Society and Culture

BBC Radio 3: On Location in North Korea - Listen to this BBC radio documentary recorded in North Korea and view photos of host Andy Kershaw's visit to the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/onlocation/northkorea.shtml

CNN Factsheet - One of the World's Most Secretive Nations - North Korea is one of the world's most authoritarian and secretive nations, with an economy in dire straits after decades of mismanagement. <small>(April 23, 2004)</small>
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/nkorea.facts/

NewsHour Online Forum: The North Korea Famine - A 1997 discussion on famine in North Korea and links to related interviews from the PBS news program The NewsHour.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/august97/korea_8-26.html

Ethnologue - Languages of North Korea - Information about the living languages of the country including population, region, classification, dialects and alternate names.
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=KP

Nautilus Institute: DPRK Briefing Book - Topically arranged links to Web resources, such as studies and reference materials, that provide background information relating to security, foreign relations, and economic, humanitarian, and political issues.
http://www.nautilus.org/DPRKbriefingbook/index.html

Korea-DPR.com - Official site of the Korean Friendship Association, offering brief information about North Korean society and culture. Other language versions of the site are available.
http://www.korea-dpr.com/

North Korean Studies - Articles and links to Web sites about contemporary North Korean society and politics, relations with Russia and Australia, and Soviet Koreans.
http://north-korea.narod.ru

Asia Times - Cracks in North Korean 'Stalinism' - Documents how the major peculiarities of Stalinism are slowly disappearing from North Korea, and how the "Hermit Kingdom" is not as hermetic as the government would like. <small>(December 7, 2004)</small>
http://atimes.com/atimes/Korea/FL07Dg01.html

Asia Times Online - North Korea's Antique Food Rationing - Describes the history and de facto collapse of the North Korean government's Public Distribution System (PDS) which rationed food for a majority of its people. <small>(January 15, 2005)</small>
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GA15Dg01.html

Welcome to North Korea - 2001 film depicts a dichotomy between the poverty of North Koreans and the personality cult and propaganda of their leaders. [53 minutes]
http://www.jonhs.net/freemovies/welcome_to_north_korea.htm

Korea is One! - Belgian, French and Dutch group formed to promote understanding of North Korea. Offers a pro-North Korean viewpoint, including trip reports and news. In English, Dutch, and French.
http://www.korea-is-one.org/

NK Missions - The World Center for North Korea Missions - Evangelical Christian ministry seeking to mobilize and coordinate efforts for North Korea missions. Includes discussion forums, news, and information on volunteering and participating.
http://www.nkmissions.com/

BBC News - N Korea Envoys 'Smuggled Drugs' - Turkey deports two North Korean diplomats accused of smuggling amphetamine pills into the country. <small>(December 9, 2004)</small>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/4083977.stm

SinoKorea - China-based Web site devoted to information on North Korea. Includes forum. In English and Chinese.
http://dprk-cn.com/en

Koreascope - Information about the North Korean way of life, from a South Korean perspective.
http://www.koreascope.com/

Stories from the People's Paradise, North Korea - Journalist Ron Gluckman reports on slices of life in North Korea: the 1966 soccer squad that nearly reached the World Cup finals, a museum of lavish birthday gifts to former leader Kim Il Sung, stories of defectors, a train trip to Pyongyang, a visit to the DMZ, Pyongyang's only disco, the state film studio and North Korea's version of the Internet.
http://www.gluckman.com/PageNK.htm