North Korea

North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk), is a country in East Asia, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The DPRK officially describes itself as a socialist state and holds elections, but it is widely considered a dictatorship and has been described as totalitarian and Stalinist with an elaborate cult of personality around the Kim family. It is an antagonist faction in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Japanese Occupation to Independence
In 1910, in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War, Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan. Japan tried to suppress Korean traditions and culture and ran the economy primarily for its own benefit. Anti-Japanese, pro-liberation rallies took place nationwide. After the outbreaks of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and World War II, Japan stepped up efforts to extinguish Korean culture. At the end of World War II in 1945, the Korean peninsula was divided into two occupied 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 Korean War (1950-1953)
The military of North Korea invaded the South on 25 June 1950, and swiftly overran most of the country. A United Nations force, led by the United States, intervened to defend the South, and rapidly advanced into North Korea. As they reached the border with China, Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war again. Fighting ended on 27 July 1953, with an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea. More than one million civilians and soldiers were killed in the war. As a result of the conflict, a heavily guarded demilitarized zone was constructed to divide the peninsula, and an anti-Communist and anti-North Korea sentiment remains in South Korea. Since the war, the United States maintained a strong military presence in the South which is depicted by the North Korean government as an imperialist occupation force. Although a cease-fire had been declared, there had been no official peace treaty between the two Koreas, meaning that they are still technically at war.

Second Korean War (2054-)
In 2054, the fragile peace and numerous military confrontations that had lasted for over a century was finally shattered when North Korea launched a full-scale invasion of South Korea. By July 10 2054, North Korean forces were on the verge of capturing the capital city of Seoul. These events triggered a full-scale war on the peninsula and prompted the response of the United States of America. The U.S., bound by treaty obligations established a century before, deploys a 10,000-man task force from the United States Marine Corps with the objective of defending Seoul and preventing its capture from North Korea.