10 things you might not know about North Korea

Next week, I am visiting one of the most closed countries on earth – it is one of the few remaining Stalinist states. Here are a few key facts:

1. After a half century of isolation, North Korea remains has one of the largest standing armies in the world.
2. 80,000 South Korean civilians are thought to have been abducted by North Korea during the Korean war (1950-53)
3. In 1994, The Great Leader Kim Il Sung died after 50 years of undiluted power.
4. Succession went to Kim’s son Kim Jong-il – a man whose birth was apparently marked by a sightings of a double rainbow and a new star
5. An estimated 2 million people died from food shortages in North Korea during the 1990s.
6. In 2002 US President George W Bush named the country as part of an "axis of evil"
7. In 2006, North Korea became the ninth country to possess nuclear weapons
8. In June 2008, the authorities in the capital Pyongang finally handed over a list of the country's nuclear assets and in the October agreed to give international inspectors full access to its nuclear sites
9. Military spending is still 20% of GDP
10. There is no internet connection in North Korea