What We Did in Class Today Wednesday, January 5,2011

Today in class, we continued to work on our North and South Korea projects. As a class we discussed some of the information we have already gathered about Korea, such as the official names of the two Koreas and their leaders.  We will continue working on our projects tomorrow in class. For homework tonight, we had to answer questions 4 - 10. Here are the questions and my answers.

1. Show where your country is on a regional map.

2. What other countries and bodies of water does your country border? North Korea is located in East Asia on the north side of the Korean Peninsula.  China and Russia border it to the north, and South Korea borders it along the Korean Demilitarized Zone.  The Yellow Sea and Korea Bay are off the west coast and the Sea of Japan (East Sea) is off the east coast. 

3. What is the significance of the 38th Parallel? The 38th Parallel is the latitude line that once formed the boundary between North and South Korea. It separates the two countries and divides the peninsula roughly in the middle.  After Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, the 38th Parallel was set as the boundary between the Soviet north and the American south occupied zones in Korea. It was supposed to be a temporary boundary, but in 1948, North and South Korea became independent countries and the 38th Parallel was the boundary.  At the end of the Korean War in 1953, a new border was established through the middle of the Demilitarized Zone that cuts across the 38th parallel at an acute angle from southwest to northeast.    

4. What is the relationship between your Korea and the other Korea? The relationship between North and South Korea is not good. North Korea often does things to anger the South Koreans.  In March, 2010 North Korea sank a South Korean patrol boat.  North Korea signed an agreement with the United Nations that they would not build nuclear weapons, but it was discovered that they are doing it anyway.  The North Koreans will not allow United Nation inspectors into the country to see what nuclear experiments they are doing.  There is a lot of fighting and hate between the two Koreas. People cannot freely move from one Korea to the other. 

5. Describe what it is like just on your country’s side of the DMZ. Life on the North Korean side of the DMZ, it is very bad. If you try to leave the country, which you are not allowed to do, the guards will shoot you. You are told what to do by the government.  It is a very violent and dangerous place to live.  The government is accused of many bombings, kidnappings, and nuclear weapons testing.  In the 1990's there was a terrible famine in North Korea that killed as many as 10% of the population.  The military is very strong and controls the people and everything that happens in the country.  There is very little trade with other countries and the government controls what trade there is.  Most people are extremely poor and do not have jobs.  Anyone who disagree with the government or try to act against it are tortured, starved, or publicly executed.

6. What does the United Nations think of your relationship with the other Korea?  The United Nations doesn't think that North Korea's relationship with South Korea is very good. The UN Security Council has condemned the test firing of missiles by the North Koreans and has demanded that they stop all missile launches. The UN Security Council had an emergency session in December, 2010 to try to resolve recent tension between the North and South Koreans.  Both sides have said they will use their  military to defend what each claim as their territory off the west coast, and the UN is very concerned that war could break out between the two sides very soon.   It is doing what it can to try to keep peace.

7. What is the major city in your country? The major city in North Korea is Pyongyang.