North Korea
North Korea: Flag
On the northeastern shores of Asia lies a mysterious country that few visitors have seen. North Korea is suspicious of outsiders. People have lived here for thousands of years. But North Korea is a fairly new country. It was created in 1948.
Today, North Korea is home to about 23,000,000 people. That’s about the same population as the state of Texas. The country’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Pyongyang is the capital and largest city.
Facts About North Korea
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Official name
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Democratic People's Republic of Korea
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Capital
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Pyongyang
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Official language
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Korean
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Population
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23,500,000 people
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Rank among countries in population
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47th
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Major cities
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Pyongyang, Nampo, Chongjin
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Area
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46,500 square miles
121,000 square kilometers |
Rank among countries in area
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97th
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Highest point
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Mt. Paektu
9,003 feet/2,744 meters |
Currency
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North Korean won
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WHERE IS NORTH KOREA?
North Korea lies on the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. A peninsula is a strip of land that juts out from a mainland into water. The East Sea (Sea of Japan) and the Yellow Sea surround the peninsula. The country of South Korea lies on the southern part of the peninsula. North Korea is a communist country. South Korea is against communism.
A COMMUNIST COUNTRY
In 1948, the United States and the Soviet Union, a communist country, decided to divide the Korean peninsula in two. Each part became a separate country. A communist government took over in North Korea. In a communist country, the government owns all the land and businesses. Everyone works for the government. North Korea is one of the few communist countries still remaining in the world.
North Korea’s first ruler was Kim Il Sung. He helped build North Korea’s Communist Party. This party controls the government and the country’s military. North Korea has more than 1 million people in its army. Although North Korea does not have a large population, it has one of the world’s largest armies.
THE KOREAN WAR
In 1950, North Korea tried to conquer South Korea. The south fought back. The United States helped South Korea. China, a communist country, helped North Korea. The Korean War was very destructive. Millions of Koreans died in the war.
Finally, in 1953, the two sides stopped fighting. But they never signed a peace treaty. To this day, a strip of empty land separates the border between North and South Korea. It’s called the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Nothing but wildlife lives in that strip. Both countries keep troops stationed on either side of the DMZ.
RUGGED LAND
North Korea is filled with rugged mountains and deep valleys. The mountains separate the Korean Peninsula from the Asian mainland. Rivers rush down through the valleys.
The valleys have little flat land, and the soil on the slopes is poor. Floods are common and can be destructive. For these reasons, North Korea’s land has never been easy to farm.
THE PEOPLE OF NORTH KOREA
More than 7,000 years ago, people from the Asian mainland crossed over the mountains to settle in North Korea. Few new settlers arrived after that time. Because of this, North Korea has no large minority groups. Only one language is spoken—Korean. The communist government discourages religion. Many North Koreans practice no religion at all.
North Koreans are well educated. Almost all adults can read. But the government controls the schools and uses them to spread its ideas. Everyone in North Korea must support and obey the government. All books, films, plays, and newspapers in North Korea must present the government’s point of view.
MODERN CITIES
Much of North Korea was destroyed during the Korean War. Afterward, Kim Il Sung ordered his people to rebuild. They did. The country rebuilt Pyongyang with wide avenues, parks, and gardens. Pyongyang is North Korea’s most modern city. Other major cities were also rebuilt.
WHAT DOES NORTH KOREA PRODUCE?
North Korea’s mountains hold a wealth of minerals. North Korea mines coal, iron, gold, silver, copper, and other metals. Because of this mineral wealth, Kim Il Sung decided to build up the nation’s industry. North Korea set up many factories. It does much of its farming by machine.
MANY WEAPONS, NOT ENOUGH FOOD
North Korea builds many weapons. It uses them to equip its huge army. But it also sells weapons to other countries. In fact, weapons are among the few items North Korea sells. North Korea buys very little from other countries of the world. Kim Il Sung wanted to make North Korea self-reliant. He tried to build a country that needed no one.
Did Kim Il Sung succeed? Not really. Today, North Korea builds more weapons than it needs. But the nation has trouble feeding its own people. Famines (food shortages) are common. During a famine in 1996, about 2 million North Koreans starved to death.
NORTH KOREA AFTER KIM IL SUNG
Kim Il Sung died in 1994. His son, Kim Jong Il, took over. Since the 1990s, many people believe North Korea has been trying to build nuclear bombs. No one knows if it has succeeded.
BETTER RELATIONS WITH SOUTH KOREA?
In 2000, Kim Jong Il agreed to meet with the South Korean president. It was the first time that leaders of the two countries had ever met face to face. For a short time, Koreans were allowed to visit family members in the other country. Some air, railroad, and mail links were opened for the first time, too.
A great many issues still divide the people in North and South Korea. But a growing number of Koreans remain hopeful that relations between the two countries will continue to improve.
South Korea
South Korea
South Korea: Flag
South Korea is a land of striking contrasts. Rugged, forested mountains cover much of the country. Bustling cities and farms crowd the country’s few lowland areas. Thousands of islands dot the long, indented coastline.
In the early 1900s, most South Koreans worked on farms growing rice, the country’s main food crop. Since the 1960s, South Koreans have built many factories and modernized their farms. Today, South Korea is home to one of Asia’s largest economies.
Facts About South Korea
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Official name
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Republic of Korea
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Capital
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Seoul
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Official language
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Korean
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Population
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49,200,000 people
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Rank among countries in population
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24th
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Major cities
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Seoul, Busan, Daegu
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Area
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38,300 square miles
99,300 square kilometers |
Rank among countries in area
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106th
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Highest point
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Mt. Halla
6,398 feet/1,950 meters |
Currency
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South Korean won
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WHERE IS SOUTH KOREA?
South Korea is one of two countries on the Korean Peninsula. This finger of land sticks out from China, between the East Sea (Sea of Japan) and the Yellow Sea. South Korea lies on the southern part of the peninsula. The country of North Korea lies to the north and shares a border with China.
In ancient times, the steep mountains of the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding seas sealed it off from the Asian mainland. Few wanderers traveled into Korea. The ancient tribes of Korea didn’t mix much with anyone else. As a result, the Korean Peninsula has just one main ethnic group—Korean. Koreans speak six forms, or dialects, of the Korean language.
BORROWING FROM CHINA
In the past, Chinese culture had a strong influence on the Korean Peninsula. Koreans welcomed the ideas of Confucius, a great Chinese teacher who lived about 2,500 years ago. Confucius taught people to respect their elders and honor their ancestors. Grave Visiting Day remains an important holiday in South Korea. Families spend the day at the cemetery, decorating their ancestors’ graves.
Many Koreans practice an ancient Chinese religion called Daoism. Daoism teaches people to live simply and fit in with nature. Koreans learned about the Buddhist religion from the Chinese, too.
BLENDED RELIGIONS
In Korea, new religions do not replace older ones. Koreans often blend beliefs from several religions, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Christianity. In the 1970s, a Korean preacher named Sun Myung Moon created a new religion called the Unification Church. His religion has spread to many other parts of the world.
THE KOREAN ALPHABET
For centuries, Koreans used the Chinese writing system. Chinese writing uses characters that stand for ideas instead of sounds. In the 1400s, Korean kings decided Korea needed its own writing system. In 1446, a team of Korean scholars introduced a new alphabet called Han-gul. In Han-gul, each mark stands for a sound rather than an idea. Koreans still use Han-gul as their writing system.
ONE KOREA
One kingdom ruled the Korean Peninsula from AD 668 until 1948, although it was conquered a few times. Korea was a province of China for several centuries. In 1910, Korea came under the rule of the Japanese. Then, in World War II (1939-1945), Japan was defeated. The victors included the United States and the Soviet Union.
TWO KOREAS
The Soviet Union, a communist country, and the United States, quickly became enemies. They could not agree on the future of Korea. In 1948, they divided the Korean Peninsula into two countries.
A communist government took over in North Korea. Under communism, everyone works for the government. The government owns all the land and businesses. South Korea became a capitalist country. Under capitalism, citizens are allowed to own land and private businesses.
THE KOREAN WAR
In 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea. They hoped to unite the Korean Peninsula by force. The United Nations (UN) sent troops to stop the North Korean army. Most of the soldiers were Americans. China, a huge communist country, helped North Korea. The Korean War devastated Korea’s cities and killed millions of Korean people.
In 1953, the two sides agreed to stop fighting. They never signed a peace treaty. Instead, each side stationed troops along a thin strip of land separating the two countries. This strip of land is called the “demilitarized zone,” or DMZ. To this day, no one may set foot in the DMZ. As a result, the DMZ has become a refuge for wild animals and migrating birds.
THE RISE OF SOUTH KOREA
After the war, South Korea prospered. Many factories were built. Seoul, South Korea’s capital, grew into the world’s fourth biggest city. In fact, nearly one-fourth of South Korea’s 49 million people live in Seoul.
Today, South Korea makes goods such as clothes, televisions, radios, telephones, automobiles, and steel. South Korea ships its manufactured goods all over the world.
During the late 20th century, reforms brought a stronger democracy to South Korea. In 1998, Kim Dae Jung won a democratic election to become president of South Korea. In 2000, Kim Dae Jung won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to improve South Korea’s ties with North Korea.
Korean War
In the 1950s, the United States fought in a war that the country never officially declared. About 5 million people, mostly Koreans, died in a three-year conflict that no one won. This conflict is known as the Korean War.
The Korean War is sometimes called America’s forgotten war. Perhaps that’s because no one wants to remember it.
DIVIDING AN ANCIENT NATION
Japan invaded the Korea Peninsula in 1910. It controlled Korea for 35 years, until the end of World War II. When Japan lost World War II in 1945, the Allies who won the war divided Korea in half from east to west at the 38th parallel of latitude.
The United States took charge of South Korea. The Soviet Union took charge of North Korea. The Soviet Union and the United States had been allies during World War II. But after the war, they became enemies.
INVASION OF SOUTH KOREA
Relations between the two Koreas were tense from the beginning. Neither liked being divided. After months of fighting along the dividing line, North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950.
Tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers rushed south. They captured Seoul, South Korea’s capital. They drove American and South Korean troops all the way to the southern tip of the peninsula.
INVASION OF NORTH KOREA
Late in 1950, U.S. troops launched an invasion by sea into the enemy-occupied part of South Korea. They soon fought their way into North Korea.
China, North Korea’s powerful friend and neighbor, then sent its army to stop the Americans and push them back into South Korea.
In the summer of 1951, both sides dug in along the original dividing line, the 38th parallel. For 18 months, the armies fought terrible battles. Two of the bloodiest fights were called Pork Chop Hill and Heartbreak Ridge.
THE FIGHTING ENDS
On July 27, 1953, the United Nations, North Korea, and China agreed to stop fighting. South Korea did not agree. A neutral zone 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) wide was established along the 38th parallel. Soldiers faced each other on each side of the zone.
KOREA STILL DIVIDED
Because South Korea refused to sign the agreement that ended the fighting, the two Koreas are still technically at war.
The dividing line at the 38th parallel is called the demilitarized zone. Nearly 1 million soldiers from the two Koreas stand guard there.
MANY CASUALTIES
Nearly 2 million Americans served in Korea, and nearly 37,000 died. As many as 4 million Korean soldiers and citizens may have died during the fighting. China lost about 1 million people. The war that nobody won was one of the most destructive of the 20th century.