to be used for the generation of electricity. The Democratic Peoples Republic of [North] Korea agreed, consequently, to join the international Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). In what seems an unusual exchange for the readers who have just begun to study North Korea, in 1985 there was the export from North Korea to South Korea of grain in response to a severe food shortage in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.

Government and Politics This is the first time that grain had moved in that direction since the division of Korea. North Korea offered South Korea grain because of devastating floods that had affected most of the country. This unexpected offer was accepted, and it led to informal—and very unusual—discussions between the two Koreas about facilitating family visits, reopening railroad links, trade, and ports. There was even a discussion of possible joint ventures in mining and the establishment of committees that would keep the ongoing interaction smooth. At the same time, South Korea was involved in intense preparations for the 1988 Olympics and North Korea was offered a chance to play a role in the games. Unfortunately, this sign of cooperation never produced any tangible results. The most important aspect of these discussions was that they had taken place at all. The talks were carried out under the banner of “the Red Cross talks,” begun in 1971 but abandoned because of South Korea’s strong opposition to Communism. The two-day 1985 meeting focused mostly on exchange visits for the 10 million Koreans whose families had been split by the post-World War II division of the peninsula. Finally, by September 1985, some 50 people from each side of the 38th parallel crossed the DMZ and had reunions with their kinfolk. This event, which lasted four days, represented the first time since the 1945 military division of Korea that such an exchange had been allowed. 1994 On July 8, 1994, Kim Il Sung, known to North Koreans as the Great Leader, died. At the time, North Korea, South Korea, and the United States were involved in critical discussions over possible Korean reunification and—perhaps even more important—a cessation of North Korea’s nuclear development effort. The North Korean press said that Kim’s death was at least partially caused by “the heavy mental strains” of these negotiations. Kim Il Sung’s firstborn son, Kim Jong Il, became

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North Korea

Kim Il Sung (left), pictured here with his son and successor, Kim Jong Il, in 1992, served as North Korea’s premier from the time the Communist country was established in 1948 until his death in 1994. Known as the “Great Leader,” Kim’s cult of personality grew over the years and the government even claimed that he had supernatural powers.

Government and Politics the unofficial head of state. He had been head of the military since 1985 and had been placed in a position of authority a year prior to the death of Kim Il Sung. For almost a decade before his father’s death, Kim had been groomed to become North Korea’s leader. The shift of power from father to son went smoothly. In 1994, the United States and North Korea also signed their first nuclear power agreement. This agreement was called the Agreed Framework and was signed in Geneva, Switzerland. It had four primary components: North Korea agreed to stop all its nuclear programs; North Korea and the U.S. agreed to continue to move toward normal diplomatic and commercial relations; North Korea was allowed to construct two light-water nuclear reactors; and the United States agreed to compensate North Korea for generating electricity. This involved the U.S. providing heavy fuel oil (500,000 metric tons annually) during the construction period of the two reactors. This ­negotiation— actively contested in the United States by politicians who could not see any merit in giving North Korea a prize for not doing something—was seen as the best way to stop, or at least to slow, North Korea’s determination to produce a nuclear bomb for use or sale. Politicians in South Korea and Japan also were angered at the terms of the Agreed Framework. In that same year, North Korea experienced disastrous floods. The government said that 1.9 million tons of anticipated crops were lost to floodwaters. Japan provided 300,000 tons of food aid, and South Korea gave 150,000 tons. The United States also provided 50,000 tons of fuel to North Korea to be used in the generation of electricity. Unfortunately for the North Koreans, this marked the beginning of a period of several years during which flood, drought, and famine plagued the country. The entire agricultural program was left in disarray. North Korea had to turn to the international community for aid in order to feed its people.

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North Korea 2000–2001 For the first time in Olympic history, North Korean and South Korean athletes marched together during the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. They carried a special flag that had a map of the entire Korean Peninsula on its face and then divided into separate teams for the competitions. In June 2000, another political first occurred. President Kim Dae Jong of South Korea flew to the Pyongyang airport and was officially greeted by Kim Jong Il. This was the first time a South Korean president had ever traveled to North Korea. It was also the first time that Kim Jong Il had ever gone to the Pyongyang airport to welcome a foreign head of state personally. Both of these events were a direct outcome of President Kim’s “Sunshine Policy.” At home he had to deal with the same sort of opposition that U.S. president Bill Clinton faced regarding the U.S. decision to provide North Korea with two light-water nuclear reactors for the generation of electricity. This was all part of the Agreed Framework that the United States and North Korea had signed on October 21, 1994, in Geneva. During 2001, the United States also inspected a research site at Kumjangni, where inspectors failed to find a nuclear facility. Also during this time, Russia revised various treaties that the Soviet Union had agreed to with North Korea. The most important aspect of this modification was that Russia now no longer agreed to defend the Kim Jong Il government, nor to give it fuel oil at highly favored prices. South Korean president Kim Dae Jung received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. This honor was based, at least in part, on his continuing efforts to try to bring the two Koreas together to talk about possible reunification. As mentioned previously, his program was known as Sunshine Diplomacy, or Sunshine Policy, and he was supported in these efforts by President Clinton. When George W. Bush became president in 2001, the quiet negotiations between South and North Korea came to an end.

Government and Politics The Bush administration opened its term with an uneasy eye on North Korea. It clearly felt uncomfortable with the idea of supporting a Communist government in exchange for its agreement not to build nuclear bomb facilities. At the same time, North Korea and South Korea engaged in a number of shooting incidents along the peninsula’s west coast, near the port city of Inchon. Such flare-ups made any progress toward reunification, or even discussions of such possibilities, very uncertain. There was, however, continued negotiation toward the construction of a railroad line to cross the DMZ. Such a rail link would make travel safer for Koreans going both north and south across the 38th parallel, once the line was fully operational. Another step forward came during 2001 in Beijing, when a North Korean official publicized the first government statistics showing the devastation caused by several years of floods and bad harvests. Life expectancy had dropped from 73.2 to 66.8 years between 1993 and 1999. Mortality rates for children under the age of five had climbed from 27 to 48 per 1,000, and infant mortality rose from 14 to 22.5 per 1,000 births. 2002 In his State of the Union Address in January 2002, President George W. Bush included North Korea as one of the three “Axis of Evil” countries in his assessment of global trouble zones. In October 2002, the North Korean government admitted that it had been silently developing a nuclear weapons program. The United States proclaimed that the North Koreans had “cheated” on the Agreed Framework that they signed in 1994, in which North Korea declared that they would not attempt to develop nuclear military capability. The North Korean government, on the other hand, claimed that the United States had not kept its promise to assist North Korea in the construction and fueling of power-generating light reactors. The two nations came to a political stalemate. Due to the fact that the

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North Korea U.S. military was engaged in a conflict with Iraq, little public outcry was generated within the United States. The tensions between the United States and North Korea continued as a shipment of scud missiles was discovered beneath a cargo of cement on an unflagged freighter in December 2002. The missiles had been purchased by the government of Yemen and the United States freed the freighter and allowed it to continue to Yemen after inspection. It is this active military export activity that characterizes much of North Korea’s economic trade, which, in turn, makes the idea of North Korea possessing nuclear technology and associated warheads so very frightening to the United States and Japan. The potential trade generated from North Korea’s successful nuclear weapons research and development is a source of major anxiety in Washington and in other national capitals. In October 2002, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly arrived in Pyongyang to engage in extremely unusual talks with North Korean delegates. Early on, he was told that the North Korean government had been undertaking a clandestine nuclear program, seeking a means of producing highly enriched uranium. This lead to strident protests from both sides, and by the end of the year, North Korea announced that it would expel International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors from North Korea. 2003–2007 In 2003, North Korea announced that it had withdrawn from the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In August, the first of the six-nation talks (North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and the United States) took place but achieved nothing. The six nations met again in Beijing in February 2004 for a second time, but the meeting concluded with no progress being made on the nuclear issue. This same set of nations has met three more times since February 2004 and are scheduled to meet again in July 2007.

Government and Politics A Note on North Korean Nuclear ­Development From the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, until the present, there has been an uneasiness about the enormity of what could be done with nuclear force if, somehow, it became more widespread in its availability. There has been both spoken and unspoken fear that nuclear weapon capacity possessed by a country that seems to play by different rules than the more predictable nations in the “global nuclear club” could be a real nightmare. From the 1994 signing of the Agreed Framework to the successful exploding of a nuclear device on October 9, 2006, the whole world has been watching North Korea’s experimentation with nuclear technology and missile development. During the entire cold war (post-World War II until 1991), the standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union was largely held in check by a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). This meant that these two global superpowers each knew that if one of them launched a ballistic missile toward the other, there would be immediate nuclear retaliation. To have multiple missiles flying back and forth over the Arctic Ocean (the shortest route between the two countries) toward the cities of each country would ultimately result in widespread if not universal destruction. Consequently, neither the USSR nor the United States ever launched a missile toward each other. Fortunately, the cold war remained just that. But, what happens when smaller nations begin to gain access to nuclear bombs? What if there is still the potential for enormous destruction, but the incentives for initiating such destruction appear to be greater than the fear of ­ retaliation? North Korea seems to be moving in such a direction. With its firing of seven middle-range missiles into the skies over the Sea of Japan on July 4, 2006, and the explosion of a nuclear device three months later on October 9, the government of Kim Jong Il demonstrated that it now was a member of the global

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On July 4, 2006, North Korea launched seven middle-range missiles over the Sea of Japan and three months later detonated its first nuclear device, demonstrating its nuclear capabilities. Here, South Korean protesters burn the North Korean flag in the capital city of Seoul, the day after the missile launch.

nuclear club. Consequently, North Korea has demanded that it be accorded a new and loftier stature among world powers. This caused considerable uneasiness within the global community. For the East Asian nations of South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia (four of the six nations engaged in the current negotiations over North Korean weapon development—the United States and North Korea are the other two countries),

Government and Politics the presence of atomic weapons in the hands of a state that has prided itself in its unorthodoxy and extreme isolation is a source of considerable fear. Clearly, such nuclear powers as China, the United States, or Russia could virtually vaporize the urban centers and military features of North Korea. But the civilian, military, social, political, and financial costs of such a war are far too great even to consider under existing conditions. The jeopardy of the 30,000 U.S. troops in South Korea, the urban population of Seoul (10 million plus), and the potential targets in Japan all come into the equation. For the Chinese, there is the additional anxiety that any largescale destruction that might be rained upon North Korea would stimulate the flow of literally hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming across the Yalu and Tumen rivers into China. Such disruption would have implications for not only northeastern China’s industrial and urban populations, but for the entire country. For South Korea, the entire industrial and commercial base that it has worked so very diligently and productively to create in recent decades would all serve as targets for a North Korean nuclear effort. Even though the South Korean military is now better armed than its counterpart to the north, it has a smaller fighting force and its members have not been as keenly trained for immediate and final contest with the fraternal enemy that lies across the border. The distance between Pyongyang and Seoul is only a little more than 100 miles (160 ­ kilometers)— less than the distance between Los Angeles and San Diego, or Houston and San Antonio. There is also the secondary fear that North Korea might agree to sell or provide nuclear technology, critical fuel, or even bombs to nations in Southwest Asia that have sought nuclear capacity for decades. Since North Korea has been only minimally constrained by international conventions and prohibitions, it is very difficult to predict what military or commercial decisions might be made in Pyongyang. Since Iran, for example, has

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North Korea openly declared its belief that Israel has no right to exist as a nation, having a nuclear bomb in Iran’s national arsenal would further foment chaos and global instability. Since President George W. Bush—in his 2002 State of the Union speech—declared that North Korea, Iraq, and Iran were to be seen as the global “Axis of Evil,” it is difficult to imagine that negotiations and quiet discussions are going to solve the bad sentiments that exist between North Korea and the United States. We have seen what has happened to Iraq, as one of the three nations. Iran—much larger than either Iraq or North Korea—has been on a political alert since that declaration (and before, as well). Kim Jong Il has guided nearly half a decade of military buildup and industrial concentration on the manufacture of military hardware following President Bush’s Axis of Evil assessment. Therefore, the October 2006 success in detonating a nuclear device deep underground in Hamgyong Province (inland from the port of Chongjin) in the far northeast of the North Korean Peninsula has caught the attention of political and military decision makers all around the world. For some nations, there is a dangerous (and generally unexpressed) delight in seeing a small nation grab so much attention from the United States. For the members of the nuclear club (openly said to be the United States, Russia, France, United Kingdom, China, Israel, India, and Pakistan), there is a real fear that Kim Jong Il’s North Korean government has not shown the sort of international sophistication that seems essential to fully comprehending the responsibility of possessing such military power. In short, there is a growing fear that North Korea might use nuclear weapons offensively, rather than only defensively. Other “nuclear club” members, it is generally believed, are unlikely to play proactive roles with their nuclear weapons. The term rogue nation is often used to describe the North Korean government. This means that its motivations and ambitions differ from those of other countries that possess nuclear

Government and Politics technology. It is this quality of being driven by nontraditional motivations that makes leaders around the world take particular notice of this new development. You now know why there is so much interest in bringing North Korea to the conference table in the six-nation talks that have been going on erratically since August 2003. For three years, there has been a continual difficulty in gaining a sixparty acceptance of virtually any policy. However, there have also been smaller discussions between two or three of the six nations. Even the tentative outcomes of such face-to-face dialogues have not led to significant group policy outcomes. Another dimension of these six-party talks relates to North Korea’s interest in having China be fully aware of the power now possessed by its small and increasingly belligerent neighbor. Kim Jong Il, like his father had been before him, has long been uneasy about both Russia and China expanding into his nation’s territory. So by posturing, Kim Jong Il is really working hard to remind all of his neighbors—large and small—that he has a weapon that could hammer any one of the countries involved in the six-party talks. Even the United States, because of its extensive number of troops stationed in South Korea (and other reasons), must be concerned. In the November 2006 six-nation discussions that took place following the October 9 nuclear detonation, China and Russia, for the first time, retreated from their more traditionally protective shielding of North Korea. When the United Nations took up the issue of new sanctions against North Korea after the October 9 detonation, these two giant neighbors also urged Kim Jong Il to back away from his missile waving and come to the negotiating table in Beijing. UN sanctions were placed on North Korea on October 19. Having an unpredictable nuclear force in the East Asian region has caused a change in the mind-set of the six nations involved in the on-going negotiations. The combination of the July 4, 2006, missile tests, the October 9 nuclear explosion, and

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North Korea the continuing high level of hunger still evident in much of North Korea means that no nation—and especially those in the East Asian neighborhood—can afford to discount the potential chaos and destruction possible from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea—the North Korea of Kim Jong Il. In February 2007, North Korea agreed to close its Yongbyon nuclear facility, but only if the other five nations in the six-member group made some concessions. First, the United States agreed to release $25 million in frozen North Korean funds. Second, South Korea agreed to supply 50,000 tons of fuel to North Korea. Consequently, in June 2007, North Korea was on the cusp of closing down its reactor. To speed up the process, North Korea has also agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to monitor their progress. The six-member group also made preliminary plans to meet in July 2007 to discuss the disarmament.

6 North Korea’s Economy

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n thinking about the economy of a place, what first comes to mind? Is it images of factories, shops, and malls? Or is it farmland and apple orchards? What about highways with 18-wheelers rolling by as they move products from one place to another? All of these things are part of the economic geography of a place. In learning about a people’s economy, several important questions must be asked: How do the people who live here earn their money? What are the trucks, trains, planes, or ships carrying? Where do they come from and where are they going? Does the town mainly have retail stores and maybe a few professional buildings? Filing insurance papers, doing record keeping, or managing employment rolls for distant plants are all part of the economy of a place, although such activities may not be as clearly evident in the landscape as smokestacks and railroad yards. In studying the North Korean economy, it is important to remember that the country has provided only minimal statistical information.

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North Korea is still largely rural: approximately 40 percent of its citizens live on farms. However, only 36 percent of the population engages in farming, so the country’s agricultural output is limited. Here, co-op workers prepare fields for transplanting rice near Saiwon city, in North Hwanghae Province, North Korea.

Could it be that Kim Jong Il does not want the world to learn of the many problems and hardships his policies have imposed on the country’s 23 million people? So please keep in mind that the data presented in this chapter are the best available, but in some cases may be little more than educated guesses. When discussing the North Korean economy, it is important to remember that more than 4 of every 10 people still live on a farm. In South Korea, 82 percent live in cities, and in North Korea, only 60 percent of the population is urban. In the United States, for comparison, 79 percent of the population is urban. Therefore, the economic geography of North Korea has a more rural emphasis than does that of its southern counterpart.

North Korea’s Economy In North Korea, the government has undertaken a series of Seven-Year Plans. The major focus of these economic goals has been to increase and expand the country’s industrial base. The country is managed by what is called a “command economy.” There is considerable national and governmental interest in achieving industrial development that will lead to a greater self-sufficiency and economic independence. Urban industrial capacity has increased substantially as a result of such planning. In terms of raw materials, another image comes to mind when trying to imagine the economic geography of a country. What are the resources a country needs for industrial growth? North Korea has reasonable amounts of coal, iron ore, tungsten, magnesite, and graphite. Tungsten is essential to the manufacture of electric filaments and in strengthening steel. Magnesite has a variety of uses, but the making of strong firebrick for kilns is one of the most important for industry. You know graphite as pencil “lead.” There are also significant amounts of gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, and molybdenum in North Korea. But, critically, petroleum is a chief resource that is missing in the North Korean resources inventory. Petroleum is crucial to any country’s attempt to gain greater economic independence and promote further industrialization. North Korea has bountiful supplies of coal. However, this energy resource has steadily lost favor in recent decades, because of changing industrial patterns and new concerns about air pollution. A lack of petroleum is part of the reason that the North Korean government was willing to enter into the 1994 Agreed Framework with the United States. In that arrangement, the United States was to provide two “light-water” nuclear reactors to help North Korea generate power. As part of that agreement, North Korea was to stop its more advanced nuclear development that could lead to the creation of nuclear fuel that could fuel atomic weapons. North Korea also has built a number of dams to harness the hydroelectric potential of the many streams that flow down from the major mountain ranges.

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North Korea The following table provides statistical data that allow a severalyear comparison of a number of important economic factors. Macro Scale Economic Indicators in North Korean Development Imports Exports Tourism Household Household Gross National Income Size Income Product (GNP) Per capita 1960 $166 mil.

$154 mil.

NA

NA

NA

NA

1985 $1.44 bil. petroleum, machinery

$1.17 bil. minerals, metal prod. Agric. goods

NA

5.7

$4,275

$790

1990

$2.54 bil. petroleum machinery chemicals, textiles

$1.72 bil., minerals, iron & steel, agric. goods textiles

85,000 tourists; no value assigned

4.8

$4,275

$1,079

2001

$965 mil. petroleum, fuel, machinery, grain

$515 mil. minerals, iron & steel, textiles

NA

4.8

$4,275

$457

$1.7 bil. animals & agric., 40%; textiles, 17%; machinery, 12%

NA

4.6

NA

$930

2002 $1.9 bil. food, 19%; fuels, 16%; machinery 15%

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year, 1986, 1993, 2002, 2006; CIA World Factbook; Facts About Korea, 1984; Hwang, The Korean Economies: A Comparison of North and South Korea, 1993. NA—data not available.

When compared to similar data for South Korea, the table clearly shows the huge fiscal gap that exists between the two countries. For example, South Korea had $194 billion in exports in 2003, compared to a little more than $1 billion from North Korea in 2002. In imports, North Korea brought in $1.9 billion in 2002. South Korea imported $179 billion worth of goods in that

North Korea’s Economy

Juche, or self-reliance, has long been an important component to North Korean economic development. However, in recent years, North Koreans have begun to engage in economic trade with a select number of foreign countries, including South Korea, and are also developing joint projects with their neighbors to the south. Here, North Koreans work at a South Korean kitchenware company in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.

same year. In 2001, the average household income in South Korea was $24,400 compared to a reported $4,275 in North Korea. A leading variable in North Korea’s development has been juche, or the concept of self-reliance. This goal was first set in motion by Kim Il Sung, and then carried forward by his son. The importance of juche can be seen clearly in the scale of a

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North Korea monument called “The Tower of the Juche Idea,” located on the banks of the Taedong River in Pyongyang. The monument is more than 60 feet (18 meters) tall and was constructed in honor of Kim Il Sung in 1982. It has become an icon for the nation’s continuing ambition to realize its goals—both political and economic—without having to dedicate too much of its independence in alliances with foreign nations. The economic implications of such a focus on self-reliance mean that the country uses its own resources as fully as possible. It depends only sparingly—and reluctantly—on imports. In North Korea, this pattern has led to the growth of heavy industry based on the use of iron and steel obtained from local iron ore resources. It has also meant that agriculture has held a major role in the economy. In 1953, 67 percent of the people made a living in agriculture. By 1960, that figure had dropped to 46 percent and by 1985, to 41 percent. By 2004, only 32 percent of the population was engaged in agriculture, although the country was still 40 percent rural and 60 percent urban in its demography. A comparison of four different years helps provide a window on the changes occurring in North Korean agriculture.

Selected Agricultural Statistics for North Korea

1949

1967

1989

2004

Cultivated Land

197,000 hectares (ha.) (aprox. 490,000 acres)

200,000 (aprox. 490,000 acres)

214,000 (aprox. 529,000 acres)

NA

Rice Paddy Land

46,000 ha. (aprox. 114,000 acres)

57,000 ha. (aprox. 141,000 acres)

63,000 ha. (aprox. 156,000 acres)

NA

Grain Production

2,575 mil. metric tons

4.102 mil. metric tons

5.482 mil. metric tons

4.396 mil. metric tons

Source: Hwang, 1993; Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year, 2002, 2006. NA—data not available.

North Korea’s Economy

The sharp drop in grain production after 1989 resulted primarily from a severe seven-year-long crisis caused by alternating floods and drought that began in 1995 and have continued erratically since. Not only is grain production down, but child mortality is up and life expectancy is down, all as a result of the hard times in agriculture. A small Experiment in Economic Change In an effort to try to overcome the economic difficulties caused at least in part by agricultural failure, in 2002, the North Korean government began its first real experimentation with market forces. China cautiously introduced an increasingly free market economy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and then more openly fully adopted such policies from the mid-1980s to the present. The free market economy has allowed the Chinese to become one of the world’s most successful examples of rapid economic development. North Korea views the idea of opening its doors to any capitalist or Western economic system as a sign of weakness. To do so suggests that juche, which has been central to the government’s economic program for half a century, is flawed. Despite the government’s reluctance, the intensity of famines and the necessity of taking food aid from foreign nations have finally forced the North Korean government to seek new solutions to old problems. Aid and food goods have been accepted from not only China and Russia, but also from South Korea, the United States, and the UN World Food Program. Among the landscape changes appearing on the country’s economic scene are the new “farmers markets.” These are generally unauthorized peddlers’ markets that silently appear on city streets—even in the capital of Pyongyang. Similar markets in China provided an economic “safety valve” during difficult times for the agricultural economy. This author remembers going to a dawn street market on a side street in

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North Korea Shanghai in 1977, and being told not to take pictures or further explore such street scenes again. A government tour guide explained that the people we saw selling small baskets of farm produce were “farmers who are ‘bad elements’ ” and “should not be selling crops that they have raised by stealing time from official government farm assignments.” One can imagine North Korean guides—the few there are—and government officials making a similar assessment as farmers markets become more common and street scenes gradually begin to have more peasant farmers selling garden produce in the early hours before they have to tend to their more official farming assignments. These farmers markets have existed in various states of hiding since the 1950s. They have become more common and more important in recent years because of the weather-related farm crisis. The famine that has forced the North Korean government to increase its interaction with other countries has been eased somewhat by the modest productivity of the private farming enterprises of local farmers all through the countryside. These farmers markets are generally off-limits to foreign journalists and visitors. But city dwellers who are hungry for fresh produce have rushed to take advantage of the availability of garden vegetables, grains, and fruits. For North Korean farmers, this has been a boon. It marks the first time that they have even come close to receiving a reasonable price for the products they raise on their own in their collectivized agricultural communities. What this means is that the forces of supply and demand are at work in the farming patterns and economic framework of North Korea. Such a development is bound to change the look of the landscape, for example, as more tiny but productive private plots spring up. It will also change the look of the village, town, and city market scenes. In China, such changes meant not only a steady increase in agricultural output, but also the beginnings of an evolution of rural mentality accepting a greater influence in market forces. It is now assumed that the government of North Korea anticipates—or at least hopes for—a similar transformation of the agricultural sector, even though official governmental policy

North Korea’s Economy continues to lament the appearances of any free market activity in the rural world. The North Korean government, according to a detailed survey published in The Economist in July 2002, decided to increase the price that the government will pay for crops raised by the farmers working on government farms. As the survey explained, “peasants . . . are expecting a lot more cash. At the Taekam Cooperative Farm, about 20 km [12 miles] north of Pyongyang, senior officials were informed by the government that, from the next day, the government would pay 40 times more [sic] for the grain it buys from the farm.” It was also pointed out that old patterns would change because of this new government policy. “Some farmers were idle and loafed about. Now [as a result of the price changes] they are enthusiastic about going to the fields, instead of raising chickens to sell eggs in the farmers market.” Most likely, productivity on government farms will increase if farm laborers are more adequately rewarded for their efforts. Even so, interest in the farmers markets will continue to grow, because they bring farmers cash in hand each market day. Another marker of economic change has been the increased trade and interaction between North Korea and China. The table below shows the erratic, but growing, importance in this two-nation exchange. China has been North Korea’s dominant trading partner for decades. China’s Exports to and Imports from North Korea in Billions of U.S. Dollars Year

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

China Exports to NK

0.41 0.49 0.52 0.57 0.37 0.36 0.42 0.59 0.47 0.60 0.80 1.10

China Imports 0.02 0.07 0.08 0.13 0.03 0.02 0.40 0.19 0.23 0.40 0.60 0.50 From NK Source: The Economist, July 20, 2006.

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North Korea In North Korea’s trading patterns since 2000, China has been the leading partner, with South Korea and Japan in secondary roles. Russian trade has dropped, but is now likely to expand as the nuclear issue becomes even more prominent in that part of East Asia. Before 1991, Russia had been as important as China in trading significance with North Korea. However, in 1990, Russia ended its provision of oil aid at favored rates to North Korea. In 1992, China ceased sending its “friendship supplies” that had been going to Pyongyang and North Korea as virtual aid for a Communist nation. Since that double closure of lowcost or no-cost imports, North Korea has had a more difficult time in generating economic growth. In 1998, the South Korea Hyundai Corporation began—as it inaugurated private provision of food aid to North Korea— an arrangement that would allow South Korean visits to the resort at Diamond Mountain in the eastern end of the DMZ. Even in the face of continuing uncertainty about the firmness of the efforts at reconciliation between North and South Korea, this Hyundai effort provided considerable capital to North Korea. An average of some 40,000 South Koreans visit the resort complex at Diamond Mountain—at an average cost of $500 each for the tour and visit—and the fees for this tourist traffic generate capital for North Korea. The most frequent visitors are family members who have had their families split asunder by the Korean War. The southerners go to the Diamond Mountain resort to peer northward into North Korea. This short trek provides some minor sense of there being potential for at least visiting rights to meet distant family members before they have all (on both sides of the DMZ) passed away. There is a tension in the air in discussions of North Korea’s economy. During the near decade of famine and hunger since the mid-1990s floods, there is an undercurrent that wonders about the enormous prosperity of the South Korean economy as opposed to the lean and hungry look of the North Korean

North Korea’s Economy

In recent years, South Koreans have traveled to the North Korean Diamond Mountain Resort, in the eastern end of the Demilitarized Zone, to be reunited with family members from North Korea. Pictured here is North Korean Lee Jin Wook (second from right), who is toasting with his South Korean daughter Lee Jin-Ock (second from left) at the resort in 2002. The two had not seen each other in 50 years.

economy. When this profound difference is considered—for example, South Korea, with an average individual income of approximately $14,000, and North Korea, with about $900 or less—it can be seen as a situation that is so imbalanced on the peninsula that it can only breed danger. When you add

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North Korea the North Korean missile firing in July 2006 and the nuclear detonation in October, you see an even greater potential for the lid to come off the whole peninsula. Both Koreas are watching this, as are China, Japan, Russia, the United States, and, in essence, the rest of the world.

7 Regional Geography

T

he selection of landscapes that represent regional identities is a great geographical exercise. Think about the places in the world that you know best. Someone asks, “What are the most memorable scenes? What landscapes would you like to show someone who has not seen the place?” Right away, it is necessary to decide whether to take the person to see the normal, everyday world, giving a good idea of the reality of the place, or to take the person to see the unusual landscapes. Surprising the person by showing him or her a very distinctive scene would catch attention and make the person realize that the place is unique and exciting. North Korea is a place with both kinds of landscapes: the truly distinctive and unusual, as well as the more common and more highly representative scenes of daily life. The combination helps provide a good sense of this so-called Hermit Kingdom’s settings and peoples.

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North Korea Sinuiju: an uncertain experiment intended to be the Hong Kong of the North In the last three decades, there has been a great deal of economic development in parts of East Asia. The places that have experienced the most dramatic change are China, Taiwan, and South Korea. In China, there was some experimentation with very specific areas called Special Economic Zones (SEZs). These were urban settings that were given independence from the rest of China and allowed to develop economically with their own rules. Chinese SEZs were created to attract foreign capital and to show that foreign investment could generate strong profits, and could develop in settings that—generally—were isolated from the normal governmental and political constraints of the People’s Republic of China. Generally, the SEZs were quite successful. In North Korea, there has been a recent change in attitudes toward the West. There also has been a rising desire to earn profits from the West and neighboring countries in East Asia. The most innovative example of this change in attitude is the announcement of a new 132-square-mile (342-square­kilometer) zone called Sinuiju, or Hong Kong North. This region of rather drab landscape is in the very northwestern corner of the Northwestern Plain. It is located on the Yalu River, near its confluence with Sojoson Bay in the northern section of the Korea Bay and the Yellow Sea. Much of North Korea’s industrial landscape lies within or adjacent to this area, and the new zone will be directly across from the busy Chinese city of Dandong in Liaoning Province. The new zone was initially designed to be a Special Administrative Region (SAR) and was to serve as a center of independent economic activity. It was to be a place for international, financial, trade, commercial, and industrial activity, having its own governing rules and taxes. Sinuiju was even to have the authority to issue its own SAR Sinuiju passports.

Regional Geography

North Korea’s main industrial sector is located in the northwestern corner of the country, along the Yalu River. Known as Sinuiju, this 132-squaremile (342-square-kilometer) region is home to many light industries and manufactures of such products as paper, textiles, and ironware.

A rail link has been planned for construction that would allow industrial products from Sinuiju to move easily across the Yalu into the Chinese rail network that feeds into Liao­ ning Province and then to China’s capital city of Beijing. Goods manufactured in Sinuiju will not be subject to ordinary taxes and duties. The Chinese made the same arrangement with their

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North Korea SEZs and other duty-free zones in East Asia. In the SAR, it was reported that there would be a uniform tax rate of 14 percent on profits earned, but no more. The government of North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Il, are taking a very significant risk in their decision to open up this new zone. No country in all of East Asia has been so vehemently opposed to the West—and especially the United States—as has North Korea. According to New York Times journalist Howard W. French, a major North Korea government official is reported to have said in 1995, when a major famine was spreading across the country: “We [North Koreans] would rather die than have your [American] food.” Now the North Koreans appear to have made a major about-face. They are creating a landscape that will showcase Western investment and management. This has been a bold move in a very different direction. The manager who was initially selected to direct the development and activity of Sinuiju was a Chinese-Dutch businessman named Yang Bin. He is reported to be the second-richest person in China, with personal wealth amounting to some $900 million. He talked of building 100,000 greenhouses to raise vegetables for export. However, the Chinese found themselves surprised at the North Korean announcement of Yang Bin’s managerial role in the Sinuiju innovation. In 2002, before he could assume his position, he was arrested by the Chinese for various financial offenses. It was not until Kim Jong Il went to China in early 2006 in pursuit of discussion of a revision of North Korean economic policies that China seemed to become fully supportive of the SAR and Sinuiju development. Since then, there has been a steady relocation of residents living in the landscape that is intended to be the commercial and light industrial base for new economic activity there. The other economic activities that will occur in Sinuiju have not been announced. If the pattern of the very ­successful

Regional Geography Chinese SEZs is followed, all types of goods—from toys to electronics to a wide variety of consumer goods—will be made in Sinuiju for export to the global market. As of mid-2006, there were approximately 150 trading offices and a number of new factories already active in Sinuiju. One report from North Korea stated that “Shinuiju [Sinuiju] is the city where traders doing business with big money from North Korea and China gather.” As Sinuiju continues to take shape, the international assumption is that the North Koreans may have finally acknowledged—but not said outright—that they do not want to be a “Hermit Kingdom” any longer. A continuing crisis in food production and the widespread inefficient factory performance seem to have forced the development of new strategies. The new Sinuiju economic zone is a bold expression of this change. In some ways, Sinuiju will be like a theme park built around foreign economic activities and businesses, right in the middle of a North Korean city. It will be a place of regional identity and distinction that would, indeed, catch the attention of a friend being shown around North Korea! DANDONG, LIAONING province, CHINA It may seem strange to include a city in China in this discussion of significant places on the landscape of North Korea. However, Dandong is an integral part of the northwest corner of North Korea. It is the city that lies at the western end of the 1943 Japanese Friendship Bridge that crosses the Yalu River, which serves as the border between China and North Korea here. On the southeastern end of the bridge lies the city of Sinuiju that we have just discussed as a Special Administrative Region. The city on the China side of the river, Dandong, is critical for it provides a great deal of the economic energy and transportation facilities that have the two cities, the Yalu, the Friendship Bridge, and the port of Dandong all beginning to develop an urban interconnection.

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North Korea

In 1943, the Japanese built the Friendship Bridge, which crosses the Yalu River and connects the North Korean city of Sinuiju with the Chinese city of Dandong. The bridge is one of the only routes out of North Korea and is open to car, train, and pedestrian traffic.

The two cities have a very distinct image at the present, however. Look at this journalist’s view of the cities of Dandong, China, and Sinuiju, North Korea, in June 2006. If North Koreans want to see what liberalized trade can do for a country, they need only cross the Yalu. On

Regional Geography a recent night, Dandong, with its 25-story hotels and office buildings, glowed with streetlights and the neon signs of restaurants and video arcades. On the Korean side of the river, exactly 11 lights were scattered across an otherwise blacked-out Sinuiju. Maybe someday it will dawn on the planning geniuses in Pyongyang that self-reliance isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. A variety of goods flows back and forth over the Friendship Bridge. Coming into North Korea for the largest part are grain and machinery shipments. However, silk and fabrics also are imported. In and around Sinuiju, factories assemble clothes from these materials and then ship them back to Dandong. In the Chinese city, labels that announce “Made in China” are attached to the clothing items and they are then marketed in Europe and the United States. In March 2006, it was estimated that some 150 factories and enterprises in Sinuiju had begun to transform themselves into trading companies to take advantage of the mutual (although very differently structured) growth going on in the two cities linked by the Yalu River. For the Chinese province of Liaoning, this growth and international dimension of Dandong is a great advantage to the industrial and commercial base in this northeastern China region. In the late 1990s, for example, the trade with North Korea increased some 50 percent each year and this helped Dandong expand its port’s trade to some 70 port cities in 30 different countries. Such development specifically facilitates trade with other ports in South Korea and Japan and even southeastern China. The Chinese People’s Daily press reported that at the China Dandong Yalu River International Tourist Festival of 2002, a Japanese businessman told a reporter, “I know Dandong Port is playing a more important role in northeast Asia. Its newly opened sea routes made my transportation costs drop remarkably.” He then added, “The local government of Dandong city has created a favorable investment environment for foreign

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North Korea investors so I feel blessed for my original choice of investing in Dandong.” As part of that 2002 festival, 36 projects worth U.S.$150,000,000 were signed and are in various stages of implementation. The Demilitarized Zone One of the most identifiable areas of the Korean Peninsula is the deadly, highly land-mined, 2.5-mile- (4-kilometer-) wide strip of land that separates the two sections of what historically was a single nation. Upon visiting the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in 1993, President Bill Clinton described it as “the scariest place on earth.” Strong images of the DMZ were captured effectively by writer Cathy Salter in 2000: From a Distance: Korean Reconciliation? In the chill of an early summer dawn, I watch four geese glide on steam rising off the surface of our pond. The scene looks frozen and eerily distant, as timeless as cranes on an ancient Korean scroll. From our summer porch, I watch them reach the bank and walk toward the barn. A cup of coffee and steamed milk warms my hands. It is now officially summer, but the scene and cool morning air have reminded me of a distant country frozen for half a century in a cold war of isolation and deeply divisive hostility. From a distance the fog-shrouded bank around the pond could be a snowy hillside somewhere in North or South Korea. Winter is a season this divided country knows well. In impoverished and isolated North Korea, a feudal place tottering on the brink of collapse, winters can be brutal. By the late 1990s, years of failed crops had brought famine and trees had been stripped for food and fuel. From afar, photojournalists presented

Regional Geography the world with starkly contrasting images of the two Koreas as the last century came to a close. Malnourished North Korean children critically ill with pneumonia were photographed being sent home from hospitals because there was no fuel for heat. Images of South Korea were of a democratic, ­technologically developed, internationally connected, open market society. World powers concerned about stability in East Asia seem to agree on the need for reconciliation of South and North Korea, divided along the 38th parallel for much of my lifetime. Almost half a century after its creation, the DMZ—a 151-mile long, 2.5-mile wide demilitarized border zone dividing the two Koreas—is an empty quarter of mines, barbed wire, tank traps, and underground tunnels. In the absence of human activity, the strip has become a refuge for the Manchurian crane—ironically, the bird of peace in some Asian cultures. From a distance, I look out on the beauty of Breakfast Creek, green from recent summer rains, and try to imagine peace in such an unnaturally vacant place. On either side of this no-man’s land, the world’s largest concentration of hostile troops maintain a tense vigil that began when an armistice was arranged following the 1950–53 Korean War. Almost half a century later, the United States still maintains approximately 37,000 service personnel in South Korea who support and coordinate operations with the 650,000-strong South Korean armed forces. This month, as the first summer of the new century is preparing to heat up in the Midwest, the world’s attention has been focused on a photograph of Korea’s two leaders—Kim Dae Jung, the South’s president, and

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North Korea Kim Jong Il, the North’s reclusive leader—taken at a historic summit in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital. They are standing side by side, hands clasped overhead, having just toasted the signing of a joint declaration to work toward eventual reunification of their two ­countries—technically at war for nearly half a century. In 1987, I took several of my 9th grade students to hear then-exiled, former political prisoner Kim Dae Jung speak at a World Affairs Council luncheon in Los Angeles. Kim spoke of the need for political liberalization in South Korea, including greater freedom of the press, greater freedoms of expression and assembly, and the restoration of the civil rights of former detainees. A decade later, this courageous man who narrowly escaped assassination and execution on several occasions became South Korea’s president in the country’s first true opposition party victory in a presidential election. Since his election, Kim Dae Jung has articulated an engagement policy toward the North. This month, he arrived at the inter-Korean summit with offers of investment and major infrastructure projects in an effort to help the North repair its shattered economy. From a distance, the two Korean leaders appear to be moving with both optimism and caution, beginning first with talk of trade and family contacts. There is hope that in the coming months, families separated since the Korean War will be reunited. Political and military issues including the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea and the North’s nuclear ambitions and long-range missile arsenals—two security issues of great concern to America, Japan, Russia, and China—will take more time and require lengthy negotiation. Perhaps in the coming decade, reforms and democratization will find their way into North Korea, and the

Regional Geography vast empty corridor that now divides the two Koreas at the 38th parallel will have become a permanent wildlife sanctuary for the Manchurian crane. What is now an ugly scar on the landscape could in time become a place for reconciliation and healing—a quiet reminder of just how far these two countries will have come in their land-mine-filled journey toward peace. This DMZ landscape of separation is a ribbon of uncertainty. It is one of the most heavily land-mined places in the world today. Both the South and North Korean armies have a continual fear of spies (who could even be relatives) sneaking across the DMZ. It was this zone that the North Koreans crossed in force in June 1950 in an effort to reunite the two halves of the Korean Peninsula under the authority of their Communist flag. For three years, a bloody war was fought north of, south of, and across this strip, ultimately costing more than 3 million lives. In April 1996, North Koreans came across the line again. They accused the South Koreans of spying and sought to punish them for the act. Despite the continuing efforts of President Kim Dae Jung and his Sunshine Policy, there has been no genuine policy change in regard to this zone or the political division for which it stands. During the summer of 2002, a South Korean vessel was sunk by North Korean forces in the waters off Inchon. In a heated exchange of gunfire, four South Korean sailors and some 30 North Koreans were killed. Incidents like this one ensure that the DMZ remains a very tense landscape. There are, however, some landscape elements that do signify change in the dogmatic belligerence shared by the two Koreas. Since 1998, the aforementioned Diamond Mountain resort complex has opened at the northeastern edge of the DMZ. It is estimated that 1,400,000 South Koreans have crossed the DMZ, entered the mountain theme-park-like landscape, and visited the scenic Mount Kumgang. Further, each traveler spends an estimated average $500 for this daylong trip, which

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North Korea

In 1998, the Diamond Mountain resort, which is located on Mount Kumgang on the northeastern edge of the Demilitarized Zone in North Korea, opened for business. The mountain includes a ski resort and golf course and is a popular destination for South Korean tourists.

has generated some $850,000 in royalties for the North Korean government. This is an example of the continuing efforts of the Sunshine Policy to nudge open the doorway between the South and the North. Although this is a highly localized tourist development, it manifests both a South Korean interest

Regional Geography in having some tourist facilities open, as well as a North Korean willingness to accommodate some tourists and their tourist dollars. Panmunjom Before 1953, Panmunjom was little more than a small civilian village located at the very southern edge of North Korea in what is now the DMZ. Peace talks that began in 1951 and ultimately led to a cessation of the Korean War were first held in the town of Kaesong. In the fall of 1951, however, Panmunjom (located farther south than Kaesong) became the site of continued discussions. It was here that an agreement was finally reached to stop military action. Panmunjom is now guarded on the north by North Korean troops and on the south by the South Korean Army. The following passage by writer Don Oberdorfer conveys a keen image of what this small village has become: [In the area of Panmunjom the] melodic call of birds has been marred by harsh propaganda from giant loudspeakers erected on both sides to harass or entice the troops on opposite lines. At the Joint Security Area in the clearing where the barbed wire and mines are absent, low-slung conference buildings have been placed squarely atop the line of demarcation and the negotiating tables within them are so arranged that the dividing line extends precisely down the middle. Here the hostility is palpable and open. Northern and southern troops scowl, spit, and shout obscenities at each other outside the conference buildings, and there have been shoving matches, injuries, and even deaths. . . . If the hostility and tension on the Korean Peninsula are ever to be alleviated through negotiation, the clearing at Panmunjom is likely to play a major role.

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North Korea Panmunjom is an example of a peasant village whose people historically worked at grain farming, animal raising, and other small-scale agricultural activity. The village’s location brought in opposing armies that were seeking a neutral space. Panmunjom was chosen, and this once-quiet community will never be the same again. Pyongyang This city is the capital of North Korea. Its recorded history begins in 108 b.c., when a Chinese trading colony was founded on the site. In the 2,000 years since then, the city has been the focus of a great deal of warfare and intrigue involving Chinese, Mongols, Japanese, and Christian missionaries. The city has been walled, destroyed, and rebuilt several times. After the 1953 truce that ended the Korean War, Chinese and Soviet assistance was critical in the most recent rebuilding of the nearly destroyed city. Writer Don Oberdorfer described planning and construction activities that have brought about a recent renewal in Pyongyang, currently a city of more than 3,200,000 residents. The capital, Pyongyang, had been so leveled by American bombing in the Korean War that the head of the U.S. bomber command had halted further air strikes, saying that “there is nothing standing worthy of the name.” Kim Il Sung had rebuilt it from the ashes to a meticulously planned urban center of broad boulevards, monumental structures, and square-cut apartment buildings that resembled a stage set more than a working capital. Indeed, it was a synthetic city in many respects: according to foreign diplomats, the population was periodically screened, and the sick, elderly, or disabled, along with anyone deemed politically unreliable, were evicted from the capital. . . . [Pyongyang also had] a mammoth 105-story hotel, built to be the

Regional Geography

North Korea’s capital city of Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River in the southwestern part of the country, approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Seoul, South Korea. The city’s skyline is pictured here from the Yanggakdo Hotel, on Yanggakdo Island.

t­ allest in Asia but that contained architectural defects so serious that it had never been occupied and probably never will. Besides being the nation’s capital, Pyongyang is the dominant industrial city in North Korea. Located on a high bluff overlooking the Taedong River, it has long held a central

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North Korea position in the settlement of the Korean Peninsula. This is in part because of the city’s location near large iron ore and coal deposits. During Japan’s 35-year occupation of North Korea (1910–1945), Pyongyang became a major center of the iron and steel industry. The city’s landscape is made up of traditional factory complexes that produce or refine not only iron and steel, but also machinery, textiles, aircraft, armaments, ceramics, rubber goods, and even sugar. This capital city, however, has traits that remind the observer that North Korea is still an extremely poor country. Howard French, the New York Times reporter who spent considerable time traveling in the city and the surrounding countryside, described Pyongyang as a city “where there is no heat in the winter, where the electricity and the water are turned off at night.” It is the same city that sent scores of North Korean cheerleaders to Pusan, South Korea, for the Asia Games in early October 2002. These hundreds of North Koreans were sent by ship. Although they slept on the same vessel, they were taken to the stadium, where they politely cheered in strong voices each time a North Korean athlete was competing. The North Korean government gave its representatives little opportunity to interact with South Koreans and other athletes or spectators at the games. The fact that they were there at all, however, was a significant shift from North Korea’s traditional strict policy of isolation. The combination of political and industrial preeminence of Pyongyang also makes it the logical center for virtually all important North Korean ceremonial events. It is home to Kim Il Sung stadium, which seats 70,000 people. It is also the home to major museums, libraries, theaters, and universities. Bruce Cumings, one of the few Western scholars who has been able to gain good access to North Korea, wrote this passage on the surprises of Pyongyang. Pyongyang is the regime’s showplace model city, however, and errs on the Korean side of the formal. I was

Regional Geography amazed when I first visited it by the crisp energy of city traffic, by its cleanliness, and by the absence of human-drawn and ox-drawn carts. On Chinese streets, elderly peasants dangle whips over donkeys pulling carts loaded with produce or carrying five or six dozing laborers. Phalanxes of bicycles serenely go forth into hailstorms of honking cabs and trucks. Traffic police make a pass at controlling all this, while trying not to offend anyone and thus touch off a row. Pyongyang, by contrast, is an exceedingly orderly, smoothly functioning, and sparsely populated city [in spite of its three million plus inhabitants]. Electric buses, half-ton trucks, and European sedans [mainly Volvos and Mercedes] ply the streets, with hardly any bicycles. Smart traffic police, men and women in sparkling uniforms, control the flow of traffic with an iron hand and an electric baton, pirouetting this way and that with military precision in the middle of intersections. This capital city has the most dramatic representation of Kim Jong Il’s attention to showcase places for foreign visitors. Only now, even Pyongyang is in the shadow of the nuclear test ground and the nuclear research centers to the north of the capital.

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8 North Korea Looks Ahead

I

n anticipating the future of North Korea, the geographer’s attention turns quickly to the speed with which the country has begun to modify its more traditional economic and political position as the “Hermit Kingdom.” Ever since North Korea’s bold crossing of the 38th parallel in June 1950, which began the Korean War, it has been a country very poorly understood by the West, and for that matter, even by South Korea, China, and the Soviet Union. Kim Il Sung led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. During more than four decades of his leadership, he put in place a rigid Communist government built around the concepts of central planning, development of heavy industries, and selfreliance. In the years since Kim’s son Kim Jong Il replaced his father as the nation’s leader, the government has suffered through some very difficult times. This northern portion of the Korean Peninsula has

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North Korea Looks Ahead

Among the most promising projects that could serve to link North and South Korea is a rail line connecting Pyongyang and Seoul. Although the line was completed in October 2004, it has not yet formally opened for business. Here, North Korean workers help construct the rail line in the Demilitarized Zone in 2003.

been ravaged by flood, drought, and famine, and has endured continual discord with both South Korea and the West. There have been, however, some signs of a willingness to change. The country’s doors have opened somewhat to allow in new ideas and to allow at least some of its people out. In addition, for the first time in many decades, tourists—who bring

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North Korea money into the country—are welcomed, although their travels are restricted to particular places—such as Mount Kumgang, just north of the DMZ. Another sign of positive change is the planned railroad system that will link the two Koreas via a railway that will begin in South Korea, and then link Sinuiju and Dandong, China. This process is hard to chart in terms of its current level of completion and functionality, but its intention is eventually to bring in South Koreans and others to visit longseparated family members, and to further open North Korea to outside visitors, as well as facilitate rail linkage with China. There will be other changes, too. Innovations such as the growing number of farmers markets and the Special Administrative Region of Sinuiju will certainly have an impact on the way North Koreans view economic activities. Similar developments are being instituted near the border with South Korea as well as the China border. As free market forces become more common, people are bound to see the impact of such free enterprise. As North Korean city and rural residents begin to notice the profits earned from small-scale private farming and informal sales on city streets, much of the agricultural land surrounding cities will no doubt be more intensively farmed. This is just one way the country’s landscape will change. In the cities, there will be more evidence of foreign influence. Trade with Japan, China, and other nations will bring new images to streets, shop windows, and billboards of this nation that has for so long been focused on keeping out foreign influences. Once the economic potential of expanded interaction with other nations is perceived by both government officials and ordinary factory workers, there are bound to be other changes that will appear on the North Korean scene. At the same time, friction will most likely continue between North Korea and neighboring South Korea and Japan. Japan still has difficulty in accepting the fact that more than a dozen of its citizens were kidnapped 20 years ago by North Korea and forced to teach selected countrymen of Kim Il Sung’s isolated

North Korea Looks Ahead world about Japanese culture and language to make it easier for North Korean spies to infiltrate Japanese society. For the South Koreans, tensions will be present as long as interactions with North Korea remain so erratic. For example, talks might be under way with a goal of easing the travel of aging family members in both the north and south. But suddenly, the talks will end because of some peculiar North Korean reaction to a South Korean suggestion. The issue of the design, testing, and sale of major weapon systems continues to be a source of irritation to the West. The idea of providing free nuclear power stations (light-water reactors) to North Korea for their promise not to build a nuclear bomb does not rest easy on the minds of many Americans. And, with the nuclear detonation on October 9, 2006, the whole exchange seemed ever less likely to be accomplished. This equation of uncertainty became even more difficult in late December that year. North Korea decided to break the seals on its nuclear facility in Yongbyon, 55 miles north of Pyongyang and to remove the surveillance cameras that had been placed there. This facility had allegedly been kept out of use since 1994, as part of the Agreed Framework stipulations. At that time, North Korea declared a willingness to stop its development of nuclear capacity in exchange for the United States agreement to provide fuel oil and nuclear power-generating facilities. This arrangement, made during the Clinton era, was not attractive to the Bush administration, which took office in 2000. North Korea admitted in late 2002 that it had been secretly working on nuclear development for some years. Upon this disclosure, the U.S. government stopped sending the heavy oil needed for power generation and the two governments quickly moved from limited cooperation toward potential confrontation. In late December 2002, the two officials representing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were dismissed by North Korea. This left the Yongbyon facility completely unmonitored, except for satellite observation. Suddenly, South

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North Korea Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and the United States all registered a very significant increase in tension over the uncertainty of the intended plans of the North Korean government. Ironically, in late December 2002, a new president was elected in South Korea—Roh Moo-hyun. He had campaigned on a policy of continued “sunshine” efforts that were meant to open the doors of interaction between South and North Korea. There was a rail line being constructed across the DMZ and there were more meetings scheduled between representatives of the two Koreas than there have been for years. However, the tension that came from North Korea’s withdrawal from the Agreed Framework and the IAEA reminded people all over the world that the political uncertainty associated with Kim Jong Il and the North Korean government had a dimension that could have a worldwide impact. North Korea’s neighbors—Japan, China, Russia, and most of all, the South Koreans and the 37,000 U.S. troops deployed in South Korea at the time—suddenly found themselves in the danger zone created by the potential for the North Korean development of nuclear warheads. By raising the nuclear threat, this poor but highly militarized nation was trying hard to stand tall and establish its independence in the midst of its much larger and economically better-developed Asian neighbors. In the early years of this century, there was an effort made by the United States, South Korea, Russia, China, and Japan to convene meetings with North Korea in order to establish some guidelines for more predictable and favorable regional relations. This six-member group first met in August 2003; then February 2004; then June 2004; and the fourth round was held in July and August 2005. Finally, in November 2005, the six-member group was convened again in Beijing and after five fruitless days was adjourned once again with no productive outcome to the talks. These efforts were thwarted by the fact that North Korea refused to talk about its nuclear program until the United States relaxed a financial sanction that had tied up a considerable block of Pyongyang’s capital in international banks. The United States

North Korea Looks Ahead

With such a large proportion of its population under the age of 15, North Korea’s future certainly lies in the hands of its youth. Here, a group of children leave the state circus in Pyongyang.

had evidence of counterfeiting and money laundering that was being organized by North Korea. At the November meetings, the United States refused to relax the financial constraints and North Korea flatly refused to allow any other issue to come to the table in those Beijing meetings. However, during 2007, North Korea seemed to back away from its confrontational stance by agreeing to allow UN inspectors into the country. There is one other scenario that must be considered as you ponder the landscapes of the future in North Korea. If

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North Korea the ­government of Pyongyang somehow collapses and can no longer maintain control over its military state, what might happen on the peninsula? It is felt that South Korea would be most ambitious in its efforts to bring the entire peninsula under its control, reuniting the two Koreas under a flag of capitalism and free market economy. There are articles already written that predict that such a change would be both costly and bloody. It is also noted that China would very much like to gain access to an ice-free warm-water port on the Sea of Japan and also be close to iron and coal resources that could help develop the industrial center of Liaoning Province just northwest of North Korea. Japan, as well, would like to see the peninsula brought into a tighter political control since it has felt continually threatened by the potential of missiles and nuclear warheads being developed by North Korea. In essence, then, there are many variables to be considered as one thinks about the future landscapes of North Korea. There are many strange dimensions to the relationship between North Korea and the outside world. One of the most fascinating aspects of geography is the continued study of just what gives such relationships their particular character. What role do resources play? What impact does the size and demographic nature of populations have? What importance is there in stages of economic development and levels of industrial and agricultural success? What is the role played by the Korean Peninsula’s history as a corridor for larger warring nations over the centuries? In the case of the two Koreas, what are the difficulties of reuniting two nations separated by war and by more than 50 years of powerfully divergent political and economic development? And, perhaps most significantly, what is the potential impact of a leader who is both unpredictable and in full control of a massive, well-armed army? These are all questions that you will be better able to answer as you look at the world through “geographic eyes.”

Facts at a Glance Physical Geography













Location Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea Area Total: 46,541 square miles (120,540 square kilometers); land: 46,491 square miles (120,410 square kilometers); water: 50 square miles (130 square kilometers) (slightly smaller than the state of Mississippi) Boundaries Border countries: China, 880 miles (1,416 kilometers); South Korea, 148 miles (238 kilometers); Russia, 12 miles (19 kilometers); total: 1,040 miles (1,673 kilometers) Coastline 1,550 miles (2,495 kilometers), on the Sea of Japan, the Korea Bay, and the Yellow Sea Climate Temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer Terrain Mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east Elevation Extremes Lowest point, Sea of Japan (sea level); highest point, Paektu-san (northeast corner), 9,003 feet (2,744 meters) Land Use Arable land, 22.4%; permanent crops, 1.66%; other, 75.94% (2005) Irrigated Land 9,072 square miles (14,600 square kilometers) (2003) Natural Hazards Late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall Natural Resources Coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower Environmental Issues Water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation

People



Population 23,301,725 (July 2007 est.); males, 11,320,707 (2007 est.); females, 11,981,018 (2007 est.) Population Density 500 people per square mile (193 people per square kilometer) Population Growth Rate 0.79% (2007 est.) Net Migration Rate 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

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Fertility Rate Birthrate Death Rate Life Expectancy at Birth

Median Age Ethnic Groups



Religion



Language Literacy



2.05 children born/woman (2007 est.) 15.06 births/1,000 population (2007) 7.21 deaths/1,000 population (2007) Total population: 71.9 years; male, 69.1 years; female, 74.8 years (2007 est.) Total: 32.4; male, 30.9; female, 33.8 (2007 est.) Racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese Traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way) note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom Korean (Age 15 and over can read and write) Total population: 99% (99%, male; 99%, female) (2003)

Economy

Currency North Korean won (KPW) GDP Purchasing Power $40 billion note: North Korea does not publish reliable Parity (PPP) National Income Accounts data; the datum shown here is derived from purchasing power parity (PPP); GDP estimates for North Korea that were made by Angus Maddison in a study conducted for the OECD; his figure for 1999 was extrapolated to 2006 using estimated real growth rates for North Korea’s GDP and an inflation factor based on the U.S. GDP deflator; the result was rounded to the nearest $10 billion (2006 est.) GDP Per Capita $1,800 (2006 est.) Labor Force 9.6 million (2006 est.) Unemployment N/A (2006) L abor Force by Occupation Industry and services, 64%; agriculture, 36% Agricultural Products Rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs Industries Military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, limestone, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism Exports $1.34 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports $2.72 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) Leading Trade Partners Exports: China, 35%; South Korea, 24%; Thailand, 9%; Japan, 9% (2005). Imports: China, 42%; South Korea, 28%; Russia, 9%; Thailand, 8% (2005) Export Commodities Minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures ­(including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products Import Commodities Petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain Transportation Roadways: 19,387 miles (31,200 kilometers), 1,241 miles (1,997 kilometers) is paved (2004); Railways: 3,240 miles (5,214 kilometers); Airports: 77—36 are paved runways (2006); Waterways: 1,398 miles (2,250 kilometers)





Government Country Name Conventional long form: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; Conventional short form: North Korea; Local long form: Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk; Local short form: Choson; Abbreviation: DPRK Capital City Pyongyang Type of Government Communist state one-man dictatorship Chief of State Kim Jong Il (since July 1994) Independence August 15, 1945 (from Japan) Administrative Divisions Nine provinces (do, singular and plural) and four municipalities (si, singular and plural)

Communications TV Stations Four (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) Radio Stations 31 (AM, 17; FM, 14) Phones 980,000 (cell phones, N/A) Internet Users N/A

* Source: CIA-The World Factbook (2007)

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History at a Glance

108 B.C. A.D. 313 1259 1368 1392 1590s 1630s



1642



1876 1910 1945



1948



1950–1953 1968



1971



1994



2002



2005



2006



2007

China conquers the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Korean forces drive the Chinese from the peninsula. Mongol armies conquer Korea. Koreans gain freedom from Mongols. Korean Yi Dynasty founded, which will last until 1910. Japanese armies invade Korea but are driven out. Manchu armies from northern China invade Korea and maintain control, although members of the Yi Dynasty continue to serve as kings. Korea closes its borders to all nations, except for China’s annual tribute ship; Korea becomes known as the Hermit Kingdom. Japan forces Korea to open its ports to trade. Japan annexes Korea and holds it as a colony. Soviet forces occupy North Korea while U.S. forces do the same in South Korea; peninsula is divided at the 38th parallel of latitude. The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea is founded and Kim Il Sung is declared premier. The Korean War takes place. The U.S. intelligence ship USS Pueblo is captured by North Korea off its west coast; 82 crewmembers are detained for 11 months. North Korean and South Korean Red Cross Societies begin discussions of reunification; such talks have continued but have been erratic. The United States and North Korea sign an agreement that trades U.S. support for light-water nuclear reactor power stations in North Korea for North Korea’s promise not to develop nuclear weapons; floods and famine occur; Kim Il Sung dies; his son Kim Jong Il becomes de facto premier. North Korea admits that it has secretly been developing nuclear capability for years. Like four earlier meetings held in prior years, the sixnation talks (North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and the United States) take place in Beijing. They fail to achieve a productive outcome. North Korea tests 7 missiles on July 4; explodes nuclear device on October 9. North Korea agrees to close its nuclear reactor.

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Bibliography 2006 World Population Data Sheet. Washington, D.C. Population Reference Bureau, 2006. Breen, Michael. The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Cressey, George B. Asia’s Lands and Peoples: A Geography of One-third of the Earth and Two-thirds of Its People. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963. Cumings, Bruce. Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. ––––. North Korea: Another Country. New York: The New Press, 2004. Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1986–2006. French, Howard W. “North Korea Fans Make Headlines from the Sidelines.” New York Times, 2002, p. A8. ­––––. “North Korea to Let Capitalism Loose in Investment Zone.” New York Times, September 25, 2002, p. A3. “Friendship and Trade.” The Economist, July 20, 2006. Hoon, Shim Jae. “Summit Lifeline.” Far Eastern Economic Review, April 20, 2000, p. 44. Hwang, Eui-Gak. The Korean Economies: A Comparison of North and South. Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1993. “Interest Revived in the Sinuiju Special Administrative Region.” Policy Forum Online 06-25A, March 30, 2006. Kaplan, Robert D. “When North Korea Fails.” Atlantic Monthly, October 2006. Kim, H. Edward, ed. Facts About Korea. Elizabeth, N.J.: Hollym International Corporation, 1984. Kirk, Don. “2 Koreas Celebrate Decision to Reconnect a Railway.” New York Times, September 19, 2002, p. A8. Kolb, Albert. East Asia China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam: Geography of a Cultural Region. London: Methuen & Co., 1971. Kong, Dan Oh. North Korea Through the Looking Glass. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2002. Korea: Its Land, People, and Culture of All Ages. Seoul, South Korea: Hakwon-sa, 1963. Korean Overseas Information Services. A Handbook of Korea. Elizabeth, N.J.: Hollym International Corporation, 1993.

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Lee, Kenneth B. Korea and East Asia: The Story of a Phoenix. Boulder, Colo.: Praeger Publishers, 1997. Natsios, Andrew G. The Great North Korean Famine. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2001. Noland, Marcus. Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas. Washington, D.C. Institute for International Economics, 2000. “North Korea Nuke Talks End Without Deal.” New York Times, December 22, 2006. Oberdorfer, Don. The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. New York: Basic Books, 2001. Quinones, C. Kenneth, and Joseph Tragert. Understanding North Korea. Indianapolis, Ind.: Alpha Books, 2004. Reeve, W. D. The Republic of Korea: A Political and Economic Study. New York: Oxford University Press, 1963. Reischauer, Edwin O., and John K. Fairbank. East Asia: The Great Tradition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960. Salter, Cathy. “From a Distance: Korean Reconciliation?” Columbia Tribune, June 28, 2000, p. 7A. Salter, Christopher L., and Joseph J. Hobbs. Essentials of World Regional Geography. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Publishing, 2003. “Special Report: North Korea.” The Economist, July 27, 2002, pp. 24–26. Spencer, Joseph E. Asia East by South. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1967. Stossel, Scott. “North Korea: The War Game.” Atlantic Monthly, July/ August 2005. “Testing Times.” The Economist, October 26, 2006. “The Dead Are Not the Only Casualties.” The Economist, July 6, 2002, p. 41. Weightman, Barbara A. Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East, and Southeast Asia. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002. World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, 2002. World Reference Atlas. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, 1998. “Yesterday’s War, Tomorrow’s Peace.” The Economist, July 8, 1999.

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Further Reading Books Blaut, J. M. The Colonizer’s Model of the World. New York: Guilford Press, 1993. Breen, Michael. The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Cumings, Bruce. Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. Duus, Peter. The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895–1910. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. Harrold, Michael. Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2004. Kim, Elaine H., and Eui-Young Yu. East to America: Korean American Life Stories. New York: The New York Press, 1996. Kolb, Albert. East Asia China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam: Geography of a Cultural Region. London: Methuen & Co., 1971. Kong, Dan Oh. North Korea Through the Looking Glass. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2000. Lautensach, Hermann. Korea: A Geography Based on the Author’s Travels and Literature. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1988. McCune, Evelyn. The Arts of Korea: An Illustrated History. Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle, 1962. Natsios, Andrew G. The Great North Korean Famine. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2001. Noland, Marcus. Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, 2000. Oberdorfer, Don. The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. New York: Basic Books, 2001. Phillips, Douglas A., and Steven C. Levi. The Pacific Rim Region: Emerging Giant. Hillside, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 1988. Storey, Robert, and Eunkyong Park. Korea. Oakland, Calif.: Lonely Planet Publications, 2001.

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Web sites CIA World Factbook—North Korea https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kn.html News from North Korea http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm Library of Congress—North Korea http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/kptoc.html Information on North Korea http://www.pyongyangsquare.com/

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Picture Credits page:   11: © Lucidity Information Design, LLC   14: © Alain Nogues/Alain Nogues/CORBIS   18: © Lucidity Information Design, LLC   22: Associated Press, The World Food Program   30: © Hulton Archive/Getty Images   32: Craig J. Brown/Index Stock Imagery, Inc.   37: © AFP/Getty Images   41: © Getty Image News/Getty Images   44: © Time Life Pictures/Getty Images   53: © Time Life Pictures/Getty Images   59: AP Images   64: © AFP/Getty Images

  70: © Seokyong Lee/Bloomberg News/Landov   76: © Getty Image News/Getty Images   79: © Reuters/Jung-Yeon-Je/Pool/Landov   85: © Getty Image News/Getty Images   89: © AFP/Getty Images   92: © Reuters/China Daily/Landov   98: © Reuters/Jonathan Thatcher/Landov 101: © Stephen Foxwell/Bloomberg News/Landov 105: © AFP/Getty Images 109: © Getty Image News/Getty Images

Cover: AP Images

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Index Age of Discovery, 51 age of North Korean population, 43–45, 109 Agreed Framework, 65–69, 77, 108 agriculture, 76, 80, 106 alphabets, 34 animals, 25 Asia Games, 102 Axis of Evil countries, 9, 67, 72 birthrate, 38–40 borders, closing of, 8, 50–51 boycotts, 55 British film crew, Pyongyang and, 13 Buddhism, 47 Bush, George W., 66–68, 72 Caucasians, racial origins and, 29–30 Central Mountains, 20 Changbai range, 19 character languages, 34 cheerleaders, 102 China free market and, 81, 82, 88 history of Korea and, 31–33, 46 Korean War and, 56–58 Liaoning Province and, 91–94, 110 location relative to, 11–12, 26, 28 nuclear weapons and, 73 Pyongyang and, 100 trade with, 8, 49–50, 83–84, 92–94 tribute status and, 49 climate of North Korea monsoons and, 21–23 overview of, 20–21 temperature, precipitation and, 23–24 typhoons and, 24–25

Clinton, William J., 66, 94 coal, 77 cold war, 69 communication, printing types and, 47 Communism, 9, 54 Confucianism, 32 Corée du Nord, 14 Dandong, Liaoning, China, 91–94 dates, important 108 b.c., 47 a.d. 1259, 48 1392, 49–50 1640, 50–51 1873, 51–52 1940s, 52–54 1950s, 54–61 1960s, 61–62 1970s, 62 1980s, 62–63 1990s, 63–66 2000s, 66–69 a.d. 313, 48 a.d. 932, 48 death rate, 40–41 deforestation, 25 demilitarized zone (DMZ), 59–60, 67, 84, 85, 94–99 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), 53, 54 Diamond Mountain, 84, 85, 97–98 Eastern Coastal Lowlands, 18, 20 economy birthrate and, 39 free market experiment and, 81–86 overview of, 75–81 Sinuiju and, 88–89

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Index elderly population, caring for, 44–45 electrical devices, family size and, 39–40 electricity generation, 62–63, 65 famines, 41, 42, 65, 90 farmers’ markets, 81–82 fertility rate, 43 flooding, 22, 65–66, 81 food shortages, infant mortality and, 41, 42 forests, 17, 25 free market, 81–86, 88 Friendship Bridge, 91, 92 frost, 24 future of North Korea, 104–110 Geneva, Switzerland, 61, 65 Genghis Khan, 29 geography importance of location and, 10–12, 26, 46 migrations and, 28 overview of, 16–18, 87 graphite, 77 Great Leader. See Kim Il Sung Gutenberg, Johannes, 33 Gyeongju National Park, 32 Hamgyong Province, 72 Hamgyong-Sanmaek Mountains, 17, 19 Hangul language, 34 Hanju Bay, 19 Hansong (Kaesong), 47, 99 Hermit Kingdom, as nickname, 8, 10, 12–13, 51 Hiroshima, 52, 69 Hong Kong North, 88–91, 93 hurricanes, 24–25 hydroelectricity, 77 Hyundai Corporation, 84

Inchon, 67 income, average, 85 industry, 88–89, 101–102 infant mortality rate, 41–42, 67 insolation, monsoons and, 21 International Atomic Energy (IAEA) inspectors, expulsion of, 68, 107–108 Iran, 72 Japan attempted occupations by, 50 control by, 52, 102 future of North Korea and, 106–107 location relative to, 10–11, 26 trade and, 51 Japan, Sea of, 20, 21, 48, 70, 110 juche, 61, 79–80, 81 Kaema Plateau, 17 Kaesong (Hansong), 47, 59, 99 Kaya, 47 Kazakhstan, 29 Kelly, James, 68 kidnappings, 106–107 Kim Dae Jung, Sunshine Diplomacy and, 9–10, 66–67, 94–95 Kim Il Sung death of, 63–65 Korean War and, 54–55 leadership of, 104 nuclear weapons and, 15 Soviet Union and, 61–62 Kim Il Sung Stadium, 102 Kim Jong Il Sinuiju and, 90 as son of Kim Il Sung, 15, 63–65 Sunshine Diplomacy and, 9–10, 66 Koguryo, 31–33, 47 Korea Bay (Yellow Sea), 17, 21

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Index Korean War, 10, 19, 55–61 Koryo Dynasty, 33, 46–47 Kosygin, Aleksey, 61–62 Kublai Khan, 29, 30 Kumgang, Mount, 106. See also Diamond Mountain Kumjangni, 66 “Land of the Morning Calm,” 12 land tenure system, 49–50 landscape. See geography language, 28, 33–34 life expectancy, 67 light-water reactors, 62–63, 65, 68, 77 location. See geography logging, 25 MacArthur, Douglas, 55–57, 58 magnesite, 77 Manchuria, 12, 56 Manchus, 50 Meiji Restoration, 52 MIG Alley, 58 migrations, Korean Peninsula and, 27–28 military, Yi Dynasty and, 49–50 Ming Dynasty, 33, 49 missile launches, 70 Mongols, 28, 29–30, 33, 48. See also Yuan Dynasty monsoons, 21–23 “Morning Calm,” 12 mortality rate, 40–41 mountains, 16, 24. See also specific mountains Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), 69 Nangnim-Sanmaek Mountains, 17, 19 natural resources, 38, 77

Neutral Nations’ Repatriation Commission, 60 Nobel Peace Prize, 66–67 Northern Mountains, 18, 19–20 Northwestern Plain, 18, 19, 88 nuclear development. See also Agreed Framework future of North Korea and, 107 George W. Bush and, 67–68 Kim Il Sung and, 65 NPT and, 63, 65, 68 overview of issues with, 69–74 threat of, 15 underground detonation and, 72 Olympics, 8–9, 14, 63, 66 Paekche, 31–33, 47 Paektu-san, 16, 17, 18 palisades, construction of, 12, 50–51 Panmunjom, 62, 99–100 people of North Korea ages of, 43–44 birthrate and, 38–40 death rate and, 40–41 infant mortality rate and, 41–42 population density and, 36–38 population dynamics and, 35–36 rate of natural increase and, 42 total fertility rate (TFR) and, 43 Perry, Matthew, 51 petroleum, 77 plant life, 25 population density, 36–38 population dynamics, 35–36 ports, 110 precipitation, 23–25 printing types, 33, 34, 47 prisoner camps, Korean War and, 59 protestors, 70 Pueblo (USS), capture of, 61–62 Pyongyang

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Index British film crew and, 13 location of, 19 nuclear weapons and, 68 overview of, 100–103 Shang Dynasty and, 31 Taedong River and, 12 transportation infrastructure, 37 racial origins of Korean people, 29–30 railroads, 67, 89, 92, 105, 108 rate of natural increase, 38, 42 raw materials, 38, 77 Red Army, 54–55 Red Cross talks, 62, 63 reforestation program, 25 reunions, 63 Ring of Fire, 26 rogue nations, 73 Roh Moo-hyun, 108 Rungnado May Day Stadium, 14 rural regions, population in, 40, 76 Russia. See also Soviet Union location relative to, 10–11, 26, 28 trade with, 83 Russo-Japanese War, 52 sanctions, 73–74 scud missiles, 68 Sea of Japan, 20, 21, 48, 70, 110 self-reliance. See juche Seoul, 71 Seven-Year Plans, 77 Shang Dynasty, 12, 31 shell mounds, 29–30 Silla, 31–33, 34, 47 Sino-Japanese Wars, 52, 57 Sino-Tibetan language family, 28 Sinuiju, 88–91, 93 six-nation talks, 73–74

South Korea aid from North Korea to, 63 economic comparison to, 78 family size and, 39–40 future of North Korea and, 106–107 nuclear weapons and, 71 Olympics and, 8–9 physical separation from, 17 Sunshine Diplomacy and, 9–10 trade and, 13–14 Soviet Union. See also Russia agreements with, 61–62, 66 MIG planes and, 58 UN Security Council and, 55 World War II and, 52 Special Administrative Regions (SARs), 88, 90, 106 Special Economic Zones (SEZs), 88, 90, 91 Sunshine Diplomacy (Policy) Kim Dae Jung and, 94–95 overview of, 9–10, 66–67 Taebaek Range, 20 Taedong River, 12, 80, 101 Taekam Cooperative Farm, 83 taxes, 47 temperatures, 23–25 tenure, 49–50 38th parallel, 53, 19–20, 52, 54, 57, 63, 67, 95, 97, 104 Three Kingdoms era, 31–33, 47–48 total fertility rate (TFR), 43 tourism, 84, 85, 97–98 “Tower of the Juche Idea,” 80 trade China and, 8, 49, 50, 83–84, 92 future of North Korea and, 106 Sinuiju and, 91 statistics on, 78 transportation, Pyongyang and, 37

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Index Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), 62, 68 tribute status, 49 Truman, Harry S., 55, 56, 57, 58 Tumen River, 17, 19 Tungsten, 77 Tungu, 29 typhoons, 24–25 United Nations, Soviet Union and, 55 United Nations World Food Program, infant mortality and, 41 United States, USS Pueblo and, 62 Unsan, 22 Ural-Altaic language family, 28, 29

uranium, enriched, 68 USSR. See Soviet Union Wang Kon, 33 wildlife, 25 winds, 20–21 written language, 33–34 Yalu River, 12, 16–17, 19, 93 Yang Bin, 90 Yanggakdo Island, 101 Yellow Sea (Korea Bay), 17, 21 Yemen, 68 Yi Dynasty, 33, 34, 47, 49, 52 Yi Song-gye, 49 Yokohama (Yedo), 51 Yongbyon, 107–108 Yonghung Bay, 20 Yuan Dynasty, 33, 48

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About the Contributors Christopher L. Salter is emeritus professor and chair of the geography department at the University of Missouri–Columbia. He spent three years teaching English at Tunghai University in Taiwan and has traveled to East Asia eight times. He is the author of more than 120 articles and more than a dozen books, including South Korea and Taiwan in the Modern World Nations series. He has also been involved in geography education and received the first-ever National Geographic Society Distinguished Geography Educator Award, as well as the George J. Miller Award from the National Council for Geographic Education. Charles F. Gritzner is distinguished professor of geography at South Dakota State University. He is now in his fifth decade of college teaching and research. During his career, he has taught more than 70 different courses, spanning the fields of physical, cultural, and regional geography. Much of his career work has focused on geographic education. Gritzner has served as both president and executive director of the National Council for Geographic Education and has received the council’s George J. Miller Award for Distinguished Service.

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