The North and The South: Korea

The North and The South: Korea

          Korea had been under the Japanese occupation since 1910 and was therefore part of the Japanese empire. This 35-year-old empire came to an end when the second World War broke and it eventually resulted in the division of Korea into two countries; North Korea, known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with Pyongyang as its capital, and South Korea, the Republic of Korea with Seoul as its capital.

     

                              

Government & Politics:

          The division essentially occurred because the United States and the Soviet Union occupied different parts of Korea forming a partition line between the regions that were under their control, and negotiations between the two failed to unify Korea. As a result, a socialist country that is supported by the Soviet Union formed in the North while a nationalist country backed by the United States formed in the South

                   North Korea’s government is communist dictatorship led by a supreme leader, currently Kim Jong-Un, while South Korea has a semi-presidential republic, led by a democratic president-currently Lee Myung-bak-and a prime minister. The president is chosen through elections that are administrated by the United Nations, which is something that was rejected in North Korea.

Geography:

          North Korea boasts an area of 122,762 square km compared to South Korea’s area of 99,313 square km. Both countries have very similar topographies consisting of hills and mountains mostly, which is to be expected considering they were once a single country. Although South Korea has a smaller area, it has over double the populations of North Korea with a world ranking of #26 compared to North Korea’s ranking of #50 in terms of population size.

          It is worth noting that these figures reflect the immense growth that South Korea has undergone and is still undergoing; it is considered to be a technologically advanced developed country. It is home to companies like LG, Samsung and Hyundai-Kia. Today, it has the world’s fastest Internet speed. North Korea on the other hand has not undergone any major growth since independence.

Religion:

          Due to its communist worldview, North Korea is officially atheist. And there are no official statistics. In South Korea on the other hand, Korean Shamanism, which is a sort of spirit worship, is the native religion. There is also a significant proportion of Buddhists (15.5% according to a 2015 census) and Christians (27.6%), mostly Catholics or protestants, that is worth mentioning.

Customs:

          It goes without being said that North and South Korea share the same dishes and traditions that go with these dishes. Take for example, Dduk (ricecake) and Yeot (a type of confectionary) are said to bring students good fortune if eaten before exams. The same goes when we talk about national holidays and celebrations, one of these is the day of the year’s first full moon. Also, in both nations, the first day of the new year is celebrated by eating rice cake soup. 

          Yet, recent variations in the cultures are very apparent. While South Korea has become the Hollywood of the East, 
exporting k-pop (a music genre), games and television dramas, South Korea has banned miniskirts, skinny jeans and even certain haircuts.

WIFI:

          Lastly, I thought it was worth mentioning that while as stated earlier, South Korea has the fastest internet rate in the world, North Korea bans internet surfing with only certain members of society possessing permits to do so. Instead, it provides its own intranet which only allows citizens to access fan pages of the Kim Dynasty; the ruling dynasty in North Korea.