Is North Korea the last hardcore communist state?
No. Pyongyang struck communism from its constitution in 2009. Informed observers compare North Korea to the militaristic Japan of the 1930s: It worships its leader like a god; prioritizes its military in all policies; feels threatened by the wider world; is virulently nationalistic; and is accused of abusing human rights. Why are the two Koreas so hostile? Neither side signed a peace treaty to end the war, only an armistice. Small-scale military clashes have flared along both land and sea borders over the last six decades. Each state aims to reunify the peninsula under its own system of government, though the South, mindful of the economic costs of reunification, is less vocal. Is there any inter-Korean cooperation? Between 1997-2008, two successive Seoul administrations nixed containment and confrontation, promoting instead a “Sunshine Policy” of engagement with North Korea. This bred inter-Korean summits in 2000 and in 2007 and the establishment of two South Korean enclaves inside No
