North Korea

North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, situated on the Korean Peninsula between China and South Korea. The contemporary northern and southern Korean states arose due to several Cold War factors, namely the Korean War (1950–1953). Connections between war and state making are often cited by historians and other social scientists. In the case of North Korea, state formation took place even prior to the war itself, during the crucial 1945–1950 period, beginning with the fall of the Japan-created colonial state and ending with the outbreak of full-scale conflict on the Korean Peninsula. The war itself caused massive damage to North Korea’s economy, which was rebuilt later with assistance from the Soviet Union and China.

With the withdrawal ...