Country in E Asia, bounded N by China, E by
the Sea of Japan, S by South Korea, and W by
the Yellow Sea. government Under the 1972
constitution, which replaced the 1948
Soviet-type constitution, the leading
political figure is the president, who is
head of the armed forces and executive head
of government. The president is appointed for
four-year terms by the 615-member supreme
people's assembly, which is directly elected
by universal suffrage. The assembly meets for
brief sessions once or twice a year, its
regular legislative business being carried
out by a smaller permanent standing committee
(Presidium). The president works with and
presides over a powerful policy-making and
supervisory central people's committee (which
is responsible to the assembly for its
activities) and an administrative and
executive cabinet (Administration Council).
The controlling force in North Korea is the
Communist Party (Workers' Party of Korea),
headed since 1945 by Kim Il Sung. It leads
the broader Democratic Front for the
Reunification of the Fatherland (which
includes the minor North Korean Democratic
Party and the Religious Chungwoo Party) in
putting forward single slates of candidates
for election contests. history For early
history, see Korea, history. The Democratic
People's Republic of Korea was formed from
the zone north of the 38th parallel of
latitude, occupied by Soviet troops after
Japan's surrender in 1945. The USSR installed
in power an `Executive Committee of the
Korean People', staffed by Soviet-trained
Korean Communists, before North Korea was
declared a People's Republic in 1948 under
the leadership of the Workers' Party, with
Kim Il Sung as president. The remaining
Soviet forces withdrew in 1949. In 1950 North
Korea, seeking unification of the Korean
peninsula, launched a large-scale invasion of
South Korea. This began the three-year-long
Korean War, which, after intervention by the
USA (on the side of the South) and China (on
the side of the North), ended in stalemate.
The 38th parallel border between N and S was
re-established by the armistice agreement of
July 1953 and a United Nations-patrolled
demilitarized buffer zone was created. North
Korea has never accepted this agreement and
remains committed to reunification. Relations
with the South have remained tense and
hostile, despite the establishment in 1972 of
a North-South coordinating committee to
promote peaceful unification. Border
incidents have been frequent and in Oct 1983
four South Korean cabinet ministers were
assassinated in Rangoon, Myanmar
(Burma),following a bombing incident
organized by two North Korean army officers.
Domestically, the years since 1948 have seen
economic development in a planned socialist
manner. Factories were nationalized and
agriculture collectivized in the 1950s, and
priority in investment programmes has been
given to heavy industry and rural
mechanization. North Korean economic growth
has, however, lagged behind that of its
richer and more populous southern neighbour.
In foreign affairs, North Korea adopted a
neutral stance in the Sino-Soviet dispute,
signing a friendship and mutual assistance
treaty with China in 1961 while at the same
time receiving economic and military aid from
the Soviet Union. North Korea remained
largely immune from the pluralist or
market-socialist wave of reform that swept
other communist nations in 1989-90, making
only minor adjustments. Relations with the
South have, however, showed signs of
improving. In recent years, North Korean
politics have been dominated by the
succession question, with Kim Il Sung seeking
to establish his son, Kim Jong-Il (1941-), as
sole heir designate. Kim Jong-Il has
accompanied Kim Il Sung on diplomatic and
factory tours, been designated Armed Forces
Supreme Commander, begun to preside over key
party and state government meetings, and his
portrait has been placed on public display
across the country. Elements within the
Workers' Party and armed forces appear,
however, to oppose Kim's succession aims.