Overview

Introduction/Overview

We hear a lot about North Korea in the news these days, but many people are not really familiar with the history of the “Democratic Republic of North Korea” (DPRK), its government, and especially the everyday lives of its people. This module pulls together resources from a number of places to attempt to fill in the gaps in our knowledge in order to better understand the current geopolitical issues pertaining to North Korea.

Lesson Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• frame the context of the Korean War and the subsequent creation of North Korea and South Korea;
• examine the ways in which the Korean War was an extension of the Cold War;
• describe the general timeline of events relating to the development of nuclear arms in North Korea;
• describe North Korea’s development of cyber capabilities;
• discuss the humanitarian crisis ongoing in North Korea and the potential implications for neighboring countries (China, South Korea) and countries invested in the fall of the North Korean government;
• discuss the importance of China for negotiations with North Korea.

Required Readings and Assignments

Please see your Canvas course space for a complete listing of this lesson's required readings, assignments, and due dates.

Questions?

If you have any general course questions, please post them to our Course Questions Discussion located in the General Information Module in Canvas. I will check that discussion forum regularly to respond as appropriate. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses and comments if you are able to help out a classmate.