Division between North Korea and South Korea explained

Since their division after World War Two, North Korea and South Korea have experienced very different fortunes.

Japan ruled Korea from 1910 until the Japanese surrendered after World War Two in 1945.

Afterwards, Soviet troops occupied the area north of the 38th parallel, and US troops the south.

The tensions between north and south centred on the differences between democracy and communism.

An industrial boom in the decades that followed the Korean War allowed South Korea to prosper. North Korea, however, became isolated under the Kim family dynasty.

It means that the divisions put in place mid-way through the 20th Century remain stark today.