North Korea territory and population. North Korea - what country is it? the capital of the DPRK

The history of the DPRK is close to a denouement. It's time to thank the North Koreans and ask for their forgiveness.

Tata Oleinik

Not to express deep respect for the image of the leader is to endanger not only yourself, but also your entire family.

Human society is constantly experimenting - how to arrange it in such a way that most of its members are as comfortable as possible. From the outside, this probably looks like the attempts of a rheumatic fat man to get comfortable on a flimsy couch with sharp corners: no matter how the poor fellow turns, he will certainly pinch something for himself, then serve time.

Some particularly desperate experiments were costly. Take, for example, the 20th century. The entire planet was a gigantic training ground where two systems collided in rivalry. Society is against individuality, totalitarianism is against democracy, order is against chaos. Won, as we know, chaos, which is not surprising. You know, it takes a lot of effort to spoil the chaos, while destroying the most ideal order can be done with one well-turned bowl of chili.

Order does not tolerate mistakes, but chaos ... chaos feeds on them.

The love of freedom is a vile quality that interferes with orderly happiness

The demonstrative defeat took place on two experimental sites. Two countries were taken: one in Europe, the second in Asia. Germany and Korea were neatly divided in half and in both cases the market, electivity, freedom of speech and individual rights were created in one half, while the other half was ordered to build an ideally fair and well-organized social system in which the individual has the only right - to serve the common good.

However, the German experiment was unsuccessful from the very beginning. The cultural traditions of the freedom-loving Germans were not completely destroyed even by Hitler - where is Honecker! Yes, and it is difficult to create a socialist society right in the middle of the swamp of decaying capitalism. It is not surprising that the GDR, no matter how much strength and means were poured in, did not demonstrate any brilliant success, raised the most miserable economy, and its inhabitants, instead of being filled with a competitive spirit, preferred to run to their Western relatives, disguising themselves at the border under the contents of their suitcases.

The Korean site promised great success. Still, the Asian mentality is historically more disposed towards subjugation, total control, and even more so when it comes to Koreans, who have lived under the Japanese protectorate for almost half a century and have long forgotten all freedoms.

Juche forever

After a series of rather bloody political upheavals, the former captain of the Soviet Army, Kim Il Sung, became practically the sole ruler of the DPRK. Once he was a partisan who fought against the Japanese occupation, then, like many Korean communists, he ended up in the USSR and in 1945 returned to his homeland to build a new order. Knowing the Stalinist regime well, he managed to recreate it in Korea, and the copy surpassed the original in many ways.

The entire population of the country was divided into 51 groups according to social origin and degree of loyalty to the new regime. Moreover, unlike the USSR, it was not even hushed up that the very fact of your birth in the “wrong” family could be a crime: for more than half a century, exiles and camps here officially send not only criminals, but also all members of their families, including minors children. The main ideology of the state was the "Juche idea", which, with some stretch, can be translated as "reliance on one's own strength." The essence of ideology is reduced to the following provisions.

North Korea is the greatest country in the world. Very good. All other countries are bad. There are very bad ones, and there are inferior ones who are enslaved by very bad ones. There are other countries that are not that bad, but also bad. For example, China and the USSR. They took the path of communism, but they perverted it, and this is wrong.

The characteristic features of a Caucasian are always signs of an enemy

Only the North Koreans live happily, all other nations eke out a miserable existence. The most unfortunate country in the world is South Korea. It has been taken over by the damned imperialist bastards, and all South Koreans fall into two categories: jackals, vile servants of the regime, and oppressed pathetic beggars who are too cowardly to drive the Americans away.

The greatest man in the world is the great leader Kim Il Sung. (By the way, for this phrase in Korea we would have been exiled to a camp. Because Koreans are taught from kindergarten that the name of the great leader Kim Il Sung should be at the beginning of the sentence. Damn, they would have been exiled from this one too ...) He liberated the country and expelled the damned Japanese. He is the wisest man on earth. He is a living god. That is, it is already inanimate now, but it does not matter, because it is eternally alive. Everything you have, Kim Il Sung gave you. The second great man is the son of the great leader Kim Il Sung, the beloved leader Kim Jong Il. The third is the current master of the DPRK, the grandson of the great leader, the brilliant comrade Kim Jong-un. We express our love for Kim Il Sung with hard work. We love to work. We also love to learn the Juche idea.

We North Koreans are great happy people. Hooray!

magic levers

Kim Il Sung and his closest assistants were, of course, crocodiles. But these crocodiles had good intentions. They really tried to create a perfectly happy society. When is a person happy? From the point of view of the theory of order, a person is happy when he takes his place, knows exactly what to do, and is satisfied with the existing state of affairs. Unfortunately, the one who created people made many mistakes in his creation. For example, he put in us a craving for freedom, independence, adventurism, risk, as well as pride, the desire to express our thoughts aloud.

All these vile human qualities interfered with the state of complete, orderly happiness. But Kim Il Sung knew well what levers could be used to control a person. These levers - love, fear, ignorance and control - are fully involved in Korean ideology. That is, in all other ideologies, they are also involved little by little, but no one can keep up with the Koreans here.

Ignorance

Until the beginning of the 80s, televisions in the country were distributed only according to party lists.

Any unofficial information in the country is completely illegal. There is no access to any foreign newspapers and magazines. There is practically no literature as such, except for the officially approved creations of contemporary North Korean writers, which by and large amount to praise of the Juche idea and the great leader.

Moreover, even North Korean newspapers cannot be stored here for too long: according to A.N. Lankov, one of the few experts on the DPRK, it is almost impossible to get a fifteen-year-old newspaper even in a special depository. Still would! The policy of the party sometimes has to change, and there is no need for the layman to follow these fluctuations.

Koreans have radios, but each unit must be sealed in the workshop so that it can only pick up a few state radio channels. For keeping an unsealed receiver at home, you immediately go to the camp, and together with the whole family.

There are televisions, but the cost of a device made in Taiwan or Russia, but with a Korean brand stuck on top of the manufacturer's mark, is equal to about a five-year salary of an employee. So few people can watch TV, two state-owned channels, especially when you consider that electricity in residential buildings is turned on for only a few hours a day. However, there is nothing to see there, unless, of course, you count the hymns to the leader, children's parades in honor of the leader and monstrous cartoons about the fact that you need to study well in order to fight well against the damned imperialists later.

North Koreans, of course, do not go abroad, except for a tiny layer of representatives of the party elite. Some specialists can use Internet access with special permissions - several institutions have computers connected to the Network. But in order to sit down for them, a scientist needs to have a bunch of passes, and any visit to any site, of course, is registered, and then carefully studied by the security service.

Luxury housing for the elite. There is even a sewage system and elevators work in the mornings!

In the world of official information, fabulous lies are being created. What they say in the news is not just a distortion of reality - it has nothing to do with it. Do you know that the average American ration does not exceed 300 grams of cereal per day? At the same time, they do not have rations as such, they must earn their three hundred grams of corn at the factory, where they are beaten by the police, so that the Americans work better.

Lankov gives a charming example from a North Korean textbook for the third grade: “A South Korean boy donated a liter of blood for American soldiers to save his dying sister from starvation. With this money, he bought a rice cake for his sister. How many liters of blood must he donate so that he, an unemployed mother and an old grandmother also get half a cake?

The North Korean knows practically nothing about the world around him, he knows neither the past nor the future, and even the exact sciences in the local schools and institutes are taught with the distortions required by the official ideology. Of course, one has to pay for such an information vacuum with a fantastically low level of science and culture. But it's worth it.

Love

North Korean has little to no idea of the real world

Love brings happiness, and this, by the way, is very good if you force a person to love what is needed. The North Korean loves his leader and his country, and they help him in every possible way. Every adult Korean is required to wear a badge with a portrait of Kim Il Sung on his lapel; in every house, institution, in every apartment there should be a portrait of the leader. The portrait should be cleaned daily with a brush and wiped with a dry cloth. So, for this brush there is a special box, which takes pride of place in the apartment. On the wall on which the portrait hangs, there should be nothing else, no patterns or pictures - this is disrespectful. For damage to the portrait, even if unintentional, until the seventies, execution was supposed, in the eighties it could already get by with exile.

The eleven-hour working day of a North Korean begins and ends daily with half-hour political information, which talks about how good it is to live in the DPRK and how great and beautiful the leaders of the world's greatest country are. On Sunday, the only non-working day, colleagues are supposed to meet together to once again discuss the Juche idea.

The most important school subject is the study of the biography of Kim Il Sung. Each kindergarten, for example, has a carefully guarded model of the leader’s native village, and the children are required to show without hesitation under which tree “the great leader at the age of five thought about the fate of mankind”, and where “he trained his body with sports and hardening to fight Japanese invaders. There is not a single song in the country that does not contain the name of the leader.

All young people in the country serve in the army. There are simply no young people on the streets

Control over the state of mind of the citizens of the DPRK is carried out by the MTF and the MPS, or the Ministry of State Protection and the Ministry of Public Security. Moreover, the MTF is in charge of ideology and deals only with serious political misdeeds of the inhabitants, and the usual control over the life of Koreans is under the jurisdiction of the MSS. It is the MOB patrols that raid apartments for their political decency and collect denunciations of citizens against each other.

But, of course, no ministries would be enough for a vigilant vigil, so the country has created a system of "inminbans". Any housing in the DPRK is included in one or another inminban - usually twenty, thirty, rarely forty families. Each inminban has a headman - a person responsible for everything that happens in the cell. On a weekly basis, the head of the inminban is obliged to report to the representative of the Ministry of Defense on what is happening in the area entrusted to him, whether there is anything suspicious, whether anyone has uttered sedition, whether there is any unregistered radio equipment. The headman of the inminban has the right to enter any apartment at any time of the day or night; not letting him in is a crime.

Every person who has come to a house or apartment for more than a few hours must register with the headman, especially if he intends to stay overnight. The owners of the apartment and the guest must provide the headman with a written explanation of the reason for the overnight stay. If unaccounted guests are found in the house during the MOB raid, not only the owners of the apartment, but also the headman will go to the special settlement. In especially obvious cases of sedition, responsibility can lie on all members of the inminban at once - for non-information. For example, for an unauthorized visit by a foreigner to the house of a Korean, several dozen families may end up in the camp at once if they saw him, but concealed the information.

Traffic jams in a country where there is no private transport is, as we see, a rare phenomenon.

However, unrecorded guests in Korea are rare. The fact is that moving from city to city and from village to village here is possible only with special passes, which the elders of the inminbans receive in the MOB. Such permits can be expected for months. And in Pyongyang, for example, no one can go just like that: from other regions they are allowed into the capital only on official business.

Fear

The DPRK is ready to fight against the imperialist reptile with machine guns, calculators and volumes of "Juche"

According to human rights organizations, approximately 15 percent of all North Koreans live in camps and special settlements.

There are regimes of varying severity, but usually these are simply areas surrounded by barbed wire under voltage, where prisoners live in dugouts and shacks. In strict regimes, women, men and children are kept separately, in ordinary regimes, families are not forbidden to live together. Prisoners cultivate the land or work in factories. The working day here lasts 18 hours, all free time is devoted to sleep.

The biggest problem in the camp is hunger. A defector to South Korea, Kang Chol-hwan, who managed to escape from the camp and get out of the country, testifies that the dietary norm for an adult camp resident was 290 grams of millet or corn per day. Prisoners eat rats, mice and frogs - this is a rare delicacy, a rat corpse is of great value here. Mortality reaches about 30 percent in the first five years due to starvation, exhaustion and beatings.

Also a popular measure for political criminals (however, as well as for criminals) is the death penalty. It is automatically applied when it comes to such serious violations as disrespectful words addressed to the great leader. The death penalty is carried out in public, by execution. They lead excursions of high school students and students, so that young people get the right idea of what is good and what is bad.

This is how they lived

Portraits of precious leaders hang even in the subway, in every carriage

The life of a North Korean who has not yet been convicted, however, cannot be called raspberry either. As a child, he spends almost all his free time in kindergarten and school, since his parents have no time to sit with him: they are always at work. At seventeen, he is drafted into the army, where he serves for ten years (for women, the service life is reduced to eight). Only after the army can he go to college, and also get married (marriage is prohibited for men under 27 and women under 25).

He lives in a tiny apartment, 18 meters of total area here is a very comfortable home for a family. If he is not a resident of Pyongyang, then with a probability of 99 percent he does not have any water supply or sewerage in his house, even in cities there are water heaters and wooden toilets in front of apartment buildings.

He eats meat and sweets four times a year, on national holidays, when coupons for these types of food are distributed to residents. Usually, he feeds on rice, corn and millet, which he receives on cards at the rate of 500–600 grams per adult in “well-fed” years. Once a year, he is allowed to get 80 kilograms of cabbage on cards to pickle it. A small free market has sprung up here in recent years, but the cost of a skinny chicken is equal to a month's salary of an employee. Party officials, however, eat quite decently: they receive food from special distributors and differ from the very lean other population in pleasant fullness.

Deplorable. Poverty, a practically non-functioning economy, population decline - all these signs of a failed social experience got out of hand during Kim Il Sung's lifetime. In the nineties, a real famine came to the country, caused by drought and the cessation of food supplies from the collapsed USSR.

Pyongyang tried to hush up the true scope of the catastrophe, but, according to experts who studied, among other things, satellite imagery, about two million people died of starvation in these years, that is, every tenth Korean died. Despite the fact that the DPRK was a rogue state that committed nuclear blackmail, the world community began to supply humanitarian aid there, which it is still doing.

Love for the leader helps not to go crazy - this is the state version of the "Stockholm syndrome"

Kim Il Sung passed away in 1994, and since then the regime has been creaking especially loudly. Nevertheless, nothing fundamentally changes, except for some market liberalization. There are signs that the North Korean party elite is ready to give up the country in exchange for personal security guarantees and Swiss bank accounts.

But now South Korea does not immediately express readiness for unification and forgiveness: after all, taking on board 20 million people who are not adapted to modern life is a risky business. Engineers who have never seen a computer; peasants who know how to cook grass perfectly, but are unfamiliar with the basics of modern agriculture; civil servants who know the Juche formulas by heart, but who have no idea what a toilet looks like... Sociologists predict social upheavals, stock traders predict a St. Vitt dance on the stock exchanges, ordinary South Koreans reasonably fear a sharp decline in living standards.

In 1945, Soviet and American troops occupied Korea, thus freeing it from Japanese occupation. The country was divided along the 38th parallel: the north went to the USSR, the south - to the USA. Some time was spent trying to agree on the unification of the country back, but since the partners had different views on everything, no consensus, of course, was reached and in 1948 the formation of two Koreas was officially announced. It cannot be said that the parties surrendered like this, without effort. In 1950, the Korean War began, a little like World War III. From the north, the USSR, China and the hastily formed North Korean army fought, the honor of the southerners was defended by the United States, Great Britain and the Philippines, and among other things, UN peacekeeping forces traveled back and forth in Korea, which put sticks in the wheels of both. All in all, it was pretty hectic.

In 1953 the war ended. True, no agreements were signed, and formally both Koreas continued to remain in a state of war. The North Koreans call this war the "Patriotic Liberation War", while the South Koreans call it the "June 25 Incident". Quite a characteristic difference in terms.

In the end, the division along the 38th parallel remained in place. Around the border, the parties formed the so-called "demilitarized zone" - an area that is still crammed with uncleared mines and remnants of military equipment: the war is not officially over. During the war, about a million Chinese died, two million South and North Koreans each, 54,000 Americans, 5,000 British, 315 soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army.

After the war, the United States brought order to South Korea: they took control of the government, banned the shooting of communists without trial or investigation, built military bases and poured money into the economy, so that South Korea quickly turned into one of the richest and most successful Asian states. Much more interesting things began in North Korea.

Photo: Reuters; Hulton Getty/Fotobank.com; eyedea; AFP / East News; AP; Corbis/RPG.

The official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). It is located in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The area is 122.8 thousand km2, the population is approx. 23 million people (2002). The official language is Korean. The capital is Pyongyang (about 2 million people, 2002). Public holidays: April 15 - "Day of the Sun", the birthday of Kim Il Sung; February 16 - Kim Jong Il's birthday; August 15 - Liberation Day (1945); September 9 - Republic Day (1948) The monetary unit is won.

Member of more than 200 international organizations, incl. UN (1991), UNESCO, UNDP, FAO, WHO, etc.

Sights of the DPRK

Population of the DPRK

The DPRK does not publish statistical reports. Here and below, the calculated data are presented.

Population growth 1.5% per year. As a result of natural disasters and crop failures in 1995-97, 1-2 million people died of starvation in the DPRK. According to international organizations, mortality, especially among children, is high. Average life expectancy in recent years has fallen sharply (from 72 to 58-60 years) due to the famine that hit the country in mid-1990s. 1990s The average life expectancy for men is 56 years, for women 62 years.

Persons under the age of 15 make up 30% of the population, 15-49 years - approx. 50%, 50 years and older - approx. 20%. Men 49%, women 51%.

Urban population 40%, rural - 60%. Due to the deep crisis in the economy, part of the urban population (1 million people) was sent to rural areas.

Officially, retirement for women is from 55 years old, for men - from 60 years old.

Ethnic composition - Koreans. There are also 6,000 Chinese living in the country. The language is Korean.

The constitutional norm declares freedom of conscience. However, the state does not allow the use of religion as "a means of penetration of external forces, violation of state and public order." Formally, Buddhism, Christianity and Chondogyo, the religion of the "heavenly path", exist in the country. There are Buddhist temples in Pyongyang and other regions of the country. Religious activities are strictly controlled by the authorities.

State structure and political system of the DPRK

According to the Constitution, the DPRK is "a sovereign socialist state representing the interests of the entire Korean people." The DPRK is also a "revolutionary state". The real power in the country is in the hands of the military. The highest authority is actually the State Defense Committee headed by Kim Jong Il. North Korea is a super-totalitarian state with its own Kim Jong Il personality cult system.

The Constitution of 1972 is in force with important amendments and additions in 1992 and 1998. In particular, a new chapter “Defence of the country” was introduced, the position of president, the Permanent Council of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the Central People’s Committee and the Administrative Council were abolished, the State Defense Committee was established, the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly was restored and the cabinet of ministers.

Administratively, the DPRK is divided into 9 provinces: Ryangan, Chagang, North Hamgyong, South Hamgyong, North Pyongan, South Pyongan, North Hwanghae, South Hwanghae, Gangwon. Three cities of central subordination: Pyongyang, Kaesong, Nampo.

The largest cities: Pyongyang (capital), Wonsan, Sinuiju, Hamhung, Haeju, Chongjin.

The principle of public administration is democratic centralism. The supreme body of legislative power is the Supreme People's Assembly (SPC). The highest body of executive power is the cabinet of ministers.

The head of state: according to the Constitution, he is the chairman of the presidium of the National Assembly, in reality the chairman of the State Defense Committee.

Chairman of the State Defense Committee - Kim Jong Il; Chairman of the Presidium of the WPC - Kim Yong Nam, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers - Pak Bong Ju.

The constitution declares that elections to the SNC and local people's assemblies (provinces, cities and counties) are held on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. In the conditions of the DPRK, the elections are of a formal nature.

Kim Il Sung (1912-94) - the founder and permanent leader of the DPRK for almost 50 years. In the Constitution of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung is described as "a genius of ideas, theory and practice of leadership, an all-conquering, steel commander, a great revolutionary" and declared the "eternal president" of North Korea.

Kim Jong Il (born 1942) is the son of Kim Il Sung. He received the highest power in the country from his father. In North Korean propaganda, he is called the "great commander", "the beloved leader of the Korean people."

Kim Jong Il has put forward a policy of building a "powerful state" and is pursuing a policy of "army priority" in order to mobilize society to preserve the existing regime.

According to the Constitution, the people's congresses of provinces, cities and counties (legislative organs) and the relevant people's committees (executive organs) perform economic functions. In reality, the management of economic activity is carried out by the bodies of the Defense Committee on the ground.

The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) has been the monopoly ruling party in North Korea for almost 60 years. The number of 2.5 million members. A total of 6 party congresses were held (the last in 1980). The main function of the WPK is the implementation of the Juche ideology (“man is the master of everything”).

In addition to the WPK, the country has the Social Democratic Party and the religious party Chondogyo-Chonudan ("Young Friends Party"). These parties fully support the policy of the WPK and do not play a significant role in the political system of the DPRK.

The main public organizations: the United Trade Unions of Korea (OPK), the Union of Agricultural Workers (UTSH), the Kimirsen Socialist Youth Union (KSSM), the Union of Democratic Women (UDW). The main task of public organizations is to perform the function of "driving belts", i.e. ensuring communication between the WPK and the population, carrying out ideological and educational work on the basis of the Juche ideology.

All parties and public organizations (more than 70 in total) are members of the United Democratic Patriotic Front (EDOF). In the center of EDOF activity is the struggle for the peaceful unification of Korea on the basis of the North Korean political platform - the formation of the Koryo confederation.

The domestic policy of the ruling regime is aimed at strengthening "Korean-style socialism", building a "powerful state", turning the country into a "fortress". A line is being pursued to militarize society, to intensify the indoctrination of the population in the spirit of the Juche idea ("Jucheization").

The main principles of foreign policy are "independence, peace and friendship." The DPRK maintains friendly relations with the PRC and has an alliance treaty with it. Develops good-neighborly relations with the Russian Federation. In 2000, the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation was signed between the DPRK and the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000 paid a visit to Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited Russia in 2001 and 2002.

The DPRK seeks to normalize relations with the United States and is in favor of a bilateral dialogue with Washington in order to resolve the North Korean nuclear problem. In 2003, North Korea announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the resumption of its military nuclear program.

Pyongyang insists on receiving from Washington firm guarantees of its own security in exchange for the cessation of military nuclear activities.

In recent years, the DPRK has significantly expanded its foreign policy ties by establishing diplomatic relations with almost all Western European states and with the EU as a whole. The DPRK maintains diplomatic relations with more than 150 countries of the world.

The armed forces of the DPRK number 1.2 million people. In service is approx. 4,000 tanks, more than 600 aircraft, 11,000 guns, 800 SCAD missiles and 200 Nodon-class ballistic missiles (range over 1,000 km). The annual cost of maintaining a huge army is more than 50% of the state budget.

In connection with the nuclear crisis that erupted in 2003, the DPRK officially announced that it intends to "strengthen an independent nuclear deterrence force as a measure of self-defense."

Inter-Korean relations

For almost 60 years, the Korean Peninsula has been divided into two states - the DPRK and the ROK, which have created opposite socio-political and economic systems. The entire period of existence of the two Korean states was marked by a sharp military-political and ideological confrontation, a three-year bloody war of 1950-53.

In the beginning. 1970s North and South began a dialogue that ended with the adoption of the Joint Statement (July 4, 1972), which determined the fundamental approaches of Pyongyang and Seoul to the unification of Korea, which must be achieved, firstly, independently, without the intervention of external forces, and secondly, by peaceful means and , thirdly, on the basis of national consolidation.

In the beginning. 1990s The DPRK and the ROK signed two important interstate documents - the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, Cooperation and Exchanges (December 13, 1991) and the Declaration on the Nuclear-Free Status of the Korean Peninsula (December 31, 1991). These documents de jure recorded the presence of two states on the Korean Peninsula and the principles of their relationship as independent states.

Historic events in inter-Korean relations were the meeting of the leaders of the DPRK and the ROK, Kim Jong Il and Kim Dae-jung in June 2000 in Pyongyang and the Joint Declaration signed by them (June 15, 2000), which reflected common approaches to the unification of the country, the development of political, economic and cultural links between North and South. At the highest level, it was confirmed that the unification of Korea. will be carried out by the Koreans themselves, peacefully and on the basis of the convergence of the North Korean idea of confederation and the South Korean concept of community.

Of great importance for inter-Korean rapprochement was the "sunshine" policy pursued by President Kim Dae-jung in relation to the DPRK (involving North Korea in broad international cooperation, developing multilateral ties with it).

In 1998-2002, political contacts were established between the North and the South, economic cooperation, trade, and humanitarian ties expanded. The DPRK and the ROK are implementing mutually beneficial projects: connecting the railways of the North and South with access to the Trans-Siberian Railway, creating a technology park in the Kaesong region, the Kymgangsan tourism project, etc. Nevertheless, the inter-Korean dialogue cannot be called stable. Periodically, serious conflicts arise between the parties (combat clashes of military vessels in the Yellow Sea in 1999 and 2002). The North Korean nuclear issue also has a negative impact on the dialogue. The government of President Roh Moo-hyun is in favor of continuing the policy of dialogue with the DPRK and for a peaceful political settlement of the North Korean nuclear problem.

Economy of the DPRK

The DPRK has been experiencing an acute economic crisis for the past 10 years. GDP is 8-9 billion US dollars (at the end of the 1980s - 22 billion dollars); GDP per capita is less than $400. There is an acute shortage of electricity, raw materials, various materials and equipment in the country. Electricity production, according to expert estimates for 2002, is 12-13 billion kW / h (in 1990-35), coal - 15 million tons (50), steel - 1.5 million tons (4.2), cement - 4, 0 million tons (7.6). Almost 80% of industrial enterprises are idle.

In 2002, an attempt was made in the DPRK to make adjustments to its economic policy, introduce commodity-money relations, and reduce the scope of the distribution system. The wages of workers and employees were increased by 15-20 times, the prices for manufactured goods and services increased by 30-50 times. The heads of enterprises are given the right to vary the wages of employees. Limited convertibility of the national currency was introduced, the exchange rate against the US dollar approached the market one. These changes are not called reforms in the DPRK, but "state measures" aimed at "strengthening and improving Korean socialism."

Innovations, however, did not lead to positive changes either at the macro level or at the micro level. Inflation has noticeably increased (the official exchange rate of the dollar to won is 1:150, on the black market - 1:2000), unemployment has increased (more than 1 million people).

The economic policy of the DPRK leadership has always been based on the priority development of heavy industry to the detriment of light industry. At the session of the National Assembly in March 2003, "national defense and the military-industrial complex", as well as agriculture and light industry, were named as priorities.

In recent years, the DPRK has experienced an acute shortage of food. Agricultural production does not exceed 4 million tons per year, including 1.8 million tons of rice. International humanitarian organizations annually supply up to 1 million tons of food to save the population of the DPRK from starvation. In the beginning. 2003 North Korea turned to the ROK with a request to urgently deliver 400,000 tons of grain in order to “stretch” it until the new crop is harvested.

The main agricultural crop is rice, the production of which is declining year by year. Animal husbandry is poorly developed. Potato crops are expanding ("potato revolution"). Measures are being taken to develop sheep breeding, rabbit breeding and pond farming.

In the context of a severe crisis, the transport system operates with great interruptions. In previous years, up to 90% of cargo transportation was carried out by rail (in the early 1990s, the length of railroads was 8 thousand km). Currently, rail transport is in a deplorable state. The rail economy is outdated, urgent modernization of the electric locomotive and diesel locomotive facilities, repair of railway bridges, etc. are required. An acute shortage of electricity disrupts the rhythm of the railway transport.

In June 2003, the North and the South carried out a docking of railways in the area of the demilitarized zone. It is planned to start moving along the trans-Korean road with access to the Trans-Siberian Railway (eastern route) and through Pyongyang - Sinuiju to China (western route).

The roads also need to be upgraded. In 2000, the Pyongyang Nampo Highway (57 km) was built. North and South China reached an agreement to connect both parts of the peninsula by a highway.

The DPRK has convenient seaports on the western and eastern coasts - Nampo, Sonnim, Haeju, Hamhung, Wonsong, Chongjin, Rajin. Port facilities are outdated. Unloading and loading operations are carried out mainly manually. The port of Rajin (the volume of cargo handling is 2 million tons per year) is used at 50-60% of its capacity.

Air transport is underdeveloped. Domestic air lines operate irregularly. International air lines: Pyongyang - Beijing, Pyongyang - Vladivostok, Pyongyang - Khabarovsk.

Communication is at a low technical level. North Korea is being computerized. There is a computer connection within the country, but Internet access is blocked.

Domestic trade (wholesale and retail) is poorly developed. Until 2002, there was a strictly permissive procedure for market trading. At present, a large number of markets have been opened in the country, market trade in food products and consumer goods is being established. Goods are mostly imported (from China). It is allowed to open private cafes and restaurants.

In the DPRK, tourist routes are organized to places of "revolutionary glory". These places are mainly associated with the activities of the North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. On the occasion of the birthday of the "great leader" (April 15) and the "great commander" (February 16), "fidelity hikes" are organized to Mount Paektusan (on the border with China), where Kim Il Sung began the partisan struggle, and to the house in the partisan camp located on the same mountain where Kim Jong Il was allegedly born.

Foreign tourism is handled by a specialized state organization. Tourist groups visit the DPRK mainly from China, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. Pyongyang has a chain of hotels for foreign tourists. Special tourist groups are organized for Koreans living abroad.

The DPRK and the ROK are implementing a joint tourism project "Kumgangsan". More than half a million South Koreans have visited the Diamond Mountains.

The leading place in the financial system of the DPRK belongs to the state budget, which includes the central budget and local budgets. The main place in budget revenues is occupied by receipts from state enterprises, turnover tax, income and other taxes, customs duties, and assistance from international organizations. Significant state budget funds (up to 50%) are directed to defense and the development of the military-industrial complex.

After the liberalization of prices and wage increases in 2002, the standard of living of the population did not improve. The average salary in the country is 1,500 won ($10). The population is experiencing a shortage of food and consumer goods. The daily allowance of rice (or corn for adults) is 400 g, for children even less.

North Korea maintains trade relations with more than 100 countries. The volume of trade in 2002 amounted to $2.4 billion. The main foreign trade partners of the DPRK are South Korea ($642 billion), China ($550 million), Japan ($500 million), and EU countries ($250 million). , RF ($130 million). The DPRK's exports are dominated by ferrous and non-ferrous metals, anthracite, and seafood; in imports - oil and oil products, coking coal, chemical fertilizers, food.

The external debt of the DPRK, according to experts, is 25 billion US dollars (2000), incl. Russia - $8 billion, China - $4.5 billion.

Science and culture of the DPRK

A "truly folk and revolutionary culture" has been created in the DPRK. The ruling party is waging an uncompromising struggle "against the cultural expansion of imperialism" and for the establishment of a "new, socialist way of life" in all spheres.

The entire education system is aimed at fostering devotion to the "great commander", his political course and readiness to "protect the commander with his chest."

Since 1975, universal compulsory 11-year education (including one-year pre-school) has been in effect in the DPRK. There are 10,000 general education schools, 450 technical colleges and more than 200 higher educational institutions in the country. In recent years, due to the acute economic crisis, public spending on education has declined. The most prestigious universities are the State University. Kim Il Sung and the Polytechnic University. Kim Chaka.

The Academy of Sciences was established in the country (1952), there are academies of agricultural, medical, pedagogical sciences, and a whole network of scientific institutions. Not far from Pyongyang, in the city of Pyongsong, there is an academic campus where research institutes of various profiles are concentrated. There are an atomic research center in Nyonbyon, institutes of nuclear energy and radiology, etc.

Literary, theatrical, musical activity in the country is carried out under the leadership of the ruling party through the Association of Literary and Art Workers and its creative unions.

The creative intelligentsia of the DPRK (writers, poets, musicians) went through various political campaigns, "hardened in the struggle against formalism and ideological fuzziness." The largest ideological campaign in literature and art was the "movement for the establishment of a single ideology of the party", i.e. Juche ideas.

Kim Jong Il pays great attention to the ideological leadership of the development of literature and art. His speeches contain party guidelines for the establishment of "class and nationality" in artistic creativity.

In the DPRK, the method of "collective creativity" is widely used, when a group of authors write novels and poems dedicated to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Cult themes prevail in all literary work (the novel Immortal History, etc.).

In musical creativity, preference is given to "exemplary revolutionary operas" - "Sea of Blood", "Flower Girl", "Tell, Taiga", "Song of Kymgangsan", "Faithful Daughter of the Party".

The cinema is also dominated by cult, revolutionary themes ("The Star of Korea", "Nation and Destiny", etc.). More than 100 films are released in the country per year, incl. 50 artistic tapes.

Fine art is devoted mainly to the activities of North Korean leaders. Exhibitions held annually on the occasion of their birthdays are designed to reflect the "greatness" of the ideas and characters of the DPRK leaders, their "merits" to the people.

Pyongyang annually hosts the April Spring International Arts Festival and the Non-Aligned States Film Festival.

Fragment of a panel on the facade of the State Film Studio of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

The period of formation (1945-1953)

With the end of World War II, the period of Japanese colonization of Korea comes to an end. In 1945-1948, during the presence of the Soviet military contingent in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, North Korean cinema began to develop there, with the support of Soviet colleagues. Already in 1946, the first documentaries "Our Construction" and "Democratic Elections" were released, which directly demonstrate the adherence of the filmmakers of the new state to the traditions of socialist realism. At the beginning of the following year, a state film studio was founded (this status was secured in 1948 after the Partition of Korea was legally formalized), "whose task was to start creating new images of national cinema after a decade of hegemony of Japanese culture" . Despite Soviet influence, North Korean directors create art style and political content regardless of Soviet standards. [ ] . This was manifested, among other things, in the first full-length sound feature film “My Homeland” (1949), which tells about the anti-Japanese struggle of the patriots under the leadership of Kim Il Sung in Manchuria.

Post-war rise (1955-1969)

Destroyed during the war, the state film studio was restored in 1956. Seven full-length films were released this year, including the first color film, The Tale of Sado Fortress. The following year, the first Soviet-Korean project was prepared and released for hire - the picture "Brothers" (full title in the DPRK - "Do not forget Pa Zhu Byl!" Kor. 잊지말라 파주블!). In 1959, the film adaptation of the national Korean epic "The Tale of the Girl Chun Hyang" (about the love of a young aristocrat and a commoner) was released. The cinematographer of the film 0 Un Thak was awarded a silver medal by the First (resurrected) Moscow Film Festival. In the same year, the Pyongyang Institute of Theater and Cinema began to train national personnel. In 1961, the Union of Korean Cinematographers was organized. The most famous directors of this period are Kim Ki Yong ("The Maid"), Yoo Hyun Mok ("Bullet Without a Target") and Shin San Ok ("Three Ninjas"), as well as other cinema figures: People's Artist of the DPRK Pak Hak, Om Gil Son , honored artists of the DPRK Kang Hong Sik, Yun Won Jun, Oh Byung Cho and others.

Juche Cinema (1970-1993)

By the beginning of the 1970s, there were 5 film studios in Korea (feature, popular science, children's and animated films, the February 8 film studio), at least 50 full-length films were released annually.

Researchers of North Korean cinema identify six main themes of this period: films "ahead of reality", performing propaganda tasks; films about "humble heroes", about daily labor exploits; films that educate the patriotic spirit of young people; films of "class self-awareness" that support the belief in the victory of the ideas of the country's leaders; Documentary film; musical films, with uplifting songs available to the masses.

In accordance with the Juche ideology proclaimed back in 1955, confirmed by the constitution of 1972, all issues of internal life must be resolved from the standpoint of independence, relying on one's own strength. Cinema, as the most important tool for influencing the consciousness of the citizens of the country, is completely subordinate to the leaders of North Korea. Kim Jong Il, in his younger years, personally supervised all North Korean cinematography on the spot, "spending days and nights on film sets." In 1973, he wrote a voluminous work "On Cinematography", which regulates all the processes of film production by chapters: On high-speed combat in Juche cinema, On the correct folk image, On the plot, On socialist morality in cinema, On common ideological errors in the finals of films, About sound effects, About props and costume designers, About Juche music in national cinema, and so on. Thus, "thanks to Comrade Kim Jong Il, an advanced film industry was created, a school of North Korean fiction and documentary films, taken as a model by many schools." For example, in the section "On the Falsity of 'Tricks' in Movies" he states: "A film actor cannot rely on chance by relying on the 'tricks' of combined shooting and editing in editing. It is necessary to master perfectly, for example, driving a car, riding a horse, in order to play the corresponding role truthfully and fully, even if you have to resort to various kinds of fakes, ”or in the section“ On decorations ”it is prescribed:“ the apartments of workers cannot be furnished in the same way as and houses of capitalists or landlords. In addition, it is impossible to portray the apartments of all working people as the same, without adjusting for the duration of the action and the social system.

Under conditions of full regulation of the creative process, the quantity and quality of films begins to decline. Official sources in North Korea estimate the volume of released films at the level of 60-70 per year, which corresponds to the estimates of the British corporation BBC. Other sources report 1-2 films specially prepared for international festivals and 15-20 films released annually for the domestic market. The primitiveness of the technical base would not allow producing more . Journalist Andrei Lankov comments on the ideological content of North Korean films: “The life of prisons and camps is one of the most closed pages in any totalitarian state. This is especially true of such a super-totalitarian state as modern North Korea is. During my stay in this country, I noticed that Korean propaganda and official art (and there simply is no other art there) almost never talk about courts or prisons. Movies about spies and "factionalists" end up taking away the exposed villains somewhere. The court scene, so popular in the Soviet cinema art of the Stalin era, is a rarity, and nothing is said about prisons at all.

During this period, the films “The Fourteenth Winter”, “A Simple Man”, “New Family”, “My Son”, “Flowering Land”, “We Met on Mount Myohyang”, “Two Fisher Captains”, “Thaw” were created. Film directors Kim Sang Ren, Kim Yong Ho, Cho Kyung Sun and others, People's Artists of the DPRK Yu Won Jung, Kim Song Yong, Yu Gyeong E, Honored Artist of the DPRK Kwak Myung So and others are famous. In 1985, the filmmakers of the USSR and the DPRK released a film jointly produced “A Second for a Feat” about the feat of Soviet Army Lieutenant Yakov Novichenko, who saved Kim Il Sung at a Pyongyang rally on March 1, 1946 from a grenade thrown at him. Extremely popular are the films released in the USSR with traditional martial arts Hong Gil Dong (1986, about the hero of the national medieval epic), Order No. 027 (1986, about the Korean War of 1950-1953).

Director Shin Sang Ok kidnapped

The kidnapping of director Shin Sang-ok tells a lot about the working methods in the politicized cinema of North Korea. Kim Jong Il sought to create a film industry that would allow him to shake the negative attitude of the world audience towards the DPRK Workers' Party. To implement these plans, the South Korean director Sin Sang Ok was chosen, who was assigned the role of a talented propagandist. In 1978 he was kidnapped in Hong Kong. The fact of an independent transition to North Korea is unlikely, since Pyongyang later recognized the facts of the capture, for example, of Japanese citizens as cultural advisers. According to The Guardian newspaper, Sin Sang Ok immediately after being delivered to Pyongyang was placed in prison for 4 years, "where he lived on a diet of grass, salt, rice and party indoctrination." In 1983, he was released and taken to an appointment with Kim Jong Il. The party leader explained the reason for the kidnapping: “The existing DPRK filmmakers are doing superficial work. They don't have any new ideas." According to the newspaper, the director agreed to work and made seven films, among which the most famous is Pulgasari (불가사리, Pulgasari) about a mythological monster who took the side of farm laborers, a kind of "communist version of Godzilla". This film was received by Kim Jong Il as a creative victory. The director's family was allowed to travel to Vienna to negotiate the film's distribution in Europe. In the Austrian capital, he managed to take refuge in the US Embassy and obtain political asylum.

Modern cinema (after 1994)

In 1994, the leader of the country, Kim Il Sung, died. The state was headed by his son Kim Jong Il. It is impossible to talk about systemic changes in the cinema, but the approach and structure of this industry have been revised. According to A. Astafiev, four main factors of change can be distinguished:

The international cooperation

In 2000, at a meeting of the heads of two Korean states, an agreement was reached on cultural exchange. In South Korea, the North Korean film Pulgasari, based on an ancient folk legend, was officially screened. Pyongyang answered Seoul after 3 years. In 2003, a South Korean film was shown for the first time in the capital of the DPRK - the drama "Arirang", another adaptation of the history of the Korean people during the years of Japanese colonial rule. The topic is quite ideologically correct, so the northerners received the delegation from the South with due hospitality. The theme of the unity of one people gave impetus to the filming in the Republic of Korea of not only political militants from a common history, but also romantic comedies, for example, "Girl from the North, Boy from the South." The two countries not only share the classic plots of Arirang, Chunghyang, or variations on the theme of martial arts. Cinematographers of North Korea studied in the USSR before, those of South Korea are studying in Russia now. There are other common positions. North Korean politicians have always supported the opposition of South Korean colleagues to the increase in the foreign film market, as "this leads to further suppression of Korean culture, deprivation of the Korean nation of its national identity, which is being replaced by Americanization, Japanization, Westernization" .

Selected DPRK filmography

Films mentioned in Russian-language sources (year of release, Russian title, original title, directors).

Year		Russian name	original name	Role
	f	My motherland	?	?
	f	Blast furnace	?	Min Jong Sik
	f	border guards	?	?
	f	Motherland	?	?
	f	Young partisans	소년빨찌산	Yoon Young Gyu
	f	Wolves	?	Lee Seok Tin
	f	Newlyweds	?	Yoon Young Gyu
	f	Beautiful song	?	?
	f	Road to happiness	?	Chen Sun Iv
	f	At the behest of the heart	?	Kim Nak Seb, Liang Chung Pyong
	f	The Tale of Sado Fortress		Ten Duc Che
	f	The fight isn't over yet	?	Min Jong Sik
	f	Brothers	잊지말라 파주블!	I. Lukinsky, Chen San Ying
	f	Nameless height	?	Yoon Ren Kyu, Choi Wu Bong
	f	The Tale of the Girl Sim Chen	?	Kim Young Hee
	f	Is it possible to live apart	?	?
	f	Paktusan mountain visible	?	?
	f	Her life path	?	Chen Sang-in, Lee Den-suk
	f	The Tale of Chun Hyang Girl	?	Yoon Ren Gyu
195?	f	Under the bright sun	?	?
	f	Red flare	?	Kang Hong-sik
	f	invisible front	보이지 않는 전선	Min Den Sik
	f	On the railway	철길우에서	Kim Sung-kyo
	f	sea of blood	피바다	Choi Ik Kee
	f	flower girl	꽃파는 처녀	Pak Hak, Choi Ik Kee
	f	The fate of Geum Hee and Eun Hee	금희와 은희의 운명	Pak Hak, Om Gil Song
	f	center forward	중앙공격수	Park Chung-sun, Kim Kil-in
	f	Day in the park of culture and rest	유원지의 하루	Kim Deok-gyu
	f	The Tale of Chung Hyang	춘향전	Yoo Won-jun, Yoon Ryong-gyu
	f	Pulgasari	불가사리	Shin Sang Ok, Jeon Kin Cho
	f	hong gil dong	홍길동	Kim Gil In
	f	Order No. 027	명령-027호	Jung Gi Mo, Kim Eun Suk
	f	One second for action	영원한 전우	Eldor Urazbaev, Om Gil Sen
	f	bluebell flower	도라지꽃	Cho Kyung-soon
	f	tired sun	Original title unknown	Nikita Orlov, Sun Bok Pak
	f	traces of life	생의 흔적	Cho Kyung-soon
	f	coast of salvation	구원의 기슭	Arya Dashiev, Ryu Ho Song
	f	City girl getting married	도시처녀 시집와요	Jung Yun
	f	Part without number	소속없는 부대	Kang Chun Mo
	f	Running up to the sky	달려서 하늘까지	Lee joo ho
	f	living ghosts	살아있는 령혼들	Kim Chung Song
	f	Blood tablet	피묻은 략패	Pyo Gwan
	f	Diary of a schoolgirl	한 녀학생의 일기	Chang In-hak
	f	Pyongyang fighter	평양 날파람	Pyo Gwan and Myeong Chul Min
	f	enchanted mountain	?	?
	f	Diary of a soldier	녀병사의 수기	jang kil hyun
	f	Song of the East Sea	동해의 노래	jang yong bok
	f	Wheels of happiness	행복의 수레바퀴	Jeong Gong Cho
	f	Meeting in Pyongyang	평양에서의 약속	kim hyung chul
	f	Comrade Kim Takes Flight	김동무는 하늘을 난다	Kim Gwang Hoon, Nicholas Bonner, Anya Delemance

North Korea (abbreviation: Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is a state located in the north of the Korean Peninsula. Also known as North Korea. The capital of the country is located in the city of Pyongyang. The current president of North Korea is Kim Jong-un. But the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is known for having another presidential office, the Eternal President. This title was given to Kim Il Sung - the first person to lead the DPRK.

In contact with

The following shows the location of North Korea on a world map.

The image of the world map shows that in the north the DPRK borders on Russia and China. The southern neighbor of the state is the Republic of Korea (South Korea). In the West and East (seen on the map), the country is washed by the seas: Yellow and Japanese.

The population of the DPRK (Wikipedia) is 24,720,407 people. Most of the population of North Korea are Koreans. But here you can also meet the Japanese and Chinese.

The history of the emergence of the state

North Korea is a young country which appeared in the middle of the 20th century. After the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from the Japanese invaders at the end of World War II, the territory of the peninsula was divided into two parts: the zone of influence of the USSR (in the north) and the zone of influence of the United States (in the south). But the Koreans wanted to gain independence.

On August 15, 1948, a new state was created in the US zone of influence. In response, the inhabitants of the northern part of the peninsula also proclaimed themselves an independent country, and Kim Il Sung became its head. The Workers' Party of Korea took over the ruling position in North Korea.

But the head of the DPRK wanted the Korean Peninsula to become a single state, so in 1949 Kim Il Sung turned to the Chinese and Soviet governments for help. He hoped that neighboring states would help him in organizing a military campaign against South Korea (by that time, American troops had almost completely left the country). The Soviet authorities did not dare to take this step for a long time, but in May 1950, Stalin nevertheless agreed to help the DPRK. It is important to note that the USSR helped Kim Il Sung only in developing a military strategy and training Korean soldiers. The Soviet Union refused to participate in hostilities.

On June 25, 1950, the DPRK attacked South Korea. and the Korean War began. At first, the North Korean army was successful: they quickly captured Seoul and advanced deep into the peninsula. But this triumph did not last long. Soon, UN forces intervened in the conflict, so in October of the same year, the southerners not only regained Seoul, but also captured Pyongyang.

In this difficult situation, the Chinese military came to the aid of Kim Il Sung. In January 1951, they helped take North Korea back to Pyongyang and recaptured Seoul. But the Americans did not leave the southerners in trouble, and again came to their aid. Already in March 1951, Seoul was recaptured. The troops of the DPRK were thrown back to where the demilitarized zone is now located. In 1953, the border of the two states of the Korean Peninsula was located along the front line.

Relations of the DPRK with other countries

It's no secret that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is one of the most closed countries in the world. But to say that this country lives in complete isolation is wrong. North Korea is a member of the UN, maintains diplomatic relations with other world powers (there are 161 such countries in total).

But far from all states, the DPRK has warm relations. There is still tension between the northern and southern parts of the Korean peninsula, as both countries want to gain dominance in this territory. From time to time, diplomatic conflicts arise between these countries. The DPRK has rather complex relations with countries such as Japan and the United States.

can be called friendly relations between North Korea and Russia. The powers have concluded a number of agreements on cooperation in the cultural, economic and technical fields. Since 2014, settlements between countries have been carried out in rubles. But it is worth noting that recently the trade turnover between the Russian Federation and the DPRK has noticeably decreased.

Police and healthcare

North Korea can rightly be called one of the safest countries. The crime rate here is extremely low. Perhaps this is due to the fact that for any violation of the law, the punishment will befall not only the criminal himself, but also three more generations of his family. Law enforcement officials are everywhere and keep order in the country. The Korean People's Army also operates in the DPRK.

As for health, then here, according to Wikipedia, the situation is worse than with the protection of order. So, in the country's hospitals there is a catastrophic shortage of personnel. As for the doctors who work there, their qualifications are low. The state of medical equipment also leaves much to be desired. Hospitals are experiencing interruptions in the supply of water and electricity.

Communications and media

The telephone system in the DPRK is extremely poorly developed. As a rule, telephones are available only in public institutions and post offices. Mobile communication in the country is common only among civil servants, businessmen and foreigners. For the rest of the population, mobile phones are still a luxury item.

Internet access in North Korea also limited. Currently, only employees of government agencies and foreign enterprises can connect to the World Wide Web. It is worth noting that the DPRK has its own national domain .kp.

The domestic Gwangmyeong network thrives throughout the country. It contains scientific and technical information. Juche (the political ideology of the DPRK) is also being promoted on the Kwangmyeon network. This network is also available to the general population of the country, however, all activity in it is controlled by the authorities.

Broadcasting in North Korea operated by the Korean Central Broadcasting Station. However, the population of the country is allowed to listen only to the radio of the DPRK. Listening to foreign radio programs is punishable by imprisonment.

As for television, there are three TV programs in the country. One of them is dedicated to cultural topics. Residents of the DPRK can only use registered receivers. Frequency settings are also controlled by the authorities.

Tourism

North Korea Tourism It is rather poorly developed, but this does not mean that there are no tourists at all in the DPRK. As a rule, people come here to enjoy nature and the so-called "neo-Stalinist" atmosphere. It is worth noting that since 2009, the number of foreign tourists has sharply increased in the country.

Especially for guests from other countries, beach resorts were built on the coast of the Sea of Japan. There are mountain resorts in the mountains of Geumgangsan and Myohyangsan. There are many tourist routes on the territory of the state. Walking through them, you can enjoy the North Korean nature in all its glory.

It is worth noting that all the most interesting events take place in the capital of the DPRK. The cultural life of the country is also concentrated there. In Pyongyang you will find many theatres, museums, concert halls and amusement parks. As for nightclubs, they are extremely rare here.

However, tourists who decide to go to North Korea, must remember a number of rules:

Moreover, foreign nationals who are in North Korea, you have to watch your speech. It is best not to start talking about politics. It is not recommended to speak in a negative way about the DPRK, its authorities or residents. Tourists should also not try to make friends with the locals.

These and many other restrictions scare away most tourists. However, the North Korean government is actively working to make the conditions for the stay of foreign visitors more comfortable.

As a rule, a visa to North Korea is issued only to officially organized groups. The best way to get it is to ask for help from an official tour operator recognized by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To apply for a visa, you will need provide the following documents:

Pay attention to the validity of the passport. It must be at least 6 months old.

A visa can be issued not only through a tour operator, but also through the consular department of the DPRK. However, this method will take you much more time, and the visa procedure itself will be more complicated. You can find the embassy of the DPRK at the address: Moscow, st. Mosfilmovskaya, 72.

North Korea is a state located in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea is the informal name of the country. In fact, the full name sounds like this: Democratic People's Republic of Korea or abbreviated.

Curiously, the literacy rate in the DPRK is 100%.

North and South Korea are separated by the so-called neutral, demilitarized zone (DMZ). Its width is 4 km, and its length is 241 km: it runs through the entire Korean Peninsula.

It is on this territory since its creation in 1953 that negotiations have been held between the two republics of the peninsula. Despite its name, this is the most militarized border in the world.

79th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Korean People's Army

In North Korea, marijuana is not banned and is freely available. There is information that it is even recommended as a healthier alternative to tobacco.

The Seungnado May Day Stadium, located in Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK, is the largest stadium in the world. It accommodates 150,000 people.

In 2011, North Korean researchers found that the citizens of their country are the second happiest country after China. They placed the United States at the very end of the list with a short note: "Long dead."

There are few cars on the roads of the republic. As a rule, these are either Chinese or Russian UAZs and even Priors.

According to the reviews of many tourists in North Korea, the mechanism of denunciations of "strangers" is ideally adjusted. That is, if you, being a tourist and contrary to the ban, slip away from a vigilant escort from the state security agencies, ordinary citizens will immediately report this to the right place. This is done not at all because of personal hostility, but for reasons of the highest goals of the security of their state.

With all this, almost everyone who was lucky enough to visit North Korea says that this is a real historical reserve that has survived both and the Berlin Wall. What cannot be taken away from the North Koreans is sincere hospitality and naive, charming simplicity.

In the end, I would like to add that there are so many tales about North Korea that any dubious fact must be carefully checked. In 99% of cases, this will turn out to be a myth.