From 1905 to 1945, Japan occupied Korea. After World War II, Korea was divided into two sections - North and South. The North was setup as a Communist government by the Soviet Union and the South was set up as a democracy by the United States. In the early 1950's, North Korea attempted to take over South Korea with the help of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The United States came to the rescue and liberated South Korea.The past 50 years in Korea have been an experiment - Communism vs Democracy. The photo at right is worth 1000 words. It is a night shot of North and South Korea. The lower half showing many lights across the country is South Korea. The upper half showing only one small dot of light is North Korea. Click here for an enlarged view.
South Korea is a modern, flourishing, free, capitalist democracy. The North Korean people are suffering under a tyrannical, Communist dictator because of a lack of food and judging from this photo, they don't have electricity. Any who are caught trying to escape are treated inhumanely and tortured. Some Chinese soldiers have testified that returned escapees have had cables jabbed through their hands or under their collarbones and are strung together with other escapees.