Overview
- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed in Pyongyang on Sept. 9, 1948, three weeks after the Republic of Korea was founded in Seoul.
- The peninsula’s split followed the Soviet entry into northern Korea in August 1945 and a 38th-parallel division with U.S. forces in the south.
- KCNA reported Kim Jong-un arrived in Beijing at 4 p.m. local time on Sept. 2, and released images showed his daughter Kim Ju-ae traveling with him.
- Analysts describe North Korea as a dynastic order centered on Kim Il Sung’s legacy, with leadership passing to Kim Jong-il and then Kim Jong-un.
- Pyongyang’s hardened posture includes a 2016 nuclear test and a 2022 law allowing an automatic nuclear strike if the regime is attacked.