North Korea

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Democratic People's Republic of Korea
조선민주주의인민공화국

Map of DPRK
Flag State Emblem

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), unofficially known as North Korea, is a socialist state in East Asia established on 9 September 1948. It rests on the northern part of the Korean peninsula, bordered by the Republic of Korea to its south and the People's Republic of China to its north. On the border between the two Koreas is the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), established at the close of the devastating Korean War. North Korea, like South Korea, claims to be the sole legitimate government of the peninsula and adjacent islands. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang.

The DPRK is led by the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea. According to its constitution, the DPRK is an "independent socialist state" guided by the Juche idea,[a] an anti-imperialist nationalist derivative of Marxism–Leninism originally codified by the country's founding leader, Kim Il-Sung.[1] The DPRK has continued to advocate communism even to the present day,[2] although some argue the Juche idea has deviated from Marxism or even qualifies as revisionist.[instances needed]

Since its founding over 70 years ago, North Korea has been the target of incessant Red Scare propaganda by the United States and its allies which has only continued since the end of the Cold War. As part of the neoconservative turn of the early 2000s, US president George W. Bush made a speech in which he referred to North Korea, Iraq and Iran as an "Axis of Evil" and a leading state sponsor of terrorism, and anti-DPRK rhetoric has continued to the present, influencing average Americans to view the tiny, low-income country as a threat to United States security.[3][4] Getting reliable, up-to-date information about North Korean society free from influence either from pro-government sources or hostile propagandists can prove difficult, especially given how secretive the nation is.[clarification needed][citation needed] However, the extreme atrocity stories about North Korea typically attributed to "defectors" such as Park Yeonmi can be proven false by various means, including by contradictions in their own claims. Sometimes falsehoods are later outright admitted to have been false and based on uncredible sources, as was the case with certain stories in the 2010s alleging that the DPRK had executed its own officials.[citation needed]

History[edit | edit source]

Having settled the sovereignty of Japanese rule over the Korean peninsula with the Russian Empire and the United States in 1905, the Japanese Empire forced a treaty upon Korea, stating that all foreign relations of Korea were to be directly managed by Japan, effectively rendering Korea a Japanese colonial protectorate. After gradually dissolving the Korean army, police, and other previously independent Korean institutions, yet another treaty was signed in 1910, officially annexing Korea.

From 1910 to 1945, Korea was a direct colony of the Japanese Empire. The Japanese anticommunists coerced the Korean workers into harvesting resources like minerals and food for the Empire. Korean workers themselves subsisted on meager meals. During this period, Korea was still largely preindustrial, and the industry that existed was generally quite simple.[5] The average Korean man had to work ten hours a day, whereas women and youths had to work about eleven hours.[6] In school they forced Koreans to recite a pledge of allegiance to the Empire, and the anticommunists slowly attempted eradication of their native language.[7] When the workers protested their conditions or specifically protested the colonisation itself, the anticommunist occupants acted quite brutally towards them.[8] Consequently, the DPRK would purge its government of Axis collaborators[9] and the Allies would repatriate hundreds of thousands of Japanese after the Imperialists surrendered in August 1945, although the repatriation of Japanese engineers in particular went slowly at first due to the urgent need for technical expertise at that time.[10]

In 1945 the Red Army came to liberate Korea from Imperial occupation and were greeted as liberators,[11] but the Western ruling class wanted all of Korea for itself,[12] which is partially why the peninsula is divided today. The other reason is that the Rhee administration, one of the few Koreans sympathetic to Western interests, sabotaged a vote for unification by violently suppressing thousands of voters.[13] The Western bourgeoisie established a paramilitary régime; the East did not. There was nothing like that in the DPRK. The Rhee administration was declining in popularity due to their violent antisocialism, but they salvaged the situation by waging war against the DPRK.[14] Beginning in 1948, South Korean antisocialists initiated most of the border clashes in Korea;[15] with the support of the American bourgeoisie, antisocialist guerrillas from South Korea invaded Northern villages as early as 1949.[16] The DRPK suggests that by 1949 the South Korean army had already committed 2,617 armed incursions. There is no evidence confirming that the DPRK started the conflict directly;[17] they were just quick to respond.[18] Nor is there evidence that the Soviet Union ordered the DPRK to assault South Korea.[15][19] The Republic of Korea's army fared poorly to the point where desertion was common,[20] but then the Korean bourgeoisie requested assistance from the U.S. Army, who started its assault before anybody passed a U.N. resolution supporting the Empire's intervention, and its military forces added to the mayhem in the conflict by introducing the use of napalm;[15] the anticommunists promptly proceeded to illegally bomb everything that they could bomb.[21]

The Korean War was ultimately started by the American imperialists and their allies, who overthrew the People's Republic of Korea which had many communist and left-wing nationalist leaders. After the suppression of the peoples committees in the southern zone, they either left to the north or stayed in the south to oppose the US puppet regime.[22] The Korean War: An Unanswered Question is a book written by a former South Korean ambassador that covers this topic. According to him, Syngman Rhee wanted a violent unification and provoked the war with US backing.[23]

After the war, the DPRK would proceed to mature just like any other planned economy: literacy, healthcare, food output, electrification, gender equality, cooperatives, population, and related advantages grew.[24] In 1947 grain output was one hundred and seventy thousand tons larger than yesteryear and agricultural production continued to increase until, at the time of the Korean War's outbreak, basic self-sufficiency in food became a possibility.[25] But 1,800,000–4,500,000 Asians died as a result of the fighting of 1950–1953.[26][27] After the warfare ended, the other planned economies proceeded to provide the DPRK with reconstruction and other assistance, including a famine prevention.[28] Beginning with the process of the postbellum reconstruction in 1953, only 1.2% of peasant households were organized as cooperatives, which encompassed a mere .6% of total acreage. By August 1958, 100% of peasant households were converted into cooperatives, encompassing 100% of total acreage.[29] Despite having only 20% accessible arable land, they announced food sufficiency in 1960.[30] By the 1970s they achieved full electrification: practically all households, even in remote hamlets, had access to the benefits of electricity, and by night the lights were visible everywhere in populated areas—not the millions of bright bulbs or neon lights of Western cities, but sufficient to serve its purpose. They intentionally avoided wasting power, and ranked among the most advanced countries as far as economical utilization of electricity is concerned.[31] Even many sources which are anti-DPRK say that the North Korean economy and living conditions were originally superior to the South's for the first few decades.[32][33]

The DPRK has rarely deployed military forces beyond the Korean peninsula, with the exception of 87 Air Force personnel in Vietnam during 1967–1969,[34][35] a score of pilots to Egypt in 1973,[36] and possibly 1,500 combat troops or pilots to Angola in 1986.[37] Otherwise, military aid has been limited to materiels and military advisors.

After the short twentieth century, the DPRK was left to fend for itself, with almost no other planned economies that it could turn to in case of emergency, and American sanctions restricting trade with any other economies.[38] Thus when natural disasters devastated their agriculture,[39][40] and the American upper classes would not even let them join the IMF or World Bank,[41] allegedly on grounds of the DPRK's ‘unwillingness to met the minimum necessary transparency standards, its placement on the U.S. list of states supporting terrorism, and Japanese opposition stemming from unresolved political issues.’[42] Consequently, possibly one to three million Koreans starved,[43] although the actual number is probably lower.[b] The upper classes were betting that the DPRK would unfiguratively collapse by the twenty-first century.[44]

Politics[edit | edit source]

Western writer Daniel Pinkston reported that the DPRK elected 443 new members (including 107 active military members) in the 1990s.[45] The Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments determined that the DPRK's voters cast ballots personally to a deputy in candidacy and in a place where a secret ballot is thoroughly maintained.[46]

There is a theory that North Korean society is divided into a caste system called "Songbun", however this is not true. There is a good debunking of it on this site.

Economy[edit | edit source]

Since 1974, citizens in the DPRK have officially not had to pay any taxes,[47] with April 1 being commemorated as "Tax Abolition Day".[48] Foreign investors still have to pay them, however, and foreigners residing in the DPRK for more than a year are obligated to pay personal income taxes.[49] Though citizens do not have to pay any direct taxes, they still have to pay things like user fees and turnover taxes, which around 2018 made up 11.4% of the country's GDP.[50][51]

Comprehensive official statistics have not been made public since the 1960s, likely in part because being open about their economic data would only intensify the effectiveness of the sanctions against them; the Republic of Korea for example could specifically target sensitive sectors of the economy.[52] Nevertheless, academics and international organizations have provided data that are probably reliable.

After the famine, the DPRK recontinued its reduction of dystrophy quite consistently this century.[53] The official figures in 2015, in conjunction with the additional observations based on FAO satellite analysis and educated analyses regarding production (accumulated from past experience inside the DPRK), have indicated that the food situation was probably improving overall, although the report did lack information from past on-the-ground food security assessment missions.[54] Data from the World Health Organization as of 2017 indicate that the DPRK probably has a malnutrition rate of less than 2.00,[55] as in 2016.[56] In 2018[57] however, the Global Hunger Index confusingly scored it as ‘serious’, for complicated reasons.[53] Regardless, food production has grown considerably during this century.[58] For example, the DPRK successfully constructed a livestock farming base in the Sepho area during 2017.[59]

Electrification is unfortunately less common, but library computers are still usable, and sometimes citizens watch television (or have hemp) before or after having foods like apples, corn, grains, potatoes, and soybeans to eat.[60] Over 73% of the DPRK's electricity comes from clean sources.[61] The antisocialist Reuters did a report on solar panels in the DPRK.[62]

Antisocialist sources, such as the Republic of Korea's central bank, have confirmed that in the 2010s the DPRK has enjoyed economic growth at a seventeen-year high despite sanctions and droughts.[63][64][65]

North Korea is self-sufficient in most things besides oil and fuel, which it cannot obtain within it own borders, and so has to rely on allies for these resources. Nonetheless, North Korea has a coal liquefaction program, though it is limited. This self-reliance does not mean isolationism, but rather being prepared for contingencies wherein other countries may not be relied upon, as had happened previously at the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Infrastructure[edit | edit source]

While there are restrictions on outsiders bringing along their telecommunications, many citizens of the DPRK use mobile telephones regularly, and it is not hard to make international calls from the major hotels.[66]

Health[edit | edit source]

The DPRK has immunized themselves from diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis,[67] and it provides wheelchairs for its disabled citizens of all ages.[68] Abortions are freely permitted as well.[69]

Myths[edit | edit source]

The North Korean government does not teach its people that Kim Jong-il or any other leaders never defecate or urinate.[70] Furthermore, North Koreans are not being told that the government found a unicorn lair, as what had actually happened was that there was a cave found that served for the inspiration for folklore, with the "unicorn" actually being a kirin — a chimeric creature that has been described as "a four-legged beast with a dragon's head" as well as an animal with "the body of a deer, the tail of a cow, hooves and a mane", with horn jutting out from the top of its head. This discovery was probably made to connect the current North Korean state to the ancient Korean kingdom of Koguryo, as well as to its wise leaders to whom the kirin was alleged to appear to.[71]

Defectors[edit | edit source]

Though it is true that the DPRK has been suffering from hardship, particularly from the Arduous March (and still does, though its troubles are gradually alleviating), there are several defectors from the country who are notable in spreading misinformation about the it, either exaggerated or outright false. North Korean defectors often have contradictory narratives as well because evidently, there is little collaboration between the various agencies that manage the media presence of such individuals; agencies such as Atlas Network and the National Endowment for Democracy, which incentivize defectors to exaggerate their stories or lie in order to maximize the money they will get for such. Some "defectors" are actually just North Korea's foreign workers who were tricked into defecting with the promise of finding a job, but who then have their passports taken, get locked up in isolation for several months, and then indoctrinated.[72]

One of the most prominent defectors is Yeon-mi Park. She has, for example, asserted that when she was growing up in North Korea (she was born in 1993), there were no art galleries or natural history museums,[73] which is blatantly false. She makes other such lies about the DPRK in exchange for lucrative payments, with the irony being that the ultimate goal of these false stories is the attempted justification of sanctions which will hurt the very people she says need help. There are times when her narratives are exposed, either by referencing the information to the stories of other defectors or to other existing information, to which she will resort to saying that her English is not very good (which given her demonstrated ability, is not very believable), or that she has a poor memory. However, the "poor memory" argument also points to her account being unreliable, if it is assumed to be true. On other occasions, Park has claimed that there is only one television channel in North Korea and that she has seen someone get executed for watching a western film, though North Korea is known to broadcast dubbed western films on national TV. In a 2018 interview, she also gives the impression that she was never taught about the existence of things like Africa or Australia,[74] despite the DPRK having no reason to hide the existence of those continents, and it does in fact have world maps and geography textbooks in school.[75] Reports like these are just attempts to make the DPRK seem as outlandish as possible.

Blaine Harden's book Escape from Camp 14 features a person called Shin Dong-hyuk, who is said to be the only person who was born in a North Korean labor camp who managed to defect. Though Shin's account here and in other media is largely accepted to be true, it is actually far less reliable. Blaine Harden has this to say about him:

In writing this book, I have sometimes struggled to trust him. He misled me in our first interview about his role in the death of his mother, and he continued to do so in more than a dozen interviews. When he changed his story, I became worried about what else he might have made up.

Fact-checking is not possible in North Korea. Outsiders have not visited its political prison camps. Accounts of what goes on inside them cannot be independently verified. Defectors remain the primary sources of information, and their motives and credibility are not spotless. In South Korea and elsewhere, they are often desperate to make a living, willing to confirm the preconceptions of human rights activists, anticommunist missionaries, and right-wing ideologues. Some camp survivors refuse to talk unless they are paid cash upfront. Others repeated juicy anecdotes they had heard but not personally witnessed.[76]

Nara Kang is another defector, telling a number of things which are either very unbelievable or unsupported by other evidence. For instance, she said "Putting on red lipstick is unimaginable in North Korea … the color red represents capitalism and that may be why North Korean society does not let you wear it."[77] The DPRK uses a variety of red coloration to symbolize its socialist identity however, and throughout the history of socialism, red has solidly been the one single color associated with it — not with capitalism, which on the other hand is associated with yellow if anything.[78] She further tells that most people in her hometown were only allowed to wear "a light tint on their lips, sometimes pink but never red -- and long hair had to be tied up neatly or braided" — yet the same report also shows a photograph of a board displaying "approved" women's hairstyles contradicting these claims — besides the wealth of other photos and imagery out there with North Korean women having hair of a different style than what she described.

Fake executions[edit | edit source]

On occasion a story gets reported in Western media that some important person got executed, sometimes brutally, by the North Korean leadership, and often for trivial reasons. There is however an immense amount of falsehood among these kinds of stories, with pretty much all of these people reappearing alive later on, ending up at worst demoted. Some examples include:

  • Hyon Song-wol, a singer who was rumored to be Kim Jong-un's girlfriend, was said to have been executed in August 2013 with her immediate family being forced to watch, then sent to prison camps as "victims of the regime's assumption of guilt by association".[79][80] It turns out that she was alive, and appeared to have gotten a senior role in the party's propaganda department, producing and performing music.[81][82][83]
  • Kim Hyong-hui, Kim Jong-un's aunt, was reported by a defector to have been poisoned in the mid-2010s because "she complained when her husband was executed".[84][85][86] She reappeared alongside Kim Jong-un in 2020, at a Lunar New Year concert.[87][88]
  • Hyon Yong-chol, who was said to have been executed with an anti-aircraft gun in front of hundreds of people for minor offenses, such as falling asleep in Kim Jong-un's presence.[89][90] Two days later he was seen alive and well, with South Korea's National Intelligence Service, which had first reported on the matter, getting its credibility put under scrutiny and questioned upon news of this.[91] Hyon Yong-chol was reported to have been executed again on March 31, 2019, after a failed summit with the US[92][93] — once more, he was all right.[94][95]
  • Ri Yong-gil, who was army chief of staff, was reported to be executed in February 2016.[96][97] As it turns out, he was indeed alive and actually appointed to two senior-level positions in the government.[98] Two years later, he appears again, promoted to one of the top three military chiefs.[99] At the KPA foundation parade of February 2018, as well as the 2018 Day of the Sun parade on April 15, he appears as well standing next to Kim Jong-un.
  • Kim Hyok-chol, diplomat to South Korea who according to South Korea's largest newspaper, was said to have been executed by firing squad. It turned out this was false, as he appeared alive four days later.[100]
  • Ri Yong-gil, a senior military leader who was "executed" in early 2016 for "factionalism, misuse of authority and corruption" was seen alive later in May.[101][102][103]
  • Ma Won-chun, a senior general and architect, was again seen alive after nearly a year from his supposed execution as reported by South Korean officials. He was in fact just demoted.[103][104]
  • Hwang Pyong-so, former director of the North Korean Army's General Political Bureau and North Korea's "second most powerful man" was expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea for taking bribes, which a South Korean newspaper described as the "end of his political career, and possibly his life".[105] He was in fact purged but only demoted, not executed.[106]

Jang Song-thaek, one of the foremost leading figures in the government and uncle-in-law of Kim Jong-un, was indeed executed and this was reported by state media. He was however executed by firing squad,[107] not by being stripped naked and put in a cage where he was fed to 120 starving dogs, which is a claim that has its origins in a minor Hong Kong tabloid called Wen Wei Po that has a particularly poor reputation, which did not cite any sources itself (later the source was found to be a satirical post on a Chinese social media network). This claim later got picked by a Singaporean newspaper, then being spread across the United States, however Chinese and South Korean media, which typically have higher-quality information about matters in North Korea, have not bothered picking it up themselves.[108] Jang was described as "an anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional element" and "despicable human scum" by North Korea's official news agency when announcing his execution,[109] with a power struggle with Kim Jong-un following the death of his father seeming to be the main reason for Jang's execution. Given Jang's high position in the government, he accumulated a faction loyal to him in the military, seeking to consolidate power for himself before Kim Jong-un could, with the last straw being a dispute over fishing grounds where Jang attempted to forcefully seize control of them after they were ordered to be returned to military control; whereas previously Kim Jong-un let Jang, among other members of his cabinet, control them in a move to revive the economy.[110]

Otto Warmbier[edit | edit source]

Otto Warmbier was an American college student who visited the DPRK in 2017 and gained worldwide fame after he was arrested and jailed there - before falling into a coma and dying a few days after his return to the USA. Warmbier visited the DPRK as part of a trip advertised as "The trip your parents wouldn't want you to take", and on one of the last days of his stay is said to have stolen a poster that had Kim Jong-il's name on it from his hotel. While at the Pyongyang Airport, officials approached Warmbier, requesting him to "step out of line". Warmbier reportedly shrugged and complied, being led away. Warmbier was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor, although sentences like these are symbolic and foreigners like him usually leave within a year, alive and well.[111] However some time into his sentence he fell ill with an unidentified neurological disease and collapsed into a coma. He was kept in a hospital in Pyongyang for four months before being returned to the US in January 2018.

What is known is that he came back from North Korea in a coma, released after 17 months in captivity,[112] and that he died after his parents requested his feeding tube to be removed.[113] It is virtually impossible to find out what exactly happened in his case, since his parents also refused to have his body autopsied. He has suffered a neurological injury during his stay in North Korea, to which there are several theories. One is that the North Korean government had him deprived of air so that he wouldn't become another "survivor" of the country who would end up pushing for sanctions against it, while another is that he attempted suicide in panic. However, the German emergency physician who accompanied a US negotiator to retrieve Warmbier has said that there are no signs of torture, not even any bruises.[114] The North Korean government has released a video that allegedly shows him stealing a poster in a restricted area, though because of its low resolution it has a possibility of being falsified.

External links[edit | edit source]

Videos[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. Typically translated as "self-reliance", "agency" etc.
  2. The one who proposed the minimum of one million was Andrew Natsios, an anticommunist who simply based his statistic on the guesswork of some monks in one Korean village, hence the actual minimum is probably far lower than one million.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (2019)
  2. Kim Jong Un gives Historic Speech, clarifying Party's Programme for building Socialism and Communism. Uploaded to YouTube by 푸옹 Phuong DPRK Daily.
  3. Friedhoff, Karl (16 Sep 2021). "Americans Remain Committed to South Korea, View North Korea as an Adversary". Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Retrieved 19 Mar 2024.
  4. Gallup, Inc.; Jones, Jeffrey M. (12 Jul 2018). "Americans' Opinions of U.S.-North Korea Relations Less Negative". Gallup.com. Retrieved 19 Mar 2024.
  5. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "2". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 58. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  6. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "2". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 59. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  7. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "2". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 62. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  8. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "3". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 69. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  9. Cumings, Bruce (2002). The Origins of the Korean War: Liberation and the emergence of separate regimes, 1945–1947. Yuksabipyungsa. p. 161. ISBN 8976966120.
  10. Park, Jung Jin (2016-12-08). North Korean Nation Building and Japanese Imperialism: People’s Nation, People’s Diplomacy, and Japanese Technicians. Taylor & Francis. pp. 199–220. ISBN 9781317284802. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |pageurl= ignored (help)
  11. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "3". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 73. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  12. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "3". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 74. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  13. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "3". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 84. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  14. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "3". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 88. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Matray, James (2001). "Revisiting Korea: Exposing Myths of the Forgotten War". Archived from the original on 2010-07-07.
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  17. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "3". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. pp. 88–94. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  18. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "3". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. pp. 97–8. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  19. Blum, William (1995). "5". Killing Hope. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press. p. 46. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |text= and |pageurl= (help)
  20. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "3". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 98. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  21. "Empire Files: War With North Korea - Propaganda vs. Reality". Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  22. The US Imperialists Started the Korean War
  23. The Korean War: An Unanswered Question
  24. "Socialism and Democracy in the DPRK". 2017-03-28. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  25. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "4". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 139. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  26. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1we5OEdteZFfAh11v0s_RVh3LWAkVICGrFnvksVynGxw#heading=h.2mt5q77thopy
  27. A. Lucas, James (27-November-2015). "US Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 "Victim Nations" Since World War II". Archived from the original on 27-November-2015. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |archivedate= (help)
  28. Armstrong, Charles (2009-03-16). "The Destruction and Reconstruction of North Korea, 1950 - 1960  北朝鮮の破壊と再建'、1950-1960年". Asia-Pacific Journal. 7 (0).
  29. Cumings, Bruce (2004). North Korea: Another Country. New York: The New Press.
  30. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "6". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. pp. 225–7. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  31. Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (1976). "6". Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development. New York: Monthly Review Press. p. 221. ISBN 0-85345-386-1.
  32. http://countrystudies.us/north-korea/16.htm
  33. http://countrystudies.us/north-korea/46.htm
  34. "North Korea fought in Vietnam War". 2000-03-31. Archived from the original on 2012-12-03.
  35. Pribbenow, Merle. "North Korean Pilots in the Skies over Vietnam".
  36. Shazly, Lieutenant General Saad el (2003). The Crossing of the Suez (revised ed.). American Mideast Research. pp. 83–84. ISBN 0-9604562-2-8.
  37. James III, W. Martin (2011). A Political History of the Civil War in Angola: 1974–1990. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-4128-1506-2. LCCN 2010051379. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |pageurl= ignored (help)
  38. Whitty, Michael; Kim, Suk; Trevor, Crick (2007). "4". The Effectiveness of Economic Sanctions Against North Korea. Economic Sanctions Against a Nuclear North Korea: An Analysis of United States and United Nations Actions Since 1950. Jefferson, North Carolina. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-7864-3231-8. {{cite book}}: External link in |pageurl= (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |publishers= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  39. "Democratic People's Republic of Korea". Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  40. Kim, Suk (2007). "1". North Korea: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Economic Sanctions Against a Nuclear North Korea: An Analysis of United States and United Nations Actions Since 1950. Jefferson, North Carolina. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-7864-3231-8. {{cite book}}: External link in |pageurl= (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |publishers= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  41. Abramowitz, Morton; Laney, James (2001). Testing North Korea: The Next Stage in U.S. and ROK Policy. Council on Foreign Relations®, Inc. p. 43. ISBN 0-87609-281-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |pageurl= ignored (help)
  42. Kim, Samuel (2002). North Korea and Northeast Asia in World Politics. North Korea and Northeast Asia. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. p. 45. ISBN 0-7425-1710-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |pageurl= ignored (help)
  43. Uriarte, Damian; O’Conner, Julie (1999). Les Adler (ed.). "U.S. Media Ignores Humanitarian Aspects of Famine in Korea". Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  44. "Exploring the Implications of Alternative North Korean Endgames: Results for a Discussion Panel on Continuing Coexistence Between North and South Korea". 1998-01-21.
  45. Pinkston, Daniel (2003-07-01). "North Korea's 11th Supreme People's Assembly Elections". Nuclear Threat Initiative. Freedom House. Archived from the original on 2017-03-02. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  46. "Constitutional and Pariamentary Information" (PDF). Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments. 1992. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-16.
  47. "Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea". 1972-12-27. {{cite web}}: |chapter= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |date_published= ignored (help)
  48. Tax? What Tax? The North Korean Taxation Farce
  49. Ko, Haksoo. "9". Foreign Investment Regulation in North Korea: An Assessment. Perspectives on Korean Unification and Economic Integration. United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 118. ISBN 1-84064-418-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |pageurl= ignored (help)
  50. [A Quick Look At North Korea From History To Taxes https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2018/06/12/a-quick-look-at-north-korea-from-history-to-taxes/]
  51. Communist North Korea: A Bibliographic Survey. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1971. p. 38. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |pageurl= ignored (help)
  52. Feron, Henri (2014-05-02). "Doom and Gloom or Economic Boom? The Myth of the 'North Korean Collapse' 破綻か好況か 「北朝鮮崩壊」という神話". Asia-Pacific Journal. 12 (18). {{cite journal}}: More than one of |number= and |issue= specified (help)
  53. 53.0 53.1 Smith, Hazel (2014-02-19). "Crimes Against Humanity? Unpacking the North Korean Human Rights Debate". Critical Asian Studies. 46 (1): 127–143. doi:10.1080/14672715.2014.863581.
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  55. "MALNUTRITION DEATH RATE BY COUNTRY". World Life Expectancy. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  56. "Causes of Death - Our World in Data". 2018-02-14. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  57. "2018 Global Hunger Index Results - Global, Regional, and National Trends - Global Hunger Index - peer-reviewed annual publication designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels". Global Hunger Index - A Peer-Reviewed Publication. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  58. Silberstein, Benjamin (2017-11-14). "Between Sanctions, Drought and Tensions: How Bad is North Korea's Food Situation?". Archived from the original on 2017-11-14.
  59. "Sepho Area Livestock Farming Base Completed in DPRK". 2017-10-28. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
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  61. "Korea, North - International - Analysis - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)". Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  62. Pearson, James (2015-04-21). "In North Korea, solar panel boom gives power to the people". Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  63. Kim, Christine; Chung, Jane (2017-07-21). "North Korea 2016 economic growth at 17-year high despite sanctions - South Korea". Archived from the original on 2017-09-03.
  64. Kopf, Dan (2018-06-11). "The state of the North Korean economy might surprise you". Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  65. "North Korean economic growth surpasses South Korea's for first time in eight years". Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  66. "An Eyewitness Account of North Korea and Its People: Bravely Building a Friendly, Socialistic Society While in the Cross Hairs of Imperialism". 2015-03-06. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
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  68. counterpropaganda re Korea (2018-09-21). "You can see Pyongyang's wheelchair-using citizens for yourself.pic.twitter.com/AvluAtDY1k" (Tweet). @korcounterprop. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  69. "Abortion law North Korea". Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  70. Did the North Korean government ever say that Kim Jong-il never defecated?
  71. Unicorn lair 'discovery' blamed partly on mistranslation
  72. "Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul (서울의 평양 시민들)".
  73. Park, Yeon-mi. (February 5, 2019) "I was awed by human imagination. This was an astonishing experience. When I was growing up in North Korea, there was no such things like art museums or natural history museums. I mean we… https://instagram.com/p/BthJOt3nlFO" Twitter.com
  74. Chalupa, Andrea. (June 11, 2018) "Thinking of Yeonmi Park tonight. After escaping North Korea, she had to learn a world of facts, like Australia and Africa exist. Here she is with a rare copy of Animal Farm. She told me reading Animal Farm helped her heal by showing that evil systems are made and are not natural." Twitter.com
  75. "DPRK Geography 1 Textbook".
  76. Page 10
  77. 'Beauty is freedom': The North Korean millennials wearing makeup to rebel against the state
  78. Adams, Sean; Morioka, Noreen; Stone, Terry Lee (2006). Color Design Workbook: A Real World Guide to Using Color in Graphic Design. Gloucester, Mass.: Rockport Publishers. pp. 86. ISBN 159253192X. OCLC 60393965.
  79. Report: Kim Jong Un’s Former Lover Executed by Firing Squad After Making Sex Tape
  80. Kim Jong-un's ex-lover 'executed by firing squad'
  81. Back from the dead? Kim Jong-un’s ex-girlfriend appears on television nine months after reports she'd been EXECUTED for making a sex tape
  82. Kim Jong-un shock - North Korean leader BACK FROM THE DEAD
  83. ‘Executed’ singer Hyon Song-wol is Kim Jong-un’s new right-hand woman
  84. Kim Jong-un 'ordered his aunt be poisoned because she complained when her husband was executed'
  85. North Korean leader ordered aunt to be poisoned, defector says
  86. North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un 'poisoned his aunt'
  87. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's aunt reappears after six years
  88. Kim Jong-un's aunt reappears, six years after purge rumours
  89. "North Korea defence chief reportedly executed with anti-aircraft gun". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  90. "North Korea publicly executes defense chief, South Korean spy agency says". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  91. "NIS under scrutiny for claiming Hyon Yong-chol's execution". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  92. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reportedly executes officials after failed Hanoi summit with US
  93. North Korea executes envoy to failed U.S. summit -media; White House monitoring
  94. Kim Yong-chol: 'Purged' N Korean diplomat appears with Kim
  95. Top North Korean official Kim Yong Chol reappears days after purge report
  96. "North Korea 'executes' army chief of staff Ri Yong-gil". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  97. "Kim's 'Reign of Terror' continues as N. Korean Army General Ri Yong-gil is executed".
  98. "North Korean general thought to be executed is actually alive". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  99. "Previously 'Executed' North Korean Official Promoted to Military Chief". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  100. 'Executed' North Korean diplomat is alive, sources say
  101. North Korean general, reported executed, turns up at party congress
  102. North Korean General, Reported Executed, Appears to Be Alive
  103. 103.0 103.1 North Korean General, Thought to Be Executed, Resurfaces
  104. Ma Won Chun reappears after 11-month absence, purge rumor
  105. Hwang Pyong-so: Mystery over disappearance of North Korea's 'second most powerful man'
  106. Hwang Pyong-so comes back from being purged
  107. NKorea executes Kim Jong Un' uncle
  108. No, Kim Jong Un probably didn’t feed his uncle to 120 hungry dogs
  109. Story about Kim Jong-un's uncle being fed to dogs originated with satirist
  110. Korea Execution Is Tied to Clash Over Businesses
  111. https://web.archive.org/web/20200626122626/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_nationals_detained_in_North_Korea
  112. Nakamura, David (April 26, 2018). "Amid Trump's diplomatic thaw, Otto Warmbier's parents sue North Korea for having 'brutally tortured and murdered' their son". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on May 10, 2018.
  113. Clark, Doug Bock (July 23, 2018). "The Untold Story of Otto Warmbier, American Hostage". Archived from the original on August 1, 2018.
  114. Zweifel an "Todesfolter" im Fall Warmbier