"홍익인간 (弘益人間)" ("Benefit broadly in the human world/Devotion to the Welfare of Humanity") | ||||||||||
| Anthem | "Aegukga" | |||||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Pyongyang | |||||||||
| Other cities | Sinuiju | |||||||||
| Language official |
Korean | |||||||||
| others | Chinese | |||||||||
| Religion main |
Irreligious | |||||||||
| others | Taoism Confucianism Chinese Folk Religion | |||||||||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Korean | |||||||||
| others | Chinese | |||||||||
| Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional republic | |||||||||
| Legislature | National People's Assembly | |||||||||
| Population | 23,561,000 (1988) | |||||||||
| Currency | North Korean won | |||||||||
| Internet TLD | .kr (proposed) | |||||||||
North Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, was a short-lived republic that governed the northern half of the Korean peninsula from 1975 to 1988.
History
Predecessor
Following the Second Sino-Japanese War, Korean land north of the 38th parallel was succeeded from Japan to China. Immediately, a central issue in China became the fate of Korea. The Kuomintang wanted to annex the territory as the Korean Province of China, while the Communist Party wanted to leave it as an independent nation. With Chiang Kai-shek as prime minister, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was reestablished in northern Korea as a Chinese satellite state. With the election of Mao Zedong in 1964, North Korea was given the rights to govern itself and slowly began reuniting with South Korea. In 1975, the Chinese government held a referendum to determine the fate of North Korea. Following a majority vote for independence, Mao signed the North Korean Charter on July 23, 1975. This established North Korea as independent from China, and the Republic of Korea was established.
Short-lived Korean state
This new republic, heavily influenced by China, formed relations with China, Russia, and its neighbor to the south. Independent from China, the reunification of northern and southern Korea accelerated. The 2 governments formed the Seoul Pact; an economic and political union between the 2 countries. In 1987, the 2 nations merged their 2 armies: the "Korean Independence Army" in the north and "Korean National Army" in the south, into 1: the "Korean People's Liberation Army". Less than 1 year later, the "Constitution for the Reunification of Korea" was signed and ratified by both governments, ending the division of Korea, uniting it under the northern government.