Download or read book Understanding North Korea written by Institute for Unification Education, Ministry of Unification (South Korea) and published by 길잡이미디어. This book was released on 2015-01-30 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Institute for Unification Education, which constitutes the Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea, has published annual editions of Understanding North Korea since 1972, as an endeavor to promote greater understanding of North Korea for South Korean readers. Understanding North Korea depicts the reality faced by the Northern regime in areas of politics, diplomacy, military, economy, society, culture, and many more. The May 2012 publication has been translated into English, with the aim to help the international community better understand the northern half of the Korean peninsula. English translations of the referred editions will be published on an biennial basis. We hope that this book enables readers around the world to better grasp the reality of North Korea. The regime in North Korea exhibits three characteristics: it is a totalitarian dictatorship governed by the sole leadership of the suryǒng , who stands above the Workers’Party of Korea (WPK) and the state; the regime, as one of the world’s most highly centralized and planned economies, has advocated self-reliance and the monopoly of all means of production by the state and cooperative organizations; and the state uses the concept of Grand Socialist Family which requires absolute obedience of people to the suryǒng , who is considered the father of a family. These traits engendered a peculiar form of social structure unprecedented in any other socialist country. As it had to do under Kim Jong-il, North Korea under Kim Jong-un must engage in some degree of reform and opening to improve its economy and ensure the regime’s survival. Such a path, however, also brings with it the risk of regime collapse. The regime thus faces the difficult task of maintaining stability while at the same time reforming and opening up. CONTENTS I. How should we view North Korea? Section 1. Nature of the Northern Regime 11 Section 2. North Korea’s Dilemma 18 Ⅱ. Political System and Governing Principles Section 1. History of the North Korean Regime and Establishment of its Political System 25 1. Soviet Occupation and Establishment of the North Korean Regime 25 2. Establishment of North Korea’s Political System and its Characteristics 28 Section 2. Formation of Governing Ideology and its Changing Nature 36 1. Juche Ideology 37 2. Songun Ideology 42 3. Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism 46 Section 3. Power Structure and Form of Government 49 1. Power structure 49 2. Workers’Party of Korea 55 3. Central Institutions 71 Section 4. Hereditary Succession of Power and the Kim Jong-un Regime 80 1. History of Hereditary Power Succession 80 2. Establishment and Stabilization of the Kim Jong-un Regime 86 Ⅲ. External Policies and Relations Section 1. Goals and Directions of Foreign Policies 97 1. Basic Ideas and Goals of Foreign Policy 97 2. Policy Directions 99 3. North Korea’s Foreign Policy-making Structure 102 Section 2. Changes in Foreign Policy 105 1. Foreign Policy during the Cold War Era 105 2. Foreign Policy after the Cold War Era 111 Section 3. Foreign Relations 117 1. US-North Korea Relations 117 2. China-North Korea Relations 127 3. Japan-North Korea Relations 132 4. Russia-North Korea Relations 137 5. Relations with the EU and Other Nations 141 Ⅳ. Military Strategy and Capacity Section 1. Characteristics and Functions 153 1. Establishment of the KPA 153 2. Nature and Status 155 3. Functions and Characteristics 156 Section 2. Military Policy and Strategy 160 1. Basic Objective 160 2. Military Strategy 163 Section 3. Structure and Institutions 168 1. Military Structure 168 2. Military Institutions 173 Section 4. Military Capacity 179 1. Standing Forces and Equipment 179 2. Reserve Forces 185 3. Development of Nuclear and Other Strategic Weapons 187 Section 5. Military Relations and Provocations against the South 194 1. External Military Relationship 194 2. North Korea’s Provocations against the South 199 Ⅴ. Economic Structure and Policy Section 1. Characteristics of Economic System and Basic Economic Policy 217 1. Basic Characteristics of Economic System 217 2. Basic Economic Policy 225 3. Establishment and Implementation of Economic Plans 234 Section 2. Economic Status by Sector 238 1. Macroeconomic Status and Tasks 238 2. Economic Status and Tasks by Sector 244 Section 3. Changes in Economic Policy and Outlook for Reform and Opening 259 1. Utilization and Control of Markets 259 2. Limited Opening 268 3. Prospects and Tasks for Reform and Opening 274 Ⅵ. Education and Culture Section 1. Education System and School Life 281 1. Education Policy and School System 281 2. Educational Curriculum and Methods 299 3. School Life 308 Section 2. Literary Art Policy and Current Status 314 1. Literary Art Policy 314 2. Current Status of Literature and Art 321 Section 3. The Media and its Functions 334 1. Newspapers 335 2. Broadcasting 340 VII Society and Life Section 1. Class Structure 349 1. Social Classes 349 2. Social Mobility and Class Structure 353 Section 2. Value System and Everyday Life 356 1. North Korean Citizens’Values 356 2. Daily Life and Life Cycle 362 3. Organizational Life 366 4. Clothing, Food, and Housing 373 5. Leisure and Holidays 380 Section 3. Religion in North Korea 386 1. View on Religion 386 2. Actual Conditions of Religious Beliefs 388 Section 4. Deviations and Social Control 391 1. Social Deviation and Crime committed by North Koreans 391 2. Social Control 398 Section 5. Human Rights in North Korea 404 1. Violation of Civic and Political Rights 405 2. Violation of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights 410 3. Response to Criticism on Human Rights 413

Download or read book Understanding Kim Jong un s North Korea written by Robert Carlin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ambitious book is constructed to provide the reader with unusually broad and deep insight into North Korea, illustrating how the Kim Jong-un regime calculates, balances, and addresses the various key policy challenges it faces. This will be accomplished through the extensive experience of the authors—Korean, European, and American—in North Korea and with North Koreans. There is no substitute for such direct experience in order to address the numerous myths and misconceptions that have grown up and persisted over the years about how the North functions, and how it perceives the world. Moreover, the usual focus on a single issue—for example, just nuclear or just economic matters—fails to provide a sense of how important the inter-relationship of these separate parts is in understanding the whole. The experience brought to bear in the book and the breadth of coverage provides badly needed, critical insights about North Korea at time when policy in Seoul and Washington toward the North is at a crucial hinge point.

Download or read book Understanding North Korea written by U. S. Government and published by . This book was released on 2017-09-12 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In discussing the political regime of North Korea, there are two pointsto be made: Firstly, the Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un regimes are twoseparate phenomena. In the case of North Korea, there is no shortageof topics to discuss: nuclear missiles, three-generational hereditarysuccession, and human rights problems such as the defector issue.Therefore, discussions tend to focus exclusively on a particular topicand often fail to see the wood for the trees, so to speak.Secondly, research for this book relies primarily on informationreleased by the official North Korean media. Although informationprovided by defectors and unconfirmed internal documents can furtherunderstanding of North Korea, the analysis of official documents isthe basis of North Korean research. Analysis of the content of RodongSinmun, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of theWorkers' Party of Korea (WPK), has been at the heart of this research.

Download or read book The Education of Kim Jong Un written by Jung H. Pak and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: North Korea's opaqueness combined with its military capabilities make the country and its leader dangerous wild cards in the international community. Brookings Senior Fellow Jung H. Pak, who led the U.S. intelligence community's analysis on Korean issues, tells the story of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's upbringing, provides insight on his decision-making, and makes recommendations on how to thwart Kim's ambitions. In her deep analysis of the personality of the North Korean leader, Pak makes clearer the reasoning behind the way he governs and conducts his foreign affairs.

Download or read book The Complete Idiot s Guide to Understanding North Korea written by C. Kenneth Quinones and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2003 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this accessible guide, readers will find unmatched expert analysis of the volatile situation in North Korea, along with answers to frequently asked questions. Covered topics include: ¬ North Korea's geography, people, industry, political systems, and government ¬ The history of the country, from myths to kingdoms, including Japan's colonial rule and its effects ¬ The dictator, Kim Jong Il, and his father, Kim Il Sung ¬ The possibility of reunification with South Korea ¬ Options for international involvement

Download or read book Understanding North Korea written by Jongwoo Han and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For South Korean scholars, North Korea is a subject of research pregnant with the meaning of survival of the Korean Peninsula. Based on such a unique position, authors in this book raise and address questions such as how long stability will be maintained in the Kim Jong-un regime, who the power elites behind the system are, and if the North Korean economy is still a Communist planned economy.

Download or read book Kim Jong Un and the Bomb written by Ankit Panda and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-07-15 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 2017, North Korea shocked the world by exploding the most powerful nuclear device tested anywhere in 25 years. Months earlier, it had conducted the first test flight of a missile capable of ranging much of the United States. By the end of that year, Kim Jong Un, the reclusive state's ruler, declared that his nuclear deterrent was complete. Today, North Korea's nuclear weapons stockpile and ballistic missile arsenal continues to grow, presenting one of the most serious challenges to international security to date. Internal regime propaganda has called North Korea's nuclear forces the country's "treasured sword," underscoring the cherished place of these weapons in national strategy. Fiercely committed to self-reliance, Kim remains determined to avoid unilateral disarmament. Kim Jong Un and the Bomb tells the story of how North Korea-once derided in the 1970s as a "fourth-rate pipsqueak" of a country by President Richard Nixon-came to credibly threaten the American homeland by November 2017. Ankit Panda explores the contours of North Korea's nuclear capabilities, the developmental history of its weapons programs, and the prospects for disarming or constraining Kim's arsenal. With no signs that North Korea's total disarmament is imminent over the next years or even decade, Panda explores the consequences of a nuclear-armed North Korea for the United States, South Korea, and the world.

Download or read book Understanding Regime Dynamics in North Korea written by Chung-in Moon and published by 연세대학교출판부. This book was released on 1998 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book North Korea written by Ryan Burke and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-05-09 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ebook serves as an introduction to the sometimes bizarre and disturbing country of North Korea. The country of North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has existed only since September 9th, 1948, when Kim Il Sung took power, and his constitution was adopted. Before then, it has a long history of kingdoms and colonialism. Moreover, it is important to remember that the history of North Korea before 1948 is inseparable from that of South Korea. First, this book will describe how the country came to be, including elements from past eras that helped shape the North Korean ideology of today. Next, I will describe in detail the ideology established by Kim Il Sung, known as Juche, describing how it handles economics, foreign relations, and the control of the people. I will next address the persistent hunger and famine situation in North Korea. I will describe the culture of the North Koreans, paying attention to how the cultural factors before Kim Il Sung interacted with the establishment of Juche. The daily life of a North Korean citizen will be explained and how policies put forward by the ruling party have affected them over recent decades. Finally, I will discuss the current conflict surrounding North Korea's controversial nuclear arms program and their current provocations on the world stage. The chapters of the book include: History: How Juche Came To Be Juche Ideology Famine of the 1990's Daily Life of A North Korean International Relations and Nuclear Weapons Program North Korea has had a tumultuous history and with the growing possibility of famine along with stricter sanctions from the United Nations, the hermit Kingdom is truly becoming desperate. To fully understand the political, social ideologies, economic situation and everything else that is North Korea, please scroll up and purchase my book for only $2.99 Thank you for your time! -Ryan

Download or read book Becoming Kim Jong Un written by Jung H. Pak and published by . This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book from a former intelligence community insider

Download or read book The Real North Korea written by Andrei Lankov and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Real North Korea, Lankov substitutes cold, clear analysis for the overheated rhetoric surrounding this opaque police state. Based on vast expertise, this book reveals how average North Koreans live, how their leaders rule, and how both survive

Download or read book The Sister written by Sung-Yoon Lee and published by Pan Books (UK). This book was released on 2024-07-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Ground-breaking' - Daily Mail 'In explaining the rise to power of Kim Yo Jong, Lee displays his deep knowledge and understanding of North Korea's extreme, ruthless and self-obsessed dynastic autocracy, the creators and rulers of a de-facto nuclear weapon state. Not a reassuring story' - Sir John Scarlett, former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Written by Dr Sung-Yoon Lee, a scholar and specialist on North Korea who has advised the US government, The Sister is a jaw-dropping account of the spectacular rise of Kim Yo Jong, de-facto deputy to her brother, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, and the most powerful woman in North Korea. In 2022, in a particularly fiery speech, Kim Yo Jong threatened to nuke South Korea, reminding the world of the dangers posed by her state. But how did the youngest daughter of Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, his 'sweet princess', become the ruthless chief propagandist, internal administrator and foreign policymaker for her brother's totalitarian regime? The Sister uncovers the truth about Kim Yo Jong, her close bond with Kim Jong Un and the lessons in manipulation they learned from their father. Lee also examines the iron grip the Kim dynasty has on their country, the grotesque deaths of family members deemed disloyal, and the signs that Kim Yo Jong has been positioned as her brother's successor should he die while his own children are young. Readable and insightful, this book is an invaluable portrait of a woman who might yet hold the survival of her despotic dynasty in her hands. 'An incisive portrayal of North Korea's "princess", Kim Yo Jong, but also a chilling portrait of a family dynasty that has oppressed and exploited North Korea for generation after generation' - Max Boot, Washington Post columnist, author and senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

Download or read book Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader written by Bradley K. Martin and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 880 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader offers in-depth portraits of North Korea's two ruthless and bizarrely Orwellian leaders, Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. Lifting North Korea's curtain of self-imposed isolation, this book will take readers inside a society, that to a Westerner, will appear to be from another planet. Subsisting on a diet short on food grains and long on lies, North Koreans have been indoctrinated from birth to follow unquestioningly a father-son team of megalomaniacs. To North Koreans, the Kims are more than just leaders. Kim Il-Sung is the country's leading novelist, philosopher, historian, educator, designer, literary critic, architect, general, farmer, and ping-pong trainer. Radios are made so they can only be tuned to the official state frequency. "Newspapers" are filled with endless columns of Kim speeches and propaganda. And instead of Christmas, North Koreans celebrate Kim's birthday--and he presents each child a present, just like Santa. The regime that the Kim Dynasty has built remains technically at war with the United States nearly a half century after the armistice that halted actual fighting in the Korean War. This fascinating and complete history takes full advantage of a great deal of source material that has only recently become available (some from archives in Moscow and Beijing), and brings the reader up to the tensions of the current day. For as this book will explain, North Korea appears more and more to be the greatest threat among the Axis of Evil countries--with some defector testimony warning that Kim Jong-Il has enough chemical weapons to wipe out the entire population of South Korea.

Download or read book Criminal Sovereignty written by Paul Rexton Kan and published by Strategic Studies Institute. This book was released on 2010 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: North Korea's criminal conduct, smuggling, trafficking, and counterfeiting, is well known, but the organization directing it is understudied or overlooked. North Korea practices a form of "criminal sovereignty" that is unique in the contemporary international security arena. It uses state sovereignty to protect itself from external interference in its domestic affairs while dedicating a portion of its government to carrying out illicit international activities in defiance of international law and the domestic laws of numerous other nations. The proceeds of these activities are used in a number of ways to sustain North Korea's existence and to enable other policies. The authors of this monograph focus on North Korea's Office #39 as the state apparatus that directs illicit activities to include the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs, the counterfeiting of U.S. currency, and the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit cigarettes. Finally, as Kim Jong-Il becomes more frail, the authors assess how his successor may continue or alter Office #39's activities.--

Download or read book Kim Jong il s Leadership of North Korea written by Jae-Cheon Lim and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-11-24 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kim Jong Il came to power after the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994. Contrary to expectations, he has succeeded in maintaining enough political stability to remain in power. Kim Jong Il's Leadership of North Korea is an examination of how political power has been developed, transmitted from father to son, and now operates in North Korea Using a variety of original North Korean sources as well as South Korean materials Jae-Cheon Lim pieces together the ostensibly contradictory and inconsistent facts into a conceptual coherent framework. This book considers Kim and his leadership through an analytical framework. composed of four main elements: i) Kim as a leader of a totalitarian society; ii) as a politician; iii) as a Korean; and iv) as an individual person. This illuminating account of what constitutes power and how it is used makes an important contribution to the understanding of an opaque and difficult regime. It will be of interest for upper level undergraduate, postgraduates and academics interested in North Korean politics, and also those in Political theory.

Download or read book North Korea in a Nutshell written by Kongdan Oh and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-06-11 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore North Korea, one of the most secretive countries in the world. This thoughtful book provides a concise introduction to North Korea. Two leading experts, Kongdan Oh and Ralph Hassig, trace the country’s history from its founding in 1948 and describe the many facets of its political, economic, social, and cultural life. The authors illuminate a hidden nation dominated by three generations of the secretive Kim regime, a family dynasty more suited to the Middle Ages than the contemporary era. North Korea has a robust if outmoded military force, including a growing arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, to deter and defend against foreign attacks and to maintain independence and isolation from the rest of the world. The struggling economy, disconnected from the global marketplace, operates under harsh international sanctions. All North Koreans, from the highest party cadres to the youngest children living in prison camps, are essentially servants of the leader. Despite Kim Jong-un’s despotic control, the authors argue that North Korea cannot continue on its current path indefinitely. Kim treats even his closest associates harshly, and the gap is widening between his elite supporters, numbering a million or so, and the other twenty-four million North Koreans. The economic and technological gap between South Korea and North Korea is increasing as well, and younger people are becoming disenchanted as they gradually learn more about the outside world.

Download or read book The Hidden People of North Korea written by Ralph Hassig and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-04-16 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique book, now fully updated, provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of life in North Korea today. Drawing on decades of experience, noted experts Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh explore a world few outsiders can imagine. In vivid detail, the authors describe how the secretive and authoritarian government of Kim Jong-un shapes every aspect of its citizens' lives, how the command socialist economy has utterly failed, and how ordinary individuals struggle to survive through small-scale capitalism. Weighing the very limited individual rights allowed, the authors illustrate how the political class system and the legal system serve solely as tools of the regime. The key to understanding how the North Korean people live, the authors argue, is to realize that their only allowed role is to support Kim Jong-un, whose grandfather founded the country in the late 1940s. Still a cypher, Kim Jong-un, as did his father before him, controls his people by keeping them isolated and banning most foreigners. North Koreans remain hungry and oppressed, yet the outside world is slowly filtering in, and the book concludes by urging the United States to flood North Korea with information so that its people can make decisions based on truth rather than their dictator's ubiquitous propaganda.