This gap demands explanationβand needs to be bridged. The dprk has largely been excluded from discussion of transformation in the Third World and from debate on questions of socialism. Yet its experience is important. It has achieved remarkable economic growth and advances in social services. It raises important issues concerning industrialization and self-reliant high growth for a medium-sized Third World country population: 18 million, est.
At the same time, it is generally agreed that the political system is one of the most dreadful ever constructed in the name of socialism: this, too, raises major issues, especially concerning the cult of personality. Korea is a single nation, with a rich national culture and unchallenged sense of identity stretching back thousands of years. There are few nations on earth which can lay stronger claims to being one.
In spite of its proximity to China and Japan, Korea developed a phonetic alphabet in the 15th century. It has never threatened or invaded any other country. It is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, with 99 per cent of the population made up of ethnic Koreans. Yet, the country was divided by the us across the middle, along the 38th parallel, at the end of World War ii.
South of the Parallel the us set up a separate regime, the Republic of Korea rok , based on Seoul, the traditional capital; this regime, headed by Syngman Rhee, was formally installed on August 15, and exercised sway over two-thirds of the population approximately 17 million out of some 26 million.
It is impossible to understand the dprk without a brief look at its immediate past and the particular factors which made it what it is today.
