By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Alexandra Taseva from Bulgaria
Video = Alexandra Taseva (Friday Chopsticks)

The division of Korea into a North and a South stems from the August 1945 Allied victory in World War II in Asia, ending Japan's 35-year colonization of Korea. Through General Order No. 1 issued by General Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. and the USSR were to supervise the surrender of Imperial Japanese forces in their sectors, divided by the 38th parallel, as well as temporarily establish respective military governments until such time as Korea was either administered under an international trusteeship or achieved independence. In 1948, the USSR refused to participate in the U.N.'s supervised peninsula-wide elections for a new government, leading to the U.N.'s recognition of the Republic of Korea, South Korea, as the sole legitimate government in all of Korea.

The Korean War (1950-1953) and its Armistice Agreement left the two Koreas permanently separated by the DMZ, roughly approximate to the 38th parallel and through which runs the Military Demarcation Line. They remain technically at war today. North Korea's communist government has presided over a state-controlled economy historically dependent upon massive aid from the USSR, Russia and mainland China in order to survive. Meanwhile, Korea has developed into one of the world's leading economies, employing free enterprise economic policies as well as finally fostering a democratic government.

Since the 1990s, the two Koreas have held two symbolic summit meetings in 2000 and 2007, and have slightly increased economic cooperation.

Today, only a day left until the third big Inter-Korean Summit, the Korean people share their hopes, dreams and expectations for the future of Korea. Here, you can listen to a North Korean defector and a young South Korean executive in the next episode of Friday Chopsticks.

wisdom117@korea.kr

* This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.