North Korea, the history, the fact and the fiction

But what it also did was to partially lift the curtain – an iron curtain, in Churchill's famous description – which had closed North Korea to the west for more than half a century. There are now limited tours, arranged by politically-approved travel agencies, although in the words of one source, “I’m not suggesting that it’s risk free – it’s not Cornwall. But people who go to North Korea already know that.”

The country has a history of being a pawn in someone else's savage, political game. North and south had been ruled by Japan, and fought over, until the ending of the Second World War in 1945 when the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced the Japanese to surrender. The Soviet Red Army quickly occupied the northern part of the country, halting at the 38th parallel and waiting for three weeks so that US forces in the south could reach them. Thus was Korea divided by the allies.

The US General John R Hodge became the military governor in the south and, like Mountbatten did in Vietnam, attempted to restore Japanese colonial administrators, then quickly reversed the decision in the face of waves of protest. The Republic of South Korea was formed in 1948, with the Soviet Union setting up a communist government under Kim Il-sung in the north.

Kim had been leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea but became Supreme Leader of North Korea, a position he held for more than 48 years until his death in July 1994. Kim supported the communists over the border in China in their civil war with the nationalists, sending thousands of fighters and supplies. With Mao Zedong’s victory up to 70,000 Korean veterans were sent back to their own country with gratitude and their weapons, and it was they who formed the spearhead of the attack by the north on the south in April 1950.

The Soviet president Josef Stalin had given the nod to it, although Red Army forces would not openly take part in the combat, on condition that Mao would send reinforcements if needed. At dawn on Sunday June 25 1950 the Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th parallel, shielded by artillery fire. South Korean forces were routed in hours, and the north’s armies marched on the capital Seoul.

Syngman Rhee, the South Korean president fled, but not before he had order the blowing up of the Hangang Bridge across the Han River in an attempt to stop the advance – killing hundreds of fleeing refugees – and then the massacre of his political opponents.

Within five days South Korean forces had been decimated, from 95,000 men down to less than 22,000, which is when US forces, under the United Nations banner, arrived to bolster them.

In October 1950, after the UN forces, including British soldiers, had beaten back the onslaught and even crossed into the north, Mao ordered 200,000 Chinese troops to be secretly deployed in Korea. In one of the greatest military manoeuvres in history they marched “dark to dark”, only travelling in daytime and under aerial camouflage, remaining motionless if an aircraft sound was heard, amazingly escaping detection. In 19 days a three-division army marched almost 300 miles undetected, while another division marched at night along a circuitous mountain route averaging 18 miles a day.

The proxy war between communism and capitalism began in the Cold War and raged and abated for almost three years. The armistice which finally ended hostilities was signed on July 27, 1953 by which time, according to recent analysis, more 1.2 million had died on both sides. The US has admitted to 33,686 of its men killed in the hostilities.

Recovery in the north was quick, aided by support from China and the USSR and, later, with Japan as relations improved. By 1957 industrial production had reached 1949 levels and the economy was outstripping the south, and through the 1960s economic growth was higher than in the the south. But by the 1980s it had stagnated and then started its long decline in 1987, almost totally collapsing with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the complete cessation of Russian aid. The other ally, China, was unable to provide enough food aid to meet demand

Differences had by then emerged between North Korea and its mentor the Soviet Union, central to these was Kim’s philosophy of Juche, which focused on nationalism and self-reliance, technically not communism but a homegrown version of it, which included collectivisation and the banning of private enterprise.

The demise of the Soviet Union and loss of economic aid had a dramatic and drastic effect on the north’s economy, exacerbated by floods and droughts, all of which led to widespread famine between 1994 and 1998. Estimates of the number of people who died vary widely, but as many as 3.5 million of a population of 22m may have perished.

The closed, collective economy imposed by Kim meant that foreign trade was not an option and as the famine took hold there was a huge rise in the number of illegal private markets springing up. Smuggling across the border boomed and up to 250,000 North Koreans may have moved to China. The famine also led to widespread government corruption, also undermining controls and regulation from Pyongyang. North Koreans developed their own black markets and becoming less reliant on the state and began to distrust Kim and the ruling family more. This has been described as “the natural death of North Korean Stalinism”.

Kim Il-sung, the “Great Leader” – later to be dubbed the “Eternal Leader” – died of a heart attack in 1994 but had been ill for some time before, with his eldest son Kim Jong-il holding, then taking, the reins of power. The second Kim was known as “Dear Leader” and the “Great General”.

North Korea’s governance and succession is akin to a royal family – or alternatively, so far the first and only communist dynasty –and is based on strong and absolute leadership, known as Suryong.

According to a 2004 Human Rights Watch report, the North Korean regime under Kim was "among the world's most repressive governments", having up to 200,000 political prisoners according to US and South Korean officials claims with no freedom of the press or religion, political opposition or equality of education.

Kim had a fear of flying (or perhaps being blown up in the air) and travelled by a private armoured train on visits to Russia and China. It was reported that on the journey he had live lobsters delivered to him each day which he ate with silver chopsticks. He was also a huge fan of movies made in the West, from Rambo to James Bond and all the explosions in between. It may be fanciful, or a judgment based on his bouffant hairstyle, but he was also said to be a huge Elvis Presley fan

Kim had four partners and at least five children with three of them. His third son, Kim Jong-un, was nominated to succeed him. The senior Kim died in December 2011, either of a heart attack on a train outside Pyongyang, or, in another account, in a fit of rage at construction faults at a crucial power plant.

Since the 1950s the country had been trying to develop a nuclear capability. In 1963 the USSR supplied a nuclear reactor, with North Korea going on to develop its own reactors. In 1958 it had asked both Russia and China to help develop a nuclear weapons programme, which both countries refused, although Russia did provide the initial reactor and also undertook to train nuclear scientists.

This developed into the clandestine weapons programme, leading to tests in 2006 and 2009. It’s believed that by 2009 North Korea had up to 10 functional nuclear warheads. A third nuclear test took place in February 2013, with the warhead estimation increasing to 30.

Kim lll has also developed and pioneered the country’s own short and long-range ballistic missiles. In November last year the country launched an inter-continental ballistic missile which it was claimed could reach the USA.

In June, after a summit in Singapore between Kim and President Donald Trump, there was an apparent agreement that North Korea would get rid of its nuclear weapons within a year. Then just last Wednesday Trump tweeted, "Russia has agreed to help with North Korea, where relationships with us are very good and the process is moving along. There is no rush, the sanctions remain! Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of process!"

Ten things you didn’t know about North Korea.

1. It’s year 106, not 2018 in North Korea. The calendar is based n Kim Il-sung’s date of birth, April 15 1912.

2. The Rungnado May Day stadium in Pyongyang is the biggest in the world, with more than 150,000 seats.

3. In the 1990s all teachers were required to learn to play the accordion. The rumbling sound is Jimmy Shand applauding from the hearafter.

4. Kim Jong-Il’s body is preserved in a glass tomb in Pyongyang and is the country’s top tourist attraction.

5. North Korea only has three TV channels, two of which are only on at the weekends. The other broadcasts in the evenings only, hence the flood of imported South Korean soap operas

6. Students has to pay for everything except the teachers, and including chairs and desks

7. In the past the country used human faeces for fertiliser, due to lack of resources

8. Marijuana is not illegal and can be bought in markets

9. It has the largest military in the world with almost eight million active, reserved and paramilitary. The country’s population is 24m.

10. North Korean women have 28 sanctioned haircut designs, men just 10.