North Korea, a land of mystery to this day. How much do you know about the basics? (Answers below)
1. What is the capital and largest city of North Korea?
2. What is the currency of North Korea? Is it a "hard" or "soft" currency?
3. About how many people live there in about how many square miles?
4. What is its official name?
5. Who is the "eternal" President?
6. What three nations border North Korea?
7. What is the total GDP? (How much money per year?) Per capita?
8. What nation had occupied all of Korea until its defeat in 1945?
9. Which parallel divides the two Koreas?
10. What is "Juche", NK's form of government?
Don't worry about it. Most people don't know a lot about this reclusive people. Let's see how you did:
1. Pyongyang, a major city whose population roughly matches Chicago's (without Chicago suburbs),around three million.
2. The North Korean "won", different from the won of South Korea by far. One dollar is today about 2 NK won, whereas that same dollar will fetch about 950 SK. It is a virtually worthless or "soft" currency on the world's markets.
3. 23 million people in 47,000 square miles. That's a density of nearly 500 persons per square mile. For comparisons Stateside, NK has about the same population as Texas in the area of Ohio.
4. Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Of course it is not a "democracy" as we understand the word, for power is concentrated in a very few, some say one, at the top. It does not belong to the "people" at large, as they have virtually no say in how things run. The definition of "republic" includes the right to choose leaders and representation by all the people in the government. So NK is definitely not a republic. The "K" still stands. This is definitely Korea!
5. Not the present leader, who continues the worship of his cult-inspiring father. Kim Il Sung, dead for these 14 years is the "eternal" President, by law.
6. China, Russia, South Korea. The history of the peninsula is a fascinating one involving encroachments on the power structure of various peoples living there. China, Russia, and of course Japan, have been no end of trouble to this small but surviving people.
7. $40 billion. Sounds like a lot, but it is 85th in the list of GDP's worldwide. Each person receives about $1,800! And that is 149th on the list. For comparison, America has a GDP of 12 TRILLION, with an average per capita income between 25 and 30 thousand. 8. Japan. There is still much animosity between the average Korean, North or South, and the Japanese. It's a long story, and a painful one.
9. The 38th. There is a no-man's land there, complete with mine-fields, soldiers ready to start a war that never really ended, and a building that is half in North Korea and half in the South. Some selected few are allowed to take tours of this area.
10. The biggest misnomer of all: self-reliance. Yet their government is totally dependent on China, South Korea, the United States, and tons of Christian ministries for its very existence. Without reliance on other powers around them, this tiny nation would literally be starved out of existence.
How'd you do?
http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!
And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.
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