Q&A: North Korea
Updated on 22 August 2007
North Korea is one of the world's most oppressive regimes, with thousands trying to escape every year.
Channel 4 News has obtained exclusive footage of one family's attempt to leave the country.
Ahead of Jonathan Miller's special report this evening, here's a quick guide to North Korea.
North Korea
North Korea is bordered by three countries: China and Russia and South Korea. The country split from its neighbour South Korea after the second world war and the end of Japanese occupation. Initially the Soviet Union controlled the north, while the United States controlled the south.
Facts
North Korea is one of the few remaining countries in the world which is under communist rule, along with China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam. Its capital is the city of Pyongyang.
The population is estimated to be at just over 23m, with foreign aid relied on to feed many.
The country is heavily militarised, with one of the world's largest armies.
The current leader of North Korea is Kim Jong-il, whose official title is Chairman of the National Defence Commission. His deceased father, Kim Il-sung, has been named as eternal president of the republic.
Kim Jong-il is reported to have written six operas in two years, and according to official reports was born in a hut on the sacred Mount Paektu.
Official propaganda says bright double rainbows and a new star were formed at his birth. Other sources say he was born in Siberia during his father's stay in exile.
Background
The North Korean regime is highly secretive. The press are fiercely monitored and state-controlled. Few foreign journalists are allowed into the country to report, and TV and radio sets are pre-tuned to only pick up authorised transmissions and frequencies.
Foreign media coming into the country is also highly restricted. Reporters without Borders say "all radio stations broadcasting to the country in Korean are jammed".
In its 2007 report Amnesty International concluded that within the borders of North Korea "systematic violations of human rights, including the rights to life and to food" continue.
The organisation also reports that there are ongoing instances of the use of torture, and capital punishment.
Nuclear Ambitions
Relations with South Korea thawed for the first time in many years in 2000 when Kim Jong-il met with his counterpart President Kim Dae-jung. But these relations quickly soured again when Pyongyang decided to reactivate a nuclear reactor in 2002.
North Korea has since declared itself a nuclear power, and in October 2006 said it had successfully tested a nuclear weapon.
In February of this year inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency witnessed the shutdown of North Korea's biggest nuclear reactor, after international talks which involved the UN and South Korea.
In exchange for closing this nuclear facility the country received fuel oil and other aid packages.
