North Korea is an Asian country located on the shores of the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan, sharing a border with South Korea, China, and Russia. North Korea occupies the northern half of the Korean peninsula. North Korea's border with South Korea is a disputed border as both sides claim the entire Korean Peninsula. North Korea, like its southern counterpart, claims to be the legitimate government of the entire peninsula and adjacent islands. The population of this country is approx 2,60,72,000 with 1,20,540 square kilometers area. The official language is Korean. 73% of citizens are atheists, but 13% follow Cheondoism, 12% Shamanism and 1.5% Buddhism.
According to the North Korean constitution, the daily working time is eight hours. Citizens are guaranteed freedom of speech, press, assembly, demonstration and association. The state shall guarantee the conditions for free functioning of democratic political parties and social organizations. All working citizens can choose a profession according to their desire and skills. Citizens are entitled to free medical care, and all persons who are no longer able to work due to old age, illness or physical disability, and the elderly and minors who have no means of support are entitled to assistance.
These are positive aspects. Now let's discuss the negative aspects.
Although North Korea's constitutional system is a multi-party democracy, the country is effectively governed by a one-party system. The Workers' Party of Korea, led by Kim Jong Un, is the country's only ruling political party. On 17 December 2011, Kim Jong Il died from a heart attack. His youngest son Kim Jong Un was announced as his successor.
The sovereignty of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea lies in the workers, peasants, soldiers, working intellectuals and all other working people. So what are the others?
Admirable Articles of North Korea's Constitution
Article 6
The organs of State power at all levels, from the county People’s Assembly to the Supreme People’s Assembly, are elected on the principle of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot.
Article 28
The State shall industrialize and modernize agriculture through the rural technical revolution and improve the role of the county and its guidance and assistance to rural areas in order to eliminate the difference between town and countryside and the class distinction between workers and peasants. The State shall undertake, at its own expense, the building of production facilities for cooperative farms and modern houses in the countryside.
Article 30
The working day shall be eight hours. The length of the working day shall be reduced by the State in arduous trades and other special categories of work. The State shall guarantee that the working hours are fully utilized through proper organization of labour and enforcement of labour discipline.
Article 63
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea the rights and duties of citizens are based on the collectivist principle: “One for all and all for one.”
Article 65
Citizens enjoy equal rights in all spheres of State and public activity.
Article 67
Citizens are guaranteed freedom of speech, the press, assembly, demonstration and association. The State shall guarantee the conditions for the free activities of democratic political parties and social organizations.
Article 69
Citizens are entitled to submit complaints and petitions. The State shall investigate and deal with complaints and petitions impartially as stipulated by law.
Article 70
Citizens have the right to work. All able-bodied citizens may choose occupations in accordance with their wishes and skills and are provided with stable jobs and working conditions. Citizens work according to their abilities and are paid in accordance with the quantity and quality of their work.
Article 71
Citizens have the right to relaxation. This right is ensured by the establishment of working hours, and the provision of holidays, paid leave, accommodation at health resorts and holiday homes at State expense and by a growing network of cultural facilities.
Article 72
Citizens are entitled to free medical care, and all persons who are no longer able to work because of old age, illness or physical disability, and seniors and minors who have no means of support are all entitled to material assistance. This right is ensured by free medical care, an expanding network of hospitals, sanatoria and other medical institutions, State social insurance and other social security systems.
Article 75
Citizens have freedom of residence and travel.
Facts of North Korea's Constitution
Preamble
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the socialist motherland of Juche where the ideas and leadership of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are applied.
The great Comrade Kim Il Sung was the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the father of socialist Korea.
Comrade Kim Il Sung authored the immortal Juche idea and, by organizing and leading the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle under its banner, created the glorious revolutionary traditions and achieved the historic cause of national restoration. He laid solid foundations for the building of an independent and sovereign State in the political, economic, cultural and military fields, and based on them, founded the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Having put forward Juche-oriented revolutionary lines, Comrade Kim Il Sung wisely led various stages of social revolution and construction work, thus strengthening and developing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea into a socialist country centred on the masses, into a socialist State which is independent, self-sufficient and self-reliant in defence.
Comrade Kim Il Sung elucidated the fundamental principles governing the building and activities of the State, established an ideal State and social system, an ideal mode of politics and an ideal system and ideal methods for administering society, and laid solid foundations for the prosperity of the socialist motherland and for the inheritance and completion of the revolutionary cause of Juche.
The great Comrade Kim Jong Il was a peerless patriot and defender of socialist Korea who, true to the ideas and cause of Comrade Kim Il Sung, strengthened and developed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea into Kim Il Sung’s State and placed the dignity and power of the nation on the highest ever plane.
Comrade Kim Jong Il developed in depth and in an all-round way the immortal Juche idea and Songun idea authored by Comrade Kim Il Sung, further perfecting them as ideas guiding the era of independence, and ensured the continuity of the Korean revolution by firmly defending the revolutionary traditions of Juche and carrying them forward in their purity and entirety.
In the face of the collapse of the world socialist system and the vicious offensive of the imperialist allied forces to stifle the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Comrade Kim Jong Il administered Songun politics; thus he safeguarded with honour the achievements of socialism which are the precious legacy of Comrade Kim Il Sung, developed the DPRK into an invincible politico-ideological power, a nuclear state and an unchallengeable military power, and opened a broad avenue for the building of a powerful socialist country.
Regarding “The people are my God” as their maxim, Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il always mixed with the people, devoted their whole lives to them and turned the whole of society into a large family which is united in one mind by taking care of the people and leading them through their noble benevolent politics.
The great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are the sun of the nation and the lodestar of national reunification. Regarding the reunification of the country as the supreme national task, they devoted all their efforts and care for its realization. They made the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea a powerful bastion for national reunification. At the same time, they set out the fundamental principle and ways of achieving national reunification and developed the movement for national reunification into a nationwide movement, opening the way for completing the cause of reunification through the united efforts of the whole nation.
The great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il clarified the basic ideals of the foreign policy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. On the basis of this, they expanded and developed the country’s foreign relations and ensured that the international prestige of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was exalted. As veteran world statesmen, they opened up a new era of independence, carried out energetic activities for strengthening and developing the socialist movement and the non-aligned movement, as well as for world peace and for friendship among peoples, and made an imperishable contribution to the cause of human independence.
Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il were geniuses of ideology and theory, masters of the leadership art, ever-victorious iron-willed brilliant commanders, great revolutionaries and statesmen, and great men.
The great ideas of Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il and the great achievements made under their leadership are the lasting treasures of the Korean revolution and the basic guarantee for the prosperity of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun where Comrade Kim Il Sung and Comrade Kim Jong Il are preserved in their lifetime appearance is a grand monument to their immortality and a symbol of the dignity and eternal sanctuary of the entire Korean nation.
Under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Korean people will uphold the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il as the eternal leaders of Juche Korea, and will carry the revolutionary cause of Juche through to completion by defending and carrying forward their ideas and achievements.
The Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea shall, as the codification of the Juche-oriented ideas of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on State building and their exploits in it, be called Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il Constitution.
Article 3
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is guided in its activities by the Juche idea and the Songun idea, a world outlook centred on people, a revolutionary ideology for achieving the independence of the masses of the people.
Article 4
The sovereignty of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea resides in the workers, peasants, soldiers, working intellectuals and all other working people. The working people exercise State power through their representative organs–the Supreme People’s Assembly and local People’s Assemblies at all levels.
Article 8
The social system of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a people-centred system under which the working people are the masters of everything and everything in society serves them. The State shall defend the interests of the workers, peasants, soldiers, working intellectuals and all other working people who have been freed from exploitation and oppression and become the masters of the State and society, and respect and protect human rights.
Article 9
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea shall strive to achieve the complete victory of socialism in the northern half of Korea by strengthening the people’s power and vigorously performing the three revolutions–ideological, technological and cultural–and reunify the country on the principle of independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity.
Article 10
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is underpinned by the politico-ideological unity of all the people based on the worker-peasant alliance led by the working class. The State shall revolutionize all the members of society, and assimilate them to the working class by intensifying the ideological revolution, and shall turn the whole of society into a collective, united in a comradely way.
Article 11
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea shall conduct all activities under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Article 12
The State shall adhere to the class line and strengthen the dictatorship of the people’s democracy so as to firmly defend the people’s power and socialist system against all subversive acts of hostile elements at home and abroad.
Article 13
The State shall implement the mass line and apply the Chongsanri spirit and Chongsanri method to all its activities, the spirit and method by which superiors assist their subordinates, mix with the masses to find solutions to problems and rouse them to conscious enthusiasm by giving precedence to political work, work with people.
Article 14
The State shall determinedly conduct the Three-Revolution Red Flag Movement and other mass movements so as to accelerate the building of socialism to the maximum.
Article 18
The law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea reflects the wishes and interests of the working people and is a basic instrument for State administration. Respect for the law and strict adherence to and execution of it is the duty of all institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens. The State shall perfect the system of socialist law and promote the socialist law-abiding life.
Article 20
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea the means of production are owned by the State and social, cooperative organizations.
Article 24
Private property is property owned and consumed by individual citizens. Private property is derived from socialist distribution according to work done and from supplementary benefits granted by the State and society. The products of individual sideline activities including those from kitchen gardens, as well as income from other legal economic activities shall also be private property. The State shall protect private property and guarantee by law the right to inherit it.
Article 26
The independent national economy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a solid foundation for the people’s happy socialist life and for the country’s prosperity. The State, adhering to the line of building a socialist, independent national economy, shall endeavor to promote the national economy on a Juche-oriented, modern and scientific basis so as to make the national economy a highly developed, Juche-oriented economy and build material and technical foundations commensurate with a completely socialist society.
Article 112
The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly is the highest organ of State power when the Supreme People’s Assembly is not in session.
Article 116 (Part of it)
The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly has the following duties and authority to:
4. interpret the Constitution as well as current laws and regulations;
Article 120
The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly issues decrees, decisions and directives.
