Juan de Nova Island
Named after a famous 15th century Spanish
navigator and explorer, the island has been a French possession
since 1897. It has been exploited for its guano and phosphate.
Presently a small military garrison oversees a meteorological
station.
Kazakhstan
Native Kazakhs, a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes
who migrated into the region in the 13th century, were rarely united
as a single nation. The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th
century and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. During the
1950s and 1960s agricultural "Virgin Lands" program, Soviet citizens
were encouraged to help cultivate Kazakhstan's northern pastures.
This influx of immigrants (mostly Russians, but also some other
deported nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled
non-Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Independence in 1991 caused many
of these newcomers to emigrate. Current issues include: developing a
cohesive national identity; expanding the development of the
country's vast energy resources and exporting them to world markets;
achieving a sustainable economic growth outside the oil, gas, and
mining sectors; and strengthening relations with neighboring states
and other foreign powers.
Kenya
Founding president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA
led Kenya from independence until his death in 1978, when President
Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional succession.
The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when
the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) made itself the sole
legal party in Kenya. MOI acceded to internal and external pressure
for political liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured
opposition failed to dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992
and 1997, which were marred by violence and fraud, but are viewed as
having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people. President
MOI stepped down in December of 2002 following fair and peaceful
elections. Mwai KIBAKI, running as the candidate of the multiethnic,
united opposition group, the National Rainbow Coalition, defeated
KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a
campaign centered on an anticorruption platform.
Kingman Reef
The US annexed the reef in 1922. Its sheltered lagoon
served as a way station for flying boats on Hawaii-to-American Samoa
flights during the late 1930s. There are no terrestrial plants on
the reef, which is frequently awash, but it does support abundant
and diverse marine fauna and flora. In 2001, the waters surrounding
the reef out to 12 nm were designated a US National Wildlife Refuge.
Kiribati
The Gilbert Islands were granted self-rule by the UK in
1971 and complete independence in 1979 under the new name of
Kiribati. The US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited
Phoenix and Line Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with
Kiribati.
Korea, North
An independent kingdom under Chinese suzerainty for
most of the past millennium, Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905
following the Russo-Japanese War; five years later, Japan formally
annexed the entire peninsula. Following World War II, Korea was
split with the northern half coming under Soviet-sponsored Communist
domination. After failing in the Korean War (1950-53) to conquer the
US-backed republic in the southern portion by force, North Korea,
under its founder President KIM Il Sung, adopted a policy of
ostensible diplomatic and economic "self-reliance" as a check
against excessive Soviet or Communist Chinese influence. It molded
political, economic, and military policies around the core
ideological objective of eventual unification of Korea under
Pyongyang's control. KIM's son, the current ruler KIM Jong Il, was
officially designated as KIM's successor in 1980 and assumed a
growing political and managerial role until his father's death in
1994. He assumed full power without opposition. After decades of
economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the North since
the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its
population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army
of about 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development and
research into nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and massive
conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international
community. In December 2002, following revelations it was pursuing a
nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a
1994 agreement with the United States to freeze and ultimately
dismantle its existing plutonium-based program, North Korea expelled
monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In
January 2003, it declared its withdrawal from the international
Non-Proliferation Treaty. In mid-2003 Pyongyang announced it had
completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods (to extract
weapons-grade plutonium) and was developing a "nuclear deterrent."
From August 2003, North Korea has participated on and off in
six-party talks with the China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the
United States to resolve the stalemate over its nuclear programs.
Korea, South
Korea was an independent kingdom under Chinese
suzerainty for most of the past millennium. Following its victory in
the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan occupied Korea; five years
later it formally annexed the entire peninsula. After World War II,
a republic was set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula
while a Communist-style government was installed in the north.
During the Korean War (1950-53), US and other UN forces intervened
to defend South Korea from North Korean attacks supported by the
Chinese. An armistice was signed in 1953, splitting the peninsula
along a demilitarized zone at about the 38th parallel. Thereafter,
South Korea achieved rapid economic growth with per capita income
rising to roughly 14 times the level of North Korea. In 1987, South
Korean voters elected ROH Tae-woo to the presidency, ending 26 years
of military dictatorships. South Korea today is a fully functioning
modern democracy. In June 2000, a historic first North-South summit
took place between the South's President KIM Tae-chung and the
North's leader KIM Jong Il.
Kuwait
Britain oversaw foreign relations and defense for the ruling
Kuwaiti AL-SABAH dynasty from 1899 until independence in 1961.
Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following
several weeks of aerial bombardment, a US-led, UN coalition began a
ground assault on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four
days. Kuwait spent more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure
damaged during 1990-91.
Kyrgyzstan
A Central Asian country of incredible natural beauty and
proud nomadic traditions, Kyrgyzstan was annexed by Russia in 1864;
it achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Nation-wide
demonstrations in the spring of 2005 resulted in the ouster of
President Askar AKAYEV, who had run the country since 1990.
Subsequent presidential elections in July of 2005 were won
overwhelmingly by former prime minister Kurmanbek BAKIYEV. Current
concerns include: privatization of state-owned enterprises,
expansion of democracy and political freedoms, interethnic
relations, and combating terrorism.
Laos
Laos was under the control of Siam (Thailand) from the late
18th century until the late 19th century when it became part of
French Indochina. The Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 defined the
current Lao border with Thailand. In 1975, the Communist Pathet Lao
took control of the government, ending a six-century-old monarchy.
Initial closer ties to Vietnam and socialization were replaced with
a gradual return to private enterprise, a liberalization of foreign
investment laws, and the admission into ASEAN in 1997.