Human rights in North KoreaThe human rights record of North Korea is often considered to be the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with the United Nations, the European Union and groups such as Human Rights Watch all critical of it. Most international human rights organizations consider North Korea to have no contemporary parallel with respect to violations of liberty. Western human rights groups such as Amnesty International and nations such as the United States have asserted that, in practice, there is no right to free speech, and the only media providers that are deemed legal are those operated by the government in North Korea.
Cabinet of North KoreaThe Cabinet of Democratic People's Republic of Korea or North Korea (Naegak) is, according to the Constitution of North Korea, the administrative and executive body and a general state-management organ in the Government of North Korea. The Cabinet's principal newspaper is Minju Choson. In North Korea's first constitution, adopted in 1948, the executive powers were vested in the Cabinet, chaired by Kim Il Sung himself.
Government of North KoreaIn the North Korean government, the Cabinet is the administrative and executive body. The North Korean government consists of three branches: administrative, legislative, and judicial. However, they are not independent of each other, but all branches are under the exclusive political leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The leader must work through various agents and their institutions, which has the power to delay, modify, or even resist the leader's orders.
Kim Il SungKim Il Sung (ˈkɪm_ˈɪlˈsʌŋ,_-ˈsʊŋ; , kimils͈ʌŋ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a Korean politician and the founder of North Korea. He ruled the country from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. Afterwards, he was declared its eternal president. His birth name was Kim Song Ju (). He held the posts of the Premier from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to 1994. He was the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) from 1949 to 1994 (titled as Chairman from 1949 to 1966 and as General Secretary after 1966).
PyongyangPyongyang (ˌpjɒŋˈjæŋ , USalsoˌpjʌŋˈjɑːŋ , phjʌŋjaŋ; ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288. Pyongyang is a directly administered city () with a status equal to that of the North Korean provinces. Pyongyang is one of the oldest cities in Korea.
Kim Jong IlKim Jong Il (,kɪm_ʤɒŋˈɪl; ; kim.dzɔŋ.il; also transcribed as Kim Jong-il and born Yuri Irsenovich Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim Il Sung, the first Supreme Leader, until his own death in 2011, when he was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un. In the early 1980s, Kim had become the heir apparent for the leadership of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and assumed important posts in the party and army organs.
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen rivers, and South Korea to the south at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. North Korea's border with South Korea is a disputed border as both countries claim the entirety of the Korean Peninsula. The country's western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eastern border is defined by the Sea of Japan.