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North
Korea (aka DPRK) is at the center of controversy for its nuclear
ambitions, its human rights violations and its almost complete
isolationationism. But do you really know North Korea? Here are
some basic facts:
-North
Korea is the Communist opposite of South Korea. Technically, North
and South Korea are STILL AT WAR.
-Kim
Jong Il is the leader of this country, the son of the founder,
Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung is now deceased. Kim Jong Il is reportedly
a huge movie buff, even kidnapping a South Korean actress and
her movie director husband. Many North Koreans believe he is a
living god, born on the top of a mountain in an array of rainbows.
He was actually born in a Siberian guerilla camp.
-North
Korea is so closed off from the world, that North Koreans still
speak Korean from the 1950s. As a comparison, that is like Americans
still saying, "Golly Gee!" and "Swell!"
-North
Korea regulary brainwashes its citizens with pro-Kim Jong Il,
anti-US and anti-South Korean propaganda over loudspeakers for
8 hours a day, everyday, 365 days a year. Everything is gray,
except for the colorful propaganda posters, monuments and
-North
Koreans are starving to death, so much that they are eating anything
they can find, including dead
bodies. The men flee to China, and the women are sold to Chinese
farmers to wives, some sold again and again, some sent back to
North Korea where, if pregnant, are allowed to carry to term and
then watch their newborns killed.
This
government now openly admits to having nuclear weapons, and that
they are not afraid to use them. It has done nucluear testing,
even firing
a missile over Japan. Many people are worried about this,
prompting the six-party talks you hear so much about, between
North Korea, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Russia, and
China. The talks were held in China, as China is North Korea's
only friend in the world. Nothing much were accomplished at these
talks, as the North Koreans are still not willing to give up their
nuclear ambitions.
On
another note, North Korea used to be part of a unified Korean
history and the heir of 5,000 years of history. It has many historical
relics, ancient temples, ancient capitals and cultural relics.
South Korea desperately wants to reunite and share once again
a common history. South Korea has set up a Ministry
of Unification to help this goal. However, it is doubtful
that they will get together soon, as reuniting two completely
different economies, regimes and ideologies would be like uniting
the US and the former USSR.
Links
http://archive.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/nkorea929/
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