From 1910 to the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was under Japanese rule. Most Koreans were peasants engaged in subsistence farming. In the 1930s, Japan developed mines, hydro-electric dams, steel mills, and … See more

The consolidation of Syngman Rhee's government in the South with American military support and the suppression of the October 1948 insurrection ended North Korean hopes that a revolution in the South could reunify Korea, and from early 1949 Kim Il-sung … See more

Internal politics
Kim began gradually consolidating his power. Up to this time, North Korean politics were represented by four factions: the Yan'an faction, made up of returnees from China; the "Soviet Koreans" who were ethnic Koreans from … See more

Kim Il-sung died from a sudden heart attack on 8 July 1994. The politics in the last years of Kim Il-sung closely resemble those of the beginning of the Kim Jong-il era.
Beginning as early as 1990, the economy began a steep … See more

At the Tehran Conference in November 1943 and the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the Soviet Union promised to join its allies in the Pacific War within three months of victory in Europe. On 8 August 1945, after three months to the day, the Soviet Union See more

In the 1970s, expansion of North Korea's economy, with the accompanying rise in living standards, came to an end. Compounding this was a decision to borrow foreign capital and invest heavily in military industries. North Korea's desire to lessen its … See more

Kim Jong-il died on 17 December 2011 and was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong-un. In late 2013, Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek was arrested and executed after a trial. According to the South Korean spy agency, Kim may have purged some 300 people after … See more