North Korea Case Study

North Korea

Government, History and Economy.

Government: North Korea is known to be the "rule of man" in politics. Political management is almost or all based on the loyalty of Kim Il Sung and the Korean Workers' Party (KWP). (North Korea, 2011). After the War of Korea, the Korean Peninsula was divided into North and the South. The North had the inception of a Communist State while the South was more of Democratic State. In North Korea, the head of the state is the president of the country. The president of the country is Kim Jung Il.

Contrast to Canada: Canada's political system is Parliamentary which means there are two separate branches of the government; legislative branch and the executive branch. The difference between the rule of man concept and the Parliamentary system is that the Prime Minister and Cabinet cannot decide the governments enacted laws if they do not get the support of the majority of members in the House of Commons. (Jay, 2007). Of course, Canada is a democracy country. In Canada, the Queen is the head of the state; however, in North Korea, the head of the state is the president of the country which is one of the reasons why North Korea is a dictatorship country.

History of North Korea:

Korea has been around since 6000 B.C, however, North Korea established its country in 1948 after the aftermath of division of Korea.(Kallie, 2011). The U.N divided the peninsula between the countries at the 38th parallel. The USSR took over the north side and the US settled in the south. After the two countries were separated, North Korea declared war against the South. The war is still present but it is currently at pause.

Economy of North Korea:

North Korea is one of the world's least open economies and face economic issues. Most of the government spending are given to military resources and not invested on the civilian itself. Since the government only invest money on resources that are based on military, food shortages is on going with the lack of farming. Their official exports include minerals, clothing, wood products, metals and vegetables. Unofficial exports include missiles, narcotics and trafficked persons. (Kallie, 2011).

Contrast to Canada and South Korea.

Canada is the 9th largest economy in the world based on the GDP. Since 2008, the strongest advanced economy in the world was Canada. In 2010, Canada's GDP growth stood at 3.071 percent which is the highest it had been since 2004. (South Korea's economy, 2011).

About four decades ago, South Korea was one of the poorer countries of Africa and Asia, but since 1960's, South Korea has achieved record of growth and has become a high-tech industrialized economy. South Korea's growth has got from poor economy to be one of the