North Korea
... North Korea, officially known as The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is situated to the south of China and between the Sea of Japan and the Gulf of West Korea. The total land area of North Korea comprises only 120,540 square kilometers, approximately eighteen percent of the size of Texas. ... Before Korea was divided by the 38th parallel in 1945 the country had been traumatized by a number of occupations by foreign powers. Korea had been occupied by Japan, China, the Mongols, and later the Soviet Union and United States. Korea came to instate a policy restricting foreigners and isolated itself except for small contact with the Chinese. In the late 19th century foreign powers, including the United States, forced Korea to open its country for commerce. Peace treaties with the United States and Russia followed, but other countries soon began to haggle over the rights to Korea. ... Japan ended up on the winning side and in 1905 the United States agreed to recognize Japan’s superiority over Korea if Japan did not threaten the United States’ superiority over the Philippines. Japanese rule lasted from 1910, when Korea was annexed, to the end of World War II. ... Russia inhabited the area north of the parallel and the United States the area to the south. ... -sponsored Republic of Korea, or South Korea, was formed as well as the Russian-sponsored Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea. 1950 brought the beginning of the Korean War; the war started out as a conflict between North and South Korea, but there also existed a side conflict between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. ... The Korean War is also sometimes known as the Forgotten War, as World War II and the Vietnam War later both overshadowed the war in Korea. As of July, 2002 the population of North Korea numbered over 22,000,000 people. The society of North Korea is a combination of ancient traditions passed on by ancestors who migrated from Manchuria, Siberia, and inner Asia as well as a totalitarian ideology imposed by the Soviet Union. The traditional religions of North Korea include Buddhism, Shamanism, and Chongbogyo. ... The people of North Korea have also traditionally viewed themselves as a large group of people working towards a collective goal. ... North Korea’s military makes up a large aspect of its government. ... In comparison, South Korea spends 4 percent of its GDP on military spending and 14 out of every 1000 people serve in the military.