All photos courtesy of Unsplash
We know little of the real truth about the country of North Korea so to begin to understand this very independent country one needs to go back over a century. Following the Donghak Peasant Revolution the Great Korean Empire came into being in 1897, but Korea was strategically very important to Japan, who annexed the country and for years enforced its occupation in a ruthless way.
Protest demonstrations took place but the military and police fired into groups of Korean Christians singing hymns. Christian leaders were nailed to wooden crosses to die. Police beheaded small children, besides burning down churches. It may surprise some that Korea was once considered a christian country and up to the Second World War was an active mission field. The Japanese did seek to counteract the growth of christianity by its pagan Shinto religion. The north actually had more christians than the south of the country but later the division of the nation saw many christians flee to the south.
The Japanese rule over Korea ended at the close of the Second World War. Korea then became governed as two countries according to a plan put in place by the U.S.A. The border being drawn across the 38th parallel on a map. thus dividing the nation into north and south. This was considered to be a temporary arrangement, the people having a desire for the country to be unified again. This sadly was not the case and tension between both sides led finally to the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 involving not only Koreans but the U.S.A. Britain, France, China and the then Soviet Union. The war was one of the most devastating in history and finally ended in an armistice in what is known as the Demilitarised Zone, that still divides the two countries today. North Korea continues to claim that they are the victors and annual celebrations coupled with a wealth of constant propaganda continue to declare this.
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