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The People of North Korea 

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North Korea's population of roughly 23 million is one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous in the world, with very small numbers of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, South Korean, and European expatriate minorities.

According to the CIA World Factbook, North Korea's life expectancy was 63.8 years in 2009, a figure roughly equivalent to that of Pakistan and Burma and slightly lower than Russia. Infant mortality stood at a high level of 51.34, which is 2.5 times higher than that of China, 5 times that of Russia, 12 times that of South Korea.

According to the UNICEF "The State of the world's Children 2003" North Korea appears ranked at the 73rd place (with first place having the highest mortality rate), between Guatemala (72nd) and Tuvalu (74th). North Korea's Total fertility rate is relatively low and stood at 1.96 in 2009, comparable to those of the United States and France.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Korean Peninsula was inhabited by lower Paleolithic people at least as early as 500,000 B.C. Many archaeological sites, mostly located along rivers, have been excavated. The most famous are Sokchang-ri in Ch'ung-ch'ongnam-do province and Chon-gok-ri in Kyonggi-do province. Various stone tools, including hand-axes and chopper-scrapers, have been found at these sites, leading archaeologists to believe that their inhabitants engaged in hunting and fishing. These people are thought to have dwelt in caves, as the bones of many extinct animals and relics of their daily life have been unearthed in such places. The supposed connection between these Paleolithic peoples and today's Koreans is blurred at present by the lack of sufficient archaeological excavations and anthropological evidence.

Scholars generally agree that the ancestors of today's Koreans were late-comers of the Neolithic Period. According to anthropological and linguistic studies, as well as legendary sources, Koreans trace their ethnic origins to those who lived in and around the Altaic mountains in Central Asia. Several thousand years ago, these people began to migrate eastward until they finally settled in an area that included Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula.

When these migrants entered the Korean Peninsula around the third millennium B.C., they were confronted by natives called Paleoasians, who were eventually driven into various areas outside the Korean Peninsula. The Ainu of the northern tip of Japan, the natives of Sakhalin and the Eskimos of the eastern coast of Siberia are all descendants of these Paleoasian tribes. 

13 Year Old US Boy to Protest for Peace at G20

Jonathan Lee, 13, from Mississippi is in Seoul, South Korea to promote peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula at the G20 Summit. It is in an effort to bring awareness of the situation in Korea and his suggestion of a Children's Peace Forest in the DMZ.

He is asking the G20 leaders to support:
1.The end of the Korean War with the signing of a peace treaty between the two Koreas and the U.S.
2.A nuclear free Korean peninsula.
3.The creation of a Children's Peace Forest in the DMZ. It's motto is Above Politics, Above Borders, Above Conflicts, Above Ideology. It's all about giving hope to people and children around the world. More......

Music by Misty Edwards (Forerunner Music). Used with permission. 

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