North Korea is officially described as a socialist republic governed according to the ideology of Juche (loosely, "self-reliance"). Kim Il-Sung, the founder of North Korea, was the country's first and only president; in the North Korean constitution he is described as the Eternal President of the Republic: "The DPRK and the entire Korean people will uphold the great leader Comrade Kim Il-sung as the eternal President of the Republic." The de facto head of state and government is Kim Jong-Il, who is Chairman of the National Defence Commission. The legislature of North Korea is the Supreme People's Assembly, or SPA; the current President of the SPA is Kim Yong Nam. The other senior government leader is the Premier, currently Pak Pong-ju. North Korea is a single-party state. The governing party is the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, a coalition made up of three smaller parties, the Workers Party of Korea, the Korean Social Democratic Party and the Chondoist Chongu Party. These parties nominate all candidates for office and hold all seats in the Supreme People's Assembly.
North Korea seems to delight in its self-appointed role as an international trouble-maker, rogue state and budding nuclear power. Much of the world seems to regard it as a lose cannon -- but a potentially dangerous one rather than simply an irritating tiny, poverty-stricken, isolated country led by a short person with tall hair. This book focuses on the flurry of activities engaged in by North Korea.