How is the Life in North Korea?

For a long time, Korea was an old, independent kingdom. In the first part of the 20th century, it was controlled by Japan, which wiped out most of Korea's culture and even banned the Korean language. During World War II many Korean men fought in the Japanese army.

After Japan had lost the war Korea became a divided country. The Soviet Union took over control of the northern part of Korea and made it communist. The southern part was influenced by the Americans. In 1950 Communist leader Kim Il-sung invaded the south and tried to reunite it with the northern part. The United States and Great Britain entered the war against the communists and helped the South Korean army. The war lasted for three years and ended in a stalemate.

In the 60s and 70s, Kim built up a personality cult and saw himself as North Korea's great leader. But he became more and more isolated and only had the Soviet Union and China whom he had relations with. When Communism collapsed in Europe and the Soviet Union, North Korea continued its state-run communist system and was left with hardly any partners.

In 1994 Kim Il-sung died and his son Kim Jong-Il took over control of the country. He is the only communist leader who has inherited power from his father. He continued his father's Communist ideology up to the present day. Diplomats who know the North Korean leader described him as paranoid and hypochondriac.

Everyday life is very difficult for the North Korean population. They do not have enough to eat and consumer goods, like washing machines or bicycles, are very hard to get. Sometimes even electricity fails during the day. You can see very few cars on the roads, which are in very bad condition. Most North Koreans have no idea what the outside world is like. They are not allowed to leave their country.

In the 1990s North Korea experienced a famine in which hundreds of thousands of people starved to death. The government controls all aspects of daily life. Television and newspapers are owned and run by the state, foreign TV is forbidden and only 20,000 people have mobile phones. The first Internet cafe was opened up in 2002 and although some people have an Internet connection the government censors most of the content. North Korea's people have little information about the outside world or how the world looks at them.