Local government

North Korea is divided administratively into nine provinces (to), the special province-level municipality (jikhalsi) of P’yŏngyang, the special city (thŭkpyŏlsi) of Rasŏn, and two special administrative regions (chigu)—the Mount Kŭmgang tourist region and the Kaesŏng industrial region. The provinces are further subdivided into ordinary cities (si), counties (gun, or kun), and villages (ri), the smallest administrative unit. There are both provincial and city (or county) people’s committees and people’s assemblies. The people’s committees discharge administrative functions, and the people’s assemblies perform legislative functions. The provincial people’s assemblies approve the appointment of members of provincial people’s committees; the city (or county) people’s assemblies perform similar functions for local people’s committees. The people’s committees operate under the control of the cabinet (central government). The KWP also maintains central, provincial, and city (or county) party committees to “guide” other branches of government.

Provincial governments, presumably upon approval of the central government, can also designate “special cities” (t’ŭkgŭpsi) locally, as in the case of Namp’o. This port city, located about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of P’yŏngyang, is where North Korea receives foreign aid materials that arrive by sea.

Justice

The judicial system consists of the courts and the public prosecutor’s offices. Judicial authority rests with the Central Court, whose judges are elected for three-year terms by the Supreme People’s Assembly, and with a number of lesser provincial and people’s courts, whose members are elected by local people’s assemblies. Judges usually are party members or are controlled by the party. The Central Procurator’s Office and the provincial and city public prosecutor’s offices handle criminal cases and maintain surveillance over all citizens; it is headed by a procurator-general, who is selected by the Supreme People’s Assembly. The courts and prosecutor’s offices are independent of each other.

Security

The country strongly emphasizes military preparedness, and economic plans have been tailored to support high military expenditures. With the start of the Kim Jong Il regime in 1998 a policy of “military first politics” (sŏngun chŏngch’i) was put in place; it enshrined a strong military as the guardian of North Korea’s accomplishments and the key component of its economic and political power, thus prioritizing it above other concerns of state. North Korea maintains one of the world’s largest military organizations. The army is by far the largest force; there are also an air force and a navy. All men and a limited number of women are subject to conscription. The duration of service officially is three to four years but typically lasts longer depending on the branch of service. There also are large reserve and paramilitary forces.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons program began in the 1980s, and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimated that the country had produced enough plutonium for at least one atomic bomb by 1992. The nuclear program was effectively halted for nearly a decade under the terms of the Agreed Framework, but in October 2002 North Korean officials admitted to the existence of a clandestine uranium-enrichment program. On October 9, 2006, North Korea conducted its first underground nuclear test, detonating a device with an estimated yield of one kiloton. Another underground test was conducted in 2009, and the ascent of Kim Jong-Un in 2011 was marked by a significant intensification of North Korea’s ambitions regarding both nuclear weapon and ballistic missile technology. Several more nuclear tests followed in rapid succession, and in September 2016 North Korea announced that it had successfully tested a thermonuclear bomb. In July 2017 North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile with an estimated range of 5,000 miles (8,000 km). The launch drew international condemnation and demonstrated that North Korea possessed a delivery system capable of reaching the continental United States.

The country’s internal security system is large and extensive. People’s movements and social activities are monitored and controlled even down to the household level. The Ministry of Public Security functions as a national constabulary, while political control and counterintelligence are the responsibility of the State Security Department. Both the State Security Department and the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces (the military) are under the direct control of the National Defense Commission.

Health and welfare

Medical care is free, and there is at least one clinic in each village, but there is a shortage of physicians, medical equipment, and medicine. Medical benefits are provided by social insurance for workers who are temporarily or permanently disabled and women during pregnancy and childbirth. There are also funeral benefits and old-age pensions. Homes for the aged in each province operate under the Ministry of Labour.

The overall standard of living and the lot of the peasants have improved since World War II. North Korea was established as a classless society, but a new, privileged elite of high-ranking military and KWP officials has emerged. Because of the high priority given to industrialization and defense, the provision of consumer goods and social services has long been inadequate. During the period of severe economic hardship in the 1990s, shortages of food and daily necessities and the collapse of the national grain-rationing system forced many North Koreans to desert their homes and families in search of food. Hospitals and health care centres ran out of medicine and medical supplies, and the social welfare system went through a period of failure despite sustained relief assistance extended by various national and international relief agencies.

Housing

Reconstruction of houses after the Korean War was given high priority, and dwellings have improved considerably. Rural mud-walled, thatched-roofed huts have been replaced by brick buildings with tile or slate roofs. Urban housing is classified into five groups that range from one room with a half-sized kitchen to free-standing houses with gardens. Workers, or “wage earners,” are expected to live in apartments rather than houses, and housing projects are supported almost solely by the government. Heating systems in the apartments and urban water supplies are inadequate. Numerous high-rise buildings have been constructed in the larger cities, especially in P’yŏngyang. City streets are notably empty of motor vehicles and pedestrians, as the North Koreans have few leisure hours.

Education

A total of 12 years of primary and secondary education are free and compulsory. The system comprises one year of preschool, five years of primary school, and six years of secondary school. Education serves as a process of inculcating communist ideology and a means to supply skilled workers, technicians, and scientists to meet the government’s economic goals. All students are required to engage in productive labour along with their studies, which emphasize science and technology. Institutions of higher education offer programs of two to six years in length; the most important institution of higher education is Kim Il-Sung University in P’yŏngyang. There is also a well-developed system of adult education, the major components of which are technical schools located in large industrial centres.