AKM
The AKM is a 7.62mm assault rifle designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is a common modernized variant of the AK-47 rifle developed in the 1940s. Introduced into service with the Soviet Army in 1959, the AKM is the most ubiquitous variant of the entire AK series of firearms and it has found widespread use with most member states of the former Warsaw Pact and its African and Asian allies as well as being exported and produced in many other countries; the production of these rifles was carried out at both Izhmash. It was replaced in Soviet frontline service by the AK-74 in the late 1970s, but remains in use worldwide; the AKM is an assault rifle using the 7.62×39mm Soviet intermediate cartridge. It is gas operated with a rotating bolt; the AKM is capable of selective fire, firing either single shots or automatic at a cyclic rate of 600 rounds/min. Despite being replaced in the late 1970s by the AK-74, the AKM is still in service in some Russian Army reserve and second-line units and several east European countries.
The GRAU designated the AKM as the 6P1 assault rifle. Compared with the AK-47, the AKM features detail improvements and enhancements that optimized the rifle for mass production. Notably, the AK-47's milled steel receiver was replaced by a U-shaped steel stamping; as a result of these modifications, the AKM’s weight was reduced by ≈ 1 kg, the accuracy during automatic fire was increased and several reliability issues were addressed. The AK-47's chrome-lined barrel was retained, a common feature of Soviet weapons which resists wear and corrosion under harsh field conditions and near-universal Eastern Bloc use of corrosively primed ammunition; the AKM’s receiver is stamped from a smooth 1.0 mm sheet of steel, compared with the AK-47 where the receiver was machined from heavier gauge steel. A rear stock trunnion and forward barrel trunnion are fastened to the U-shaped receiver using rivets; the receiver housing features a rigid tubular cross-section support that adds structural strength. Guide rails that assist the bolt carrier’s movement which incorporates the ejector are installed inside the receiver through spot welding.
As a weight-saving measure, the stamped receiver cover is of thinner gauge metal than that of the AK-47. In order to maintain strength and durability it employs both longitudinal and latitudinal reinforcing ribs; the forward barrel trunnion has a non-threaded socket for the barrel and a transverse hole for a pin that secures the barrel in place. On some models the rear trunnion has two extended mounting arms on both sides that support the buttstock; the AKM's barrel is pinned. Additionally the barrel has horizontal guide slots that help align and secure the handguards in place. To increase the weapon’s accuracy during automatic fire, the AKM was fitted with a slant cut muzzle brake that helps redirect expanding propellant gases upward and to the right during firing, which mitigates the rise of the muzzle during an automatic burst when held by a right-handed firer; the muzzle brake is threaded on to the end of the barrel with a left-hand thread. Not all AKMs had slant muzzle brakes. Most AKMs with muzzle nuts were older production weapons.
The AKM's slant brake can be used on the AK-47, which had a simple nut to cover the threads. The gas block in the AKM does not have a cleaning rod capture or sling loop but is instead fitted with an integrated bayonet support collar that has a cleaning rod guide hole; the forward sling loop was relocated to the front handguard retainer cap. The handguard retainer has notches that determine the position of the handguards on the barrel; the AKM's laminated wood handguards have lateral grooves. Gas relief ports that alleviate gas pressure in the piston cylinder were moved forward to the gas block and placed in a radial arrangement; the AKM’s bolt carrier is lighter in weight and has some minor differences in its shape. The buttstock, lower handguard and upper heatguard are manufactured from birch plywood laminates like the model AK-47 furniture; such engineered woods are stronger and resist warping better than the conventional one-piece patterns, do not require lengthy maturing, are cheaper. The wooden buttstock used in the AKM is further hollowed in order to reduce weight and is longer and straighter than that of the AK-47, which assists accuracy for subsequent shots during rapid and automatic fire.
The wooden stock houses the issued cleaning kit, a small diameter metal tube with a twist lock cap. The kit contains the cleaning jag to which a piece of cloth material is wrapped around and dipped into cleaning solution, it contains a pin punch, an assembly pin to hold the trigger and rate reducer together while putting these back into the receiver after cleaning the weapon, a barrel brush. The kit is secured inside the butt stock via a spring-loaded trap door in the stock's pressed sheet metal butt cap; the AKM uses a modified return spring mechanism, which replaces the single recoil spring guide rod with a dual “U”-shaped wire guide. The AKM has a modified trigger assembly, equipped with a hammer-release delaying device (insta
BMP-1
The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle. BMP stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty 1, meaning "infantry fighting vehicle"; the BMP-1 was the first mass-produced infantry fighting vehicle of the Soviet Union. It was called the BMP and BMP-76PB by NATO before its correct designation was known; the Soviet military leadership saw any future wars as being conducted with nuclear and biological weapons and a new design, like the BMP, combining the properties of an armored personnel carrier and a light tank would allow infantry to operate from the relative safety of its armoured, radiation-shielded interior in contaminated areas and to fight alongside it in uncontaminated areas. It would increase infantry squad mobility, provide fire support to them, be able to fight alongside main battle tanks; the BMP-1 was first tested in combat in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, where it was used by Egyptian and Syrian forces. Based on lessons learned from this conflict, early experiences in the Soviet–Afghan War, a version with improved fighting qualities was developed, called the BMP-2.
It was accepted into service in August 1980. In 1987, the BMP-3, a radically redesigned vehicle with a new weapon system, entered service in limited numbers with the Soviet Army; the Red Army Mechanized infantry tactics during the 1950s were similar to World War II methods in which APCs were used as "battle taxis". This was in contrast to the German doctrine of infantry fighting vehicles manifested in the Schützenpanzer Lang HS.30, where the vehicles were supposed to stay with the tanks and engage lighter targets, both to take a burden off the tanks and to support their infantry squads. Existing APCs offered little or no protection from either nuclear or chemical weapons, as they were either open-topped or could not be sealed sufficiently. Furthermore, the infantry had to disembark to be able to use their weapons; the requirement for the BMP, first drawn up in the late 1950s, stressed speed, good armament, the ability for all squad members to fire from within the vehicle. The armament had to provide direct support for dismounted infantry in the attack and defense and to be able to destroy comparable light armored vehicles.
The vehicle needed to protect the crew from.50 cal machinegun fire and 20–23 mm caliber autocannons across the frontal arc, as well as from light shell fragments at distances between 500 m and 800 m. Firepower consisted of the innovative combination of the 73 mm 2A28 Grom gun and a launcher for the 9M14 Malyutka anti-tank wire-guided missile; the gun was intended to engage enemy armored vehicles and firing points at a range of up to 700 metres, while the missile launcher was intended to be used against targets that were 500 metres to 3,000 metres away. Requirements were issued to the various design bureaus between 1959 and 1960. There was a question as to whether the BMP should be tracked or wheeled, so a number of experimental configurations were explored, including hybrid wheeled/tracked designs; the tracked Ob'yekt 764 was chosen because its front-engine design provided a convenient and fast way of mounting and dismounting through two rear doors. The original prototype was built in 1964, followed by the improved Ob'yekt 765 in 1965, accepted by the Army in 1966, under a designation BMP-1.
The 120th Guards Rifle Division was the first unit in the Soviet Union to test prototypes of the new BMP infantry fighting vehicle in January–November 1965, under the command of Guards Major Vasiliy Samodelov. Small-scale production began in 1966. A large number of variants of the BMP-1 were produced, with the most notable IFV variants being: BMP-2, MLI-84 and Boragh; the BMP went into production with the Soviet Army in 1966. The first series was produced until 1969, it was replaced by the improved production model, the BMP-1, produced from 1969 until 1973. This, in turn, was replaced by the Ob'yekt 765 Sp3, a modernized, 200 kg heavier version, produced from 1973 to 1979. A number of improvements were made to the reliability of the chassis and transmission during mass production; the last version of the BMP-1 IFV, produced from 1979 to 1983, was armed with a more powerful ATGM launcher 9P135M-1 for the ATGM "Konkurs"/"Fagot". The main manufacturer of the BMP-1 and its different variants was the Kurgan Machine Building Works, but the PRP-3 artillery reconnaissance vehicles were produced by the Chelyabinsk Tractor Works and PRP-4/PRP-4M artillery reconnaissance vehicles were produced by the Rubtsovsk Engineering Works.
Upgrades of the BMP-1 were performed by KMZ as well as by tank repair workshops of the Ministry of Defence during scheduled and major overhauls. More than 20,000 BMP-1s and vehicles based on it were built in the USSR. BMP-1s were produced under license by Czechoslovakia and India. Since 1986, the People's Republic of China has produced its own unlicensed copy called the Type 86; the number of Type 86 IFVs and vehicles based on it is around 3,000. It is still in service with the People's Liberation Army. From 1997, Iran produced its own modification of the BMP-1, the Boragh, which resembles the Chinese WZ 503. In the mid-1970s, after analysis of the use of light AFVs during the Yom Kippur and Vietnam wars, a modernization program was begun that resulted in the BMP-1P; the main
Armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be tracked. Main battle tanks, armoured cars, armoured self-propelled guns, armoured personnel carriers are all examples of AFVs. Armoured fighting vehicles are classified according to their intended role on the battlefield and characteristics; the classifications are not absolute. For example lightly armed armoured personnel carriers were superseded by infantry fighting vehicles with much heavier armament in a similar role. Successful designs are adapted to a wide variety of applications. For example, the MOWAG Piranha designed as an APC, has been adapted to fill numerous roles such as a mortar carrier, infantry fighting vehicle, assault gun; the concept of a mobile and protected fighting unit has been around for centuries. Armoured fighting vehicles were not possible until internal combustion engines of sufficient power became available at the start of the 20th century.
Modern armoured fighting vehicles represent the realization of an ancient concept - that of providing troops with mobile protection and firepower. Armies have deployed war cavalries with rudimentary armour in battle for millennia. Use of these animals and engineering designs sought to achieve a balance between the conflicting paradoxical needs of mobility and protection. Siege engines, such as battering rams and siege towers, would be armoured in order to protect their crews from enemy action. Polyidus of Thessaly developed a large movable siege tower, the helepolis, as early as 340 BC, Greek forces used such structures in the Siege of Rhodes; the idea of a protected fighting vehicle has been known since antiquity. Cited is Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century sketch of a mobile, protected gun-platform; the machine was to be mounted on four wheels which would be turned by the crew through a system of hand cranks and cage gears. Leonardo claimed: "I will build armored wagons which will be invulnerable to enemy attacks.
There will be no obstacle which it cannot overcome." Modern replicas have demonstrated that the human crew would have been able to move it over only short distances. Hussite forces in Bohemia developed war wagons - medieval weapon-platforms - around 1420 during the Hussite Wars; these heavy wagons were given protective sides with firing slits. Heavy arquebuses mounted on wagons were called arquebus à croc; these carried a ball of about 3.5 ounces. The first modern AFVs were armed cars, dating back to the invention of the motor car; the British inventor F. R. Simms designed and built the Motor Scout in 1898, it was the first armed, petrol-engine powered vehicle built. It consisted of a De Dion-Bouton quadricycle with a Maxim machine gun mounted on the front bar. An iron shield offered some protection for the driver from the front, but it lacked all-around protective armour; the armoured car was the first modern armoured fighting vehicle. The first of these was the Simms' Motor War Car, designed by Simms and built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim in 1899.
The vehicle had Vickers armour 6 mm thick and was powered by a four-cylinder 3.3-litre 16 hp Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a maximum speed of around 9 miles per hour. The armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. Another early armoured car of the period was the French Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902, presented at the Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle in Brussels, on 8 March 1902; the vehicle was equipped with a Hotchkiss machine gun, with 7 mm armour for the gunner. Armoured cars were first used in large numbers on both sides during World War I as scouting vehicles. In 1903, H. G. Wells published the short story "The Land Ironclads," positing indomitable war machines that would bring a new age of land warfare, the way steam-powered ironclad warships had ended the age of sail. Wells' literary vision was realized in 1916, amidst the pyrrhic standstill of the Great War, the British Landships Committee, deployed revolutionary armoured vehicles to break the stalemate.
The tank was envisioned as an armoured machine that could cross ground under fire from machine guns and reply with its own mounted machine guns and cannons. These first British heavy tanks of World War I moved on caterpillar tracks that had lower ground pressure than wheeled vehicles, enabling them to pass the muddy, pocked terrain and slit trenches of the Battle of the Somme; the tank proved successful and, as technology improved. It became a weapon that could cross large distances at much higher speeds than supporting infantry and artillery; the need to provide the units that would fight alongside the tank led to the development of a wide range of specialised AFVs during the Second World War. The Armoured personnel carrier, designed to transport infantry troops to the frontline, emerged towards the end of World War I. During the first actions with tanks, it had become clear that close contact with infantry was essential in order to secure ground won by the tanks. Troops on foot were vulnerable to enemy fire, but they could not be transported
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military component with jurisdiction in civil law enforcement. The term gendarme is derived from the medieval French expression gens d'armes, which translates to "armed people". In France and some Francophone nations, the gendarmerie is a branch of the armed forces responsible for internal security in parts of the territory with additional duties as a military police for the armed forces; this concept was introduced to several other Western European countries during the Napoleonic conquests. In the mid twentieth century, a number of former French mandates or colonial possessions such as Lebanon and the Republic of the Congo adopted a gendarmerie after independence; the growth and expansion of gendarmerie units worldwide has been linked to an increasing reluctance by some governments to use military units entrusted with external defense for combating internal threats. A somewhat related phenomenon has been the formation of paramilitary units which fall under the authority of civilian police agencies.
Since these are not military forces, they are not considered gendarmerie. Some of the more prominent modern gendarmerie organizations include the French National Gendarmerie, Spanish Civil Guard, Italian Carabinieri, Portuguese National Republican Guard and the Turkish Gendarmerie; the word gendarme comes from the Old French gens d'armes. During the Late Medieval to the Early Modern period, the term referred to a armoured cavalryman of noble birth serving in the French army; the word gained policing connotations only after the French Revolution when the Maréchaussée of the Ancien Régime was renamed the Gendarmerie. The spelling in English was gendarmery, but now the French spelling gendarmerie is more common; the Oxford English Dictionary uses gendarmery as the principal spelling. These forces are titled "gendarmerie", but gendarmeries may bear other titles, for instance the Carabinieri in Italy, the Guarda Nacional Republicana in Portugal, the Guardia Civil in Spain, the Royal Marechaussee in the Netherlands or Internal Troops/National Guard in Ukraine and Russia.
As a result of their duties within the civilian population, gendarmeries are sometimes described as "paramilitary" rather than "military" forces although this description corresponds to their official status and capabilities. Gendarmes are rarely deployed in military situations, except in humanitarian deployments abroad. A gendarmerie may come under the authority of a ministry of defence, a ministry of the interior, or both at once. There is some coordination between a ministry of defence and a ministry of the interior over the use of gendarmes. A few forces which are no longer considered military retain the title "gendarmerie" for reasons of tradition. For instance, the French language title of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is Gendarmerie royale du Canada because this force traditionally had some military-style functions and has retained its status as a regiment of dragoons; the Argentine Gendarmerie is a military force in terms of training and public perception, was involved in combat in the Falklands War, however it is classified as a "security force" not an "armed force", to exercise jurisdiction over the civilian population under Argentine law.
Since different countries may make different use of institutional terms such as "gendarmerie", there are cases in which the term may become confusing. For instance, in the French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland the "gendarmeries" are the uniformed civil police. In Chile, the word "gendarmerie" refers for historic reasons to the prison service, while the actual gendarmerie force is called the "carabineros". In some cases, a police service's military links are ambiguous and it can be unclear whether a force should be defined as a gendarmerie; some historical military units, such as South-West Africa's Koevoet, were only defined as police for political reasons. Services such as the Italian Guardia di Finanza would be defined as gendarmeries since the service is of an ambiguous military status and does not have general policing duties amongst the civilian population. In Russia, the modern National Guard are military units with quasi-police duties but different bodies within the Tsarist Special Corps of Gendarmes performed a variety of functions as an armed rural constabulary, urban riot control units, frontier guards, intelligence agents and political police.
Prior to the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, British rule was based on the Royal Irish Constabulary—a drilled and armed force located in rural "barracks", a gendarmerie in all but in name. In 2014 the Mexican Federal Police, a armed force which has many attributes of a gendarmerie, created a new seventh branch of service called the National Gendarmerie Division; the new force would number 5,000 personnel and was created with the assistance of the French gendarmerie. In comparison to civilian police forces, gendarmeries may provide a more disciplined force whose military capabilities make them more capable of dealing with armed groups and wit
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, former union leader who served as the 35th President of Brazil from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2010. Lula was a founding member of the Workers' Party and ran unsuccessfully for President three times before achieving victory in the 2002 election, being re-elected in the 2006 election; the introduction of social programs such as Bolsa Família and Fome Zero were hallmarks of his time in office. As President, Lula played a prominent role in international matters including activities related to the nuclear program of Iran and global warming, being described as "a man with audacious ambitions to alter the balance of power among nations". Succeeded by his former Chief of Staff, Dilma Rousseff, he left an enduring mark on Brazilian politics in the form of Lulism. However, during Brazil's Operation Car Wash corruption investigations he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and jailed on 7 April 2018 on charges of money laundering and passive corruption.
He is the fifth President of Brazil who has gone to jail and the first to be arrested for corruption. Lula has been called one of the most popular politicians in the history of Brazil and while in office was one of the most popular in the world, he was featured in Time's 2010 The 100 Most Influential People in the World and Perry Anderson called him "the most successful politician of his time". In October 2011, a smoker for 40 years, was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent chemotherapy, leading to a successful recovery. In early 2016, Lula was appointed Chief of Staff under Rousseff, but Justice Gilmar Mendes of the Supreme Federal Court blocked the appointment due to ongoing federal investigations. On 12 July 2017, Lula was convicted of money laundering and passive corruption, defined in Brazilian criminal law as the receipt of a bribe by a civil servant or government official. Lula was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison by judge Sérgio Moro, but he remained free pending an appeal of the sentence.
On 24 January 2018, the Regional Federal Court of the 4th Region, a panel of three appellate judges, unanimously upheld Moro's ruling against Lula and increased the sentence to 12 years. On 5 April 2018, the Supreme Federal Court voted to reject Lula's habeas corpus plea and on the same day a warrant was issued for his arrest, he turned himself in and began serving his sentence on 7 April 2018. Lula announced his candidacy for the 2018 presidential election, but he was disqualified from running under Brazil's Clean Slate Law by the Superior Electoral Court on 31 August 2018 and was replaced by Fernando Haddad on 11 September 2018; the United Nations Human Rights Committee requested that the Brazilian government allow Lula to exercise his political rights as a presidential candidate. Prior to being barred, Lula led all scenarios in polls for the October election, achieving 39 percent in voter intentions within one month of the first round. Luiz Inácio da Silva was born on 27 October 1945 in Caetés, located 250 km from Recife, capital of Pernambuco, a state in the Northeast of Brazil.
He was the seventh of eight children of Eurídice Ferreira de Melo. Two weeks after Lula's birth, his father moved to Santos, São Paulo, with Valdomira Ferreira de Góis, a cousin of Eurídice, he was raised Roman Catholic. Lula's mother was of partial Italian descent. In December 1952, when Lula was only 7 years old, his mother decided to move to São Paulo with her children to rejoin her husband. After a journey of thirteen days in a pau-de-arara, they arrived in Guarujá and discovered that Aristides had formed a second family with Valdomira. Aristides' two families lived in the same house for some time, but they did not get along well, four years Eurídice moved with her children to a small room behind a bar in São Paulo. After that Lula saw his father, who became an alcoholic and died in 1978. Lula was married twice. In 1969, he married Maria de Lourdes, who died of hepatitis in 1971, while pregnant with their first son, who died. Lula and Miriam Cordeiro had a daughter, born out of wedlock in 1974.
In 1974, Lula married Marisa Letícia Rocco Casa, a widow with whom he had three sons. He adopted Casa's son from her first marriage, they remained married until her death on 2 February 2017 after a stroke. Lula had little formal education, he did not learn to read until he was ten years old, quit school after the second grade to work and help his family. His first job at age 12 was as street vendor. By 14 he had a formal job in a warehouse, he lost the little finger on his left hand at 19 in an accident, while working as a press operator in an automobile parts factory. After the accident he had to run to several hospitals; this experience increased his interest in participating in the Workers' Union. Around that time, he held several important union posts. Due to perceived incompatibility between the Brazilian military government and trade union activities, Lula's views moved further to the political left. Inspired by his brother Frei Chico, Lula joined the labour movement when he worked at Villares Metals S.
A, rising through the ranks. He was elected in 1975, reelected in 1978, as president of the Steel Workers' Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema. Both cities are located in the ABCD Region, home to most of Brazil's automobile manufacturing facilities, including Ford, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and others, are among the most industrialized in the country. In the late 1970s, when Brazil was under military rule, Lu
North Korea
North Korea the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia constituting the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, with Pyongyang the capital and the largest city in the country. The name Korea is derived from Goguryeo, one of the great powers in East Asia during its time, ruling most of the Korean Peninsula, parts of the Russian Far East and Inner Mongolia, under Gwanggaeto the Great. To the north and northwest, the country is bordered by China and by Russia along the Amnok and Tumen rivers. North Korea, like its southern counterpart, claims to be the legitimate government of the entire peninsula and adjacent islands. In 1910, Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan. After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was divided into two zones, with the north occupied by the Soviet Union and the south occupied by the United States. Negotiations on reunification failed, in 1948, separate governments were formed: the socialist Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, the capitalist Republic of Korea in the south.
An invasion initiated by North Korea led to the Korean War. The Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire. North Korea describes itself as a "self-reliant" socialist state, formally holds elections, though said elections have been described by outside observers as sham elections. Outside observers generally view North Korea as a Stalinist totalitarian dictatorship noting the elaborate cult of personality around Kim Il-sung and his family; the Workers' Party of Korea, led by a member of the ruling family, holds power in the state and leads the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland of which all political officers are required to be members. Juche, an ideology of national self-reliance, was introduced into the constitution in 1972; the means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises and collectivized farms. Most services such as healthcare, education and food production are subsidized or state-funded. From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered a famine that resulted in the deaths of between 240,000 and 420,000 people, the population continues to suffer malnutrition.
North Korea follows "military-first" policy. It is the country with the highest number of military and paramilitary personnel, with a total of 9,495,000 active and paramilitary personnel, or 37% of its population, its active duty army of 1.21 million is the fourth largest in the world, after China, the United States and India. It possesses nuclear weapons; the UN inquiry into human rights in North Korea concluded that, "The gravity and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world". The North Korean regime denies most allegations, accusing international organizations of fabricating human rights abuses as part of a smear campaign with the covert intention of undermining the state, although they admit that there are human rights issues relating to living conditions which the regime is attempting to correct. In addition to being a member of the United Nations since 1991, the sovereign state is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, G77 and the ASEAN Regional Forum.
The name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a shortened form of its name; the 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, thus inherited its name, pronounced by visiting Persian merchants as "Korea". The modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Company's Hendrick Hamel. After the division of the country into North and South Korea, the two sides used different terms to refer to Korea: Chosun or Joseon in North Korea, Hanguk in South Korea. In 1948, North Korea adopted Democratic People's Republic of Korea as its new legal name. In the wider world, because the government controls the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, it is called North Korea to distinguish it from South Korea, called the Republic of Korea in English. Both governments consider themselves to be the legitimate government of the whole of Korea. For this reason, the people do not consider themselves as'North Koreans' but as Koreans in the same divided country as their compatriots in the South and foreign visitors are discouraged from using the former term.
After the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Korea was occupied by Japan from 1910 to 1945. Japan tried to suppress Korean traditions and culture and ran the economy for its own benefit. Korean resistance groups known as Dongnipgun operated along the Sino-Korean border, fighting guerrilla warfare against Japanese forces; some of them took part in parts of South East Asia. One of the guerrilla leaders was the communist Kim Il-sung, who became the first leader of North Korea. At the end of World War II in 1945, the Korean Peninsula was divided into two zones along the 38th parallel, with the northern half of the peninsula occupied by the Soviet Union and the southern half by the United States; the drawing of the division was assigned to two American officers, diplomat Dean Rusk and Army officer Charles Bone
