4-year compulsory compulsory school was introduced in 1956 and 6-year compulsory upper secondary school in 1958. The children start school at the age of 6. The schooling has been free for everyone since 1975. The education system is based on Kim Il Sung’s theses from 1977 on socialist education. English is compulsory from the children is 14 years. Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang was founded in 1946. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in North Korea.
North Korea flag source: Countryaah.com
1991 Crisis after the collapse of the Soviet Union
In 1991, the Soviet Union halved the oil supplies to the country, which began to show some financial difficulties. From 1992 Kim Jong Il took over the drafting of the country’s foreign policy. In the middle of the year, the government submitted a report to the IAEA on the nuclear installations in the country – including the Yongbion plant. Nevertheless, in February 1993, North Korea refused the agency access to inspect this facility, triggering a major crisis. South Korea expressed fears that the North Koreans were in possession of nuclear weapons and negotiations between the two countries broke down.
- 800zipcodes: Offers geography, such as location and climate of North Korea. Also includes recent population data.
North Korea is internationally isolated, dependent on oil exports and financially linked to Japan. The country’s economy also depends on the shipping route between the Japanese port city of Niigata and the North Korean Wonsan. There is only a weekly connection, but the ship carries goods and money from 200,000 of the 700,000 North Koreans living in Japan.
Kim Il Sung died at the age of 82 on July 7, 1994. The death complicated the dialogue with the United States and led to the postponement of a planned summit between the two Koreas. Kim Jong Il succeeded his father, but as he did not have the same political weight as the historical leader of North Korean communism, a power struggle was started in the party.
In 1995, extensive floods affected 5 million North Koreans, and the floods led to major crop damage. It is estimated that the loss was a total of 1.9 million tonnes of food, prompting the government to take the very atypical step of asking for help from abroad. Japan, the country’s main capitalist trading partner, sent 300,000 tons and South Korea 150,000 tons. The United States decided to lift the trade blockade of the country and a delegation of interested business people visited the country. At the same time, North Korea declared that it no longer opposed the presence of North American troops in South Korea.
The shortage of food was further exacerbated in 1996. In some areas there was even a famine. During the year, the influx of refugees continued to the south. In February 1997, the party’s secretary, Huang Yang Yop, resigned and sought political asylum in South Korea. It triggered a new political crisis. Huang initially sought refuge in South Korea’s embassy in Beijing as he was on his way home after a tour of Japan and China. Two days later, North Korean Prime Minister Kang Song San was forced to resign. He was replaced by Hong Song Nam. In October Kim Jong Il was formally appointed Secretary-General of the Labor Party, but due to internal rivalry, he failed to be appointed as the country’s president.
In late 1997, the government proposed tripartite negotiations between Pyongyang, Seul and Washington to reach a final peace agreement for the Korean Peninsula. The ceasefire agreement of 1953 has never been replaced by a peace treaty, so formally the country has continued to war with the United States. Since 1953, the superpower has had at least 40,000 soldiers permanently stationed at the border with North Korea.
In 1998 it was estimated that since 1995, around 100,000 people had died due to hunger, cold and lack of medical treatment. The United Nations Food Organization, FAO stated that the daily ration in the north was only 100 grams of rice. The food situation had been further aggravated by the drought that followed the floods. At the same time, Pyongyang was unwilling to give in to the political pressure from Seul. In early 1998, international food aid was not yet able to meet the need, and in March the government introduced a series of measures to transition to «war economy» to cope with the situation.