North+Korea

** North Korea ** //"Democratic People's Republic of Korea"// =Location: =

There are very few geographical attributes found within the borders of North Korea. Yet it is known that the country is connected to parts of China, Russia, and South Korea. There are various mountain regions found within the nation which causes a sparcity amongst its' inhabitants. Diana Frankhauser
 * Evidence of Issues and Statistics throughout North Korea: **

The country of North Korea is very limited in what they will release to the outside world since they are ruled by deceased, communist leader, Kim Il Sung. Although he is no longer living, his son Kim Jong-Il rules today with the same policies of “ ostensible diplomatic and economic ‘self-reliance’ as a check against [of ] outside influence” as his father. (2) The war between North Korea and the South ended in 1953, but the two ends of the peninsula still feud today; this proves to be problematic due to North Korea’s new developments with nuclear technology. (2) Of the little that has been released from the country, it may be found that the economic standpoint of the country is in collapse due to various reasons.

One of the issues within the country regards the country’s communist government. North Korea has all television and radio stations “pre-tuned to government stations that pump o ut a steady stream of propaganda” according to BBC News. Also, the entire country is forced to believe in religious affiliations relating to the government so as to fool the country’s inhabitants that they have religious liberty. (2) Even today reports from BBC News say that North Korea has been “hit by natural disasters, poor planning and failure to modernize”. The only way to act for the country to reach the level of technology throughout the world is to open up to new ideas. Unfortunately, North Korea borders China and Russia other than South Korea; this limits the country since it is so close to former communist nations. To add to the difficulty, the sparse population //within// North Korea are spaced out due high mountain regions (2).

Not only does the country have problems that North Korea itself created, there are various natural disasters that occur such as water pollution, lack of reusable water, and diseases found in the water. (2) This ultimately results in poor crops causing famine throughout the country. UNICEF intelligence reports that approximately 37 percent of all of North Koreans depend upon food aid for survival. UNICEF also states that this year they will “treat 13,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition”. The rationing system still was used up to 1990, but collapsed due deprivation of food. At this point in time, people across the nation were selling anything valuble that they owned in hopes of gaining food in return (10). (1). These food shortages then lead to greater issues including “collective farming practices, poor soil quality, insufficient fertilization, and persistent shortages of tractors and fuel”. (2)North Korea began receiving food aid from the United States in order to help provide for those who are malnourished. The US delivered “500,000 metric tons of food via the World Food Program and US nongovernmental organizations; but Pyongyang stopped accepting the aid in March 2009”. (2)

Some of the most affected by the problems are women and children. Most North Korean women depend upon the system of bargaining for food. It is found that if a woman has a bicycle that becomes stolen or her wages are taken from her, her family may go hungry and starve. (10) 6,100,000 people, which are mostly women and children, are living permanently in institutions and are at risk of receiving no food from the Public Distribution System. The hope of UNICEF is to reach “around 4.4 million people, including 3.3 million women… and around 573,000 girls and 581,000 boys” whom are at risk of starvation. ( 1)

In the December of 2005, the North Korean government "terminated most international humanitarian assistance operations in North Korea (calling instead for developmental assistance only) and restricted the activities of remaining international and non-governmental aid organizations". (2)With this step backwards, there is little known about what may be done in hopes of helping the Northerners. Until the country decides to cooperate with other nations, many more may starve to death within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

**<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Human Rights, Poverty and Health: ** <span style="color: #f72b77; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Ali Corso
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: andalus,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">There is very little money since "2% of GDP is allotted for health care; this ranks North Korea 189th in the world." Very is provided for health care to assure the well being of the citizens. This shows that government funding is unfair and does not favor the common citizen; it favors the political and powerful. (2)


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"The state has been dubbed the world's worst violator of press freedom by the media rights body "Reporters without Borders'." Everything from newspapers to music is censored in North Korea. The government keeps its people from being exposed to anything outside of their approval. The extreme censorship of the citizens of North Korea clearly shows that the government has many secrets. They hide the truths of the rest of the world from their citizens in order to keep them faithful to their nation. (2)


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: andalus,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">Religious freedom is certainly not allowed in North Korea and they implement these religious groups simply to try to fool the rest of the world. (2)


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"North Korean citizens usually cannot freely travel around the country, much less travel abroad." North Koreans are not allowed to leave country borders at all, they're lucky if they can get across town without any trouble. Travelling is only for the very privileged and by privileged I mean politically powerful, this is another form of censorship. (3)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"North Korean refugees who flee to China are often later forcibly repatriated back to North Korea by Chinese authorities, and are routinely beaten and sent to prison camps." The government will go to very extreme measures to make sure that their citizens are not exposed to the greater world and that none of their dirty secrets are leaked. ( 3)


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"North Korea's population is one of the worlds most ethnically homogeneous and today immigration is almost non-existent" The nation puts impassible immigration/emigration laws on its people to keep everyone uniform and loyal. No one can run away from North Korea, one is expected to be loyal to the nation and to emigrate would be betrayal. Also, in North Korea, there is no "melting pot", they do not intermarry or interbreed with other cultures, Koreans stay with Koreans and that is that. (3 )


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"North Korean doctor who defected, Ri Kwang-chol, has claimed that babies born with physical defects are rapidly put to death and buried” North Korea is very intolerant of "imperfection". Everyone must be the same and the government must be proud of its people. The whole system is very superficial and unfeeling. (3)


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"A group called "A Woman's Voice International" alleged that the state forcibly drafts girls as young as 14 years to work in the so-called kippmjo that includes prostitution teams. The source used is unclear as to whether only adult kippmjo are assigned to prostitution or whether there is prostitution of children – other kippmjo activities are massaging and cabaret dancing. Claims were made that there are orders "to marry guards of Kim Jong-Il or national heroes" when they are 25 years old.” This is just one more way the government forces the dehumanization of women. Females are constantly degraded and treated like an object, not even a prize, simply trash that passes between hands like a business transaction. (8)


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"Economic problems. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment, shortages of spare parts, and poor maintenance. “The government is very disorganized with its finances. It is too concerned with controlling it's people that the people aren't even able to participate in government where it would help, i.e.: investments. (2)


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">“Large-scale military spending draws off resources needed for investment and civilian consumption." This debt affects the people and lowers their living standard immensely. They are lacking sufficiency in everything; housing, food, etc. (2)

> country comparison to the world: 33" > There is a high rate of children underweight because the citizens are very poorly cared for and in the famine children are not as highly prioritized in food distribution as they should be. (2)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 20.6% (2004)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"With the widespread destruction of harvests and food reserves, the majority of the population became desperate for food, including areas well established in food production. In 1996, it was reported that people in “the so-called better-off parts of the country, were so hungry that they ate the maize cobs before the crop was fully developed,” unfortunately this reduced expected production of an already ravished harvest by 50%. People everywhere were affected by the crisis, regardless of gender, affiliation or social class." People were starving so badly that they weren't even eating mature crops. However, when they did this they lessened any production they may have had because they consumed it prematurely; desperate times call for desperate measures. The government could've done more to help. (8)




 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"Women suffered significantly due to the gendered structure of North Korean society, which deemed women responsible for obtaining food, water and fuel for the family, often including extended family." Another example of social standards in North Korea. Everything in blamed on the women. It is their job to find food even if there isn't any and if they didn't, they would be in deep trouble. (8)

> **ECONOMY** **Elise Naticchia**
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: andalus,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">"An exact statistical number of deaths during the acute phase of the crisis, from 1994 to 1998, will probably never be fully determined. Independent analysis estimates between 800,000 and 1.5 million people died due to starvation, disease, or sickness caused by lack of food" Due to insufficient aid and bad environmental conditions causing a famine, tons and tons of people died. This was not even blinked at by the government, if the powerful had their food and their health, everything was fine; that's what mattered. Although this was the most class ambiguous crisis North Korea's ever had, the distribution of what they did have wasn't fair at all. <span style="display: block; font-family: andalus,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: small;">(8)  <span style="display: block; font-family: andalus,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">North Korea is known for being one of the most secretive nations in the world. It limits the release of economic data to the world and its own people. Beginning in the 1960’s,North Koreaseverely cut back on the amount of economic data to be published. This was around the same time that the economy ofNorth Korea began to slow down. The small amount of data that is published is plagued with “ambiguities and gaps”, making it very difficult to read into. (7)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Kim Il-Sung introduced the idea of “self reliance”. In other words,North Korea’s economy was based on the idea of being self-sufficient, with little foreign trade, investment, or acceptance of help. This has led to isolation as well as a decline in the economy. Products suffer from bad quality and little efficiency of production. In addition, producers are limited to a smaller size market and there is not a diverse amount of products. (7)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The economy is extremely communistic, and is very centralized and planned. This “socialized” economy was begun in 1958 when private ownership of the land, means of production, and commercial enterprises was taken over by state or collective control. (6)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Some regard the totalitarian state of North Koreaas the cause of the downfall of the economy. The mismanagement of the economy in addition to natural disasters has caused the starvation of many people in North Korea. (5)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The government ofNorth Koreaspends ridiculously high amounts of money on the military, taking away from the money needed for civilians and investing. (2)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">North Korea is ranked 135 in the world for amount of exports and 138 in the world for the amount of imports, showing how little foreign trade it partakes in. (2)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The budget deficit in North Korea is -.4%, ranked 51 of all the countries in the world. It is also ranked the lowest of every other country inAsia. (2)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The external debt of North Korea is $12.5 billion, ranked 89 in the world. It is ranked the worst of the countries that make up its continent. (2)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The work force of North Korea is an estimated 12.2 billion, which is ranked 41 in the world. (2)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Because of years of underinvestment, shortages, and poor maintenance, the industrial capital stock ofNorth Koreais nearly “beyond repair”. (2)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The GDP (purchasing power party) is an estimated $40 billion, ranked 99 in the world and the lowest in Asia. The GDP (official exchange rate) is about $28 billion, which is very low compared to the rest of the continent. The GDP (per capita) is only $1800, ranked 194 in the world. This is by far the lowest ranked of all ofAsia. The GDP (real growth rate) is -.9%, ranked 196 in the world, showing just how bad it is. Once again, this ranking is far below the rest ofAsia. (2)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The economy of North Korea is facing some positive changes, however. It is turning more toward foreign trade, tourism, foreign investment, and economic cooperation withSouth Korea. These have been identified as open door policies and new joint venture laws. (7)

**QUOTES**
 * Elise Naticchia **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">"All of North Korea is a jail." -Kim Y. Sam (4)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">“If we had made it clear from the very beginning that we were not going to tolerate another nuclear power on the face of the earth, and had done it in Korea, where we could have accomplished it militarily, if necessary, I would put a stop to it and would have put a stop to it there.” -Lawrence Eagleburger (4)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">“ It's very certain that North Korea is developing nuclear weapons for offensive purposes. They don't need nuclear weapons to defend their own country.” - Kim Y. Sam (4)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">“So if North Korea continues present isolation, then with such economic difficulties the North Korean government must meet a very serious situation in the future.” -<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> Kim Dae Jung (4)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">“ So moderate is insisting that North Korea should open door to outside. ” -Kim Dae Jung (4)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">“The greatest threat to the security of the people of North Korea comes from the government of North Korea.” -Ari Fleischer (4)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> “We have it. The smoking gun. The evidence. The potential weapon of mass destruction we have been looking for as our pretext of invading Iraq. There's just one problem - it's in North Korea. ” -Jon Stewart (4)



<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Works Cited <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(1)“Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” //Humanitarian Action for Children 2011//. UNICEF, 19 Apr. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.unicef.org/‌hac2011/‌hac_dprkorea.php>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(2)“East & Southeast Asia :: Korea, North.” //The World Factbook//. The Central Intelligence Agency, 27 Nov. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <https://www.cia.gov/‌library/‌publications/‌the-world-factbook/‌geos/‌kn.html>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(3)“Human rights in North Korea.” //Wikipedia//. Wikipedia, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌Human_rights_in_North_Korea>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(4)“Korea Quotes.” //Brainy Quote//. BookRags Media Network, 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.brainyquote.com/‌quotes/‌keywords/‌korea.html>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(5)“North Korea Country Profile.” //BBC News//. BBC, 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/‌2/‌hi/‌asia-pacific/‌country_profiles/‌1131421.stm>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(6)“North Korea Country Profile.” //BBC News//. BBC, 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/‌2/‌hi/‌country_profiles/‌1131421.stm>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(7)“North Korea - Economy.” //Mongabay//. Country Studies Program, 2008. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.mongabay.com/‌reference/‌country_studies/‌north-korea/‌ECONOMY.html>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(8)“North Korean Famine.” //Wikipedia//. Wikipedia, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌North_Korean_famine>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(9)Sang-Hun, Choe. “South Korea Approves Sending Medical Aid to the North.” //NYTimes.com//. The New York Times Company, 8 Nov. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/‌2011/‌11/‌09/‌world/‌asia/‌south-korea-approves-sending-medical-aid-to-north.html?_r=1&ref=northkorea>. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 15px;">(10)Seok, Kay. “Human Rights in North Korea.” //Human Rights Watch//. The Korea Times, 17 Feb. 2009. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.hrw.org/‌en/‌news/‌2009/‌02/‌17/‌human-rights-north-korea>.