The term's contemporary usage is notably unrelated to the USSR, such as in the expression “ North Korea's Gulag ” for camps operational still today.

The late Kim Il-sung is North Korea's Eternal President of the Republic | Eternal President.

At the same time North Korea's policy of self-reliance and the antagonism of America and its allies made it difficult for them to expand foreign trade or secure credit.

In the 1970s, expansion of North Korea's economy, with the accompanying rise in living standards, came to an end and a few decades later went into reverse.

North Korea's desire to lessen its dependence on aid from China and the Soviet Union prompted the expansion of its military power, which had begun in the second half of the 1960s.

However, soon after making such investments, international prices for many of North Korea's native minerals fell, leaving the country with large debts and an inability to pay them off and still provide a high level of social welfare to its people.

By the mid to late-1970s some parts of the capitalist world, including South Korea, were creating new industries based around computers, electronics, and other advanced technology in contrast to North Korea's Stalinist economy of mining and steel production.

Moreover, his Juche philosophy had effectively replaced Marxism-Leninism as North Korea's official ideology ( as outlined in the 1974 North Korean constitution ).

Without Soviet aid, North Korea's economy went into a free-fall.

After three years of consolidating his power, Kim Jong-il became Chairman of the NDC on October 8, 1997, a position described by the NDC as the nation's " highest administrative authority ," and thus North Korea's de facto head of state.

The inefficiency of North Korea's Stalinist-style agricultural system also contributed to the disaster.

An official at South Korea's seismic monitoring center confirmed a magnitude-3. 6 tremor felt at the time North Korea said it conducted the test was not a natural occurrence.

North Korea's advancements in weapons technology appear to give them leverage in ongoing negotiations with the United Nations and other countries.

* On North Korea's streets, pink and tangerine buses, Christian Science Monitor, June 2, 2005

Some 80 percent of North Korea's land area is composed of mountains and uplands, with all of the peninsula's mountains with elevations of 2000 m or more located in North Korea.

Lack of information makes it difficult to assess the extent to which industrialization and urbanization have damaged North Korea's natural environment.

In 1989 the Central Statistics Bureau released demographic data to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities ( UNFPA ) in order to secure the UNFPA's assistance in holding North Korea's first nationwide census since the establishment of the DPRK in 1946.

If their estimates are correct, 6. 1 percent of North Korea's total population was in the military, numerically the world's fifth largest military force, in the late 1980s ( fourth largest as of 2006 ).

However, the CIA World Fact Book estimated that North Korea's annual population growth rate was 1. 0 % in 1991 and that it has since declined to 0. 4 % by 2009.

North Korea's population is concentrated in the plains and lowlands.

In 1987 North Korea's largest cities were P ' yongyang, with approximately 2. 3 million inhabitants ; Hamhŭng, 701, 000 ; Ch ' ŏngjin, 520, 000 ; Namp ' o, 370, 000 ; Sunch ' ŏn, 356, 000 ; and Sinŭiju, 289, 000.

North Korea's political system is built upon the principle of centralization.

In theory, North Korea's judiciary is accountable to the SPA and the Presidium.

North Keeling Island is an atoll consisting of just one C-shaped island, a nearly closed atoll ring with a small opening into the lagoon, about wide, on the east side.

Coppola and North had to tone down Patton's actual language to avoid an R rating ; in the opening monologue, the word " fornicating " replaced " fucking " when criticizing the The Saturday Evening Post.

Adam Goodheart argues this was the opening move of the Civil War, and the flag was used throughout the North to symbolize American nationalism and rejection of secessionism.

Opening on August 23, 1985, in 235 North American theaters, the film grossed $ 509, 502 USD ($ 2, 168 per screen ) in its opening weekend, on its way to a lackluster $ 4, 116, 395 total gross.

The start of the 20th century also saw the opening of a short lived railway station on the Drumcondra and North Dublin Link Railway line from Glasnevin Junction to Connolly Station ( then Amiens Street ).

* 1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway opens, opening North America's Great Lakes to ocean-going ships.

The movie grossed $ 114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $ 822 million worldwide.

The movie was well received by critics and a financial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America.

In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek in Laos through the Mu Gia Pass to Tan Ap Railway Station in Vietnam's Quang Binh Province, on the North – South Railway.

Life of Brian opened on 17 August 1979 in five North American theatres, and grossed $ 140, 034 USD ($ 28, 007 per screen ) in its opening weekend.

This orogeny was related to the opening of the Arctic Ocean and subduction of the North China and Siberian cratons under the Pacific Ocean.

The film opened fifth at the North American box office making $ 13, 853, 686 USD in its opening weekend, it had a 5 % increase in earnings the week after, enough to make the film soar to # 3.

Two years later, in 1857, the European and North American Railway opened its line from Moncton to nearby Shediac ; this was followed by a line from Moncton to Saint John opening in 1859.

Although North Korea is very concerned with the opening policy, its economic policy is dictated by political considerations.

In October 1996, in support of Test For Echo, the band embarked on a North American tour, the band's first without an opening act and dubbed " An Evening with Rush ".

It was also screened at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival before opening in North America on March 6, 1998 in 1, 207 theaters.

Luther borrowed from the humanists the sense of individualism, that each man can be his own priest ( an attitude likely to find popular support considering the rapid rise of an educated urban middle class in the North ), and that the only true authority is the Bible, echoing the reformist zeal of the conciliar movement and opening up the debate once again on limiting the authority of the Pope.

Historians generally consider the Battle of Jumonville Glen as the opening battle of the French and Indian War in North America and the start of hostilities in the Ohio valley.

1997 – Quest expanded beyond North America by opening an office in the United Kingdom.

After this venture failed, electric trams returned on 5 May 1906, with the opening of the Victorian Railways ' " Electric Street Railway " from St Kilda to Brighton, and was followed on 11 October 1906 with the opening of the North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Company ( NMETL ) system, which opened two lines from the cable tram terminus at Flemington Bridge to Essendon and Saltwater River ( now Maribyrnong River ).

First North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Co tram on opening day

After January 28 opening weekends in Australia, the United Kingdom, Spain and Norway, American Beauty had earned $ 7 million in 12 countries for a total of $ 12. 1 million outside North America.