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North Korea in 2009

Despite leadership uncertainties and growing hardship for the average North Korean, the regime struck a provocative and defiant pose toward the world in 2009. The country’s leader, the reclusive 68-year-old Kim Jong Il, who had recovered from a suspected stroke, made up for lost time with a record 150-plus public appearances during the year. He also seemed to be grooming his third son, Kim Jong-Un (believed to be about 27), to be his successor, but Chang Song-Taek, Kim Jong Il’s brother-in-law, appeared poised to serve as a caretaker if the younger Kim was not ready to rule.

Kim Jong Il celebrated his renewed vigour with a long-range missile test and satellite launch in April; the effort failed, but that did not stop the regime from declaring a “glorious victory.” The following month North Korea appeared to conduct its second underground nuclear test, which seemed to have been more successful than its first test, in 2006; this suggested that the North had become the world’s ninth nuclear power. Most analysts believed, however, that it would be at least a decade before the country could marry its missile and nuclear programs. North Korea also began rebuilding a nuclear reactor that it had partially dismantled as part of a 2005 nuclear accord and resumed plutonium production. In December a U.S. envoy visited the country bearing a letter from U.S. Pres. Barack Obama in an attempt to revive the moribund nuclear talks, but North Korea appeared to be in no hurry to return to the negotiating table. Days later Thai authorities interdicted a 35-ton North Korean arms shipment believed to have been bound for the Middle East. Under UN Security Council Resolution 1874 (2009), North Korea was prohibited from exporting heavy weapons.

Meanwhile, North Korea undertook the first reform of its currency in almost 20 years by ordering on November 30 that old currency be exchanged for new at the rate of 100 to 1, a move that reportedly resulted in widespread anger and confusion. Not only did the denominations mostly stay the same and the designs look somewhat similar, but the total amount of the old currency that each person could exchange for the new was severely restricted. The revaluation was widely seen as an attempt by authorities to reign in the North’s burgeoning unofficial markets.

Despite promises of a “strong and prosperous nation” by 2012, haphazard reforms and a recent sharp decline in humanitarian assistance suggested the real possibility of renewed famine. North Korea appeared before the UN Human Rights Council for its first “universal periodic review” on December 7. The council made 167 recommendations, and the country agreed to respond to many of them, including better monitoring of food distribution.

Quick Facts
Area: 122,762 sq km (47,399 sq mi)
Population (2009 est.): 24,162,000
Capital: Pyongyang
Head of state and government: Supreme Leader/Chairman of the National Defense Commission Kim Jong Il

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North Korea in 2009
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