Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established on September 9, 1948, under Kim Il-sung, who had been installed by Soviet occupation forces. Governed by the Kim dynasty — Kim Il-sung until 1994, Kim Jong-il until 2011, and Kim Jong-un thereafter — the DPRK pursued a policy of Juche (self-reliance) and developed into one of the world's most isolated and repressive states. Its invasion of South Korea in June 1950 triggered the Korean War; the 1953 armistice left the peninsula divided along roughly the same line as before, a division that has persisted to the present day, with the Korean War technically never concluded by a peace treaty.
- Existed: 1948 CE – present
- Type: Entity
- Government: Totalitarian single-party state (Juche ideology)
- Capital: Pyongyang