The Flag of North Korea was adopted on September 8, 1948, as the national flag and ensign. The famous red star of Communism can be seen on this flag on a white disk. Interestingly enough, North Korea had originally adopted a "taegeugki" following independence from the Japanese Empire with a taoist yin-yang symbol similar to that in the South Korean flag but later revised its flag to more closely reflect that of the USSR.
The colour red represents revolutionary patriotism. The blue stripes connote "The aspiration of the Korean people to unite with the revolutionary people of the whole world and fight for the victory of the idea of independence, friendship and peace."
A 300-pound (136 kg) North Korean national flag flies from the world's largest flagpole, which is located at Kijŏng-dong, on the North Korean side of the Military Demarcation Line within the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
The flag created in 1948 consists of three stripes - blue, red, blue - separated from each other by two narrow white lines, the proportions being 6 : 2 : 17 : 2 : 6. The hoist of the red stripe is charged with a white disc containing a red five-pointed star. The blue stripes stand for the people's desire for peace, the red one symbolizes the revolutionary spirit of the struggle for socialism, and white - a traditional Korean color - represents the purity of the ideals of (North) Korea and national sovereignty.The five-pointed star signifies the happy prospects of the people building socialism.
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the DPRK[4]), is a country in East Asia in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula, with its capital in the city of Pyongyang. At its northern border are China on the Yalu River and Russia on the Tumen River, in the far northeastern corner of the country. To the south, it is bordered by South Korea, with which it formed one nation until the division following World War II.
North Korea is a communist dictatorship following the Juche ideology, developed by Kim Il-sung, the country's first president. The current leader is Kim Jong-il, the late president Kim Il-sung's son. Relations are strong with other traditional socialist states, Vietnam, Laos, and, often, China, as well as with Cambodia and Burma. Following a major famine in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a major economic partner, leader Kim Jong-il instated the "Military-First" policy in 1995, increasing economic concentration and support for the military.
Multiple international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have accused North Korea of having one of the worst human rights records of any nation. Defectors have testified to the existence of detention camps, reporting torture, murder, and medical experimentation.
North Korea's culture is officially protected and heavily promoted by the government. The Mass Games are government-organized events glorifying its two leaders, involving over 100,000 performers. In July 2004, the Complex of Goguryeo Tombs became the first site in the country to be included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
North Korea shares with South Korea a Buddhist and Confucian heritage and recent history of Christian and Chondogyo ("Heavenly Way") movements. The North Korean Constitution allows freedom of religion, however, according to Human Rights Watch, ever since the rise of communism, free religious activities no longer exist as the government sponsors religious groups only to create an illusion of religious freedom.[47] In practical terms all religion in North Korea is superseded by a cult of personality devoted to the rulers Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il.
Pyongyang was the center of Christian activity in Korea before the Korean War. Today, two state-sanctioned churches exist, which freedom of religion advocates allege are showcases for foreigners.[48][49] Official government statistics report that there are 10,000 Protestants and 4,000 Roman Catholics in North Korea.[50]
According to a ranking published by Open Doors, an organization that supports persecuted Christians, North Korea is currently the country with the most severe persecution of Christians in the world.[51] Human rights groups such as Amnesty International also have expressed concerns about religious persecution in North Korea.[52]
North Korea shares the Korean language with South Korea. There are dialect differences within both Koreas, but the border between North and South does not represent a major linguistic boundary. The adoption of modern terms from foreign languages has been limited in North Korea, while prevalent in the South. Hanja (Chinese characters) are no longer used in North Korea, although still occasionally used in South Korea. Both Koreas share the Hangul writing system, called Chosongul in North Korea. The official Romanization differs in the two countries, with North Korea using a slightly modified McCune-Reischauer system, and the South using the Revised Romanization of Korean.
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