NARRATOR: Until the late 19th century,
Korea kept itself isolated from the rest of the world,
save for its immediate neighbors, China and Japan.
Korea earned the title of Hermit Kingdom in the 1880s,
a name still used today.
Due to outside influence and internal unrest,
the 1,000 year rule of the Korean monarchy
started to deteriorate towards the end of the 19th century.
Japan began to exercise more and more influence in the region,
placing pressure on Korea's existing government.
After China came to Korea's defense
against Japanese aggression, war broke out in 1894.
The Sino-Japanese war ended with a decisive victory
for Japan, whose forces remained in Korea for years to come.
Japanese troops terrorize the Korean population
by forcing men into slave labor and women into prostitution.
Korea's King Gojong fled his palace in 1896 under threat
from the occupying Japanese and the increasing
resentment of his own people.
The troubled monarch found refuge at the Russian legation
in Seoul.
While under Russian protection, King Gojong
allowed the tsar's government to influence
his own political decisions, decisions
that furthered Russia's colonial interests in the region.
Russia had expanded its influence
in East Asia with the construction
of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
The Japanese perceived this as a threat
to their own growing interest in China and Korea.
Escalating tensions between the Japanese and Russians
ultimately boiled over, with war breaking out in 1904.
The Russo-Japanese War ended the next year
with no obvious victors.
But the Treaty of Portsmouth, brokered by President Theodore
Roosevelt, formally affirmed Japan's control
over Korea as a protectorate.
Japan's brutality in Korea continued
throughout the next few decades.
But the abuses grew even worse in the years leading up
to World War II as the Japanese empire underwent
a massive military buildup.
The use of slave labor grew, and some Koreans
were forced to take Japanese names and
worship Japanese Shinto gods.
But the Koreans didn't submit to their oppressors
without a fight.
Over 200,000 Korean resistance fighters
took up arms against the Japanese in guerrilla warfare.
Many who fought had adopted communist ideologies,
influenced by the politics of nearby Russia.
One of those communist guerrilla leaders was Kim Song Ju.
Born in Korea, but raised in China,
Kim fought the Japanese in Manchuria
before joining the Soviet military
for training towards the end of World War II.
Kim Song Ju will be an important figure going forward.
After World War II ended, the Allies
were left to divide the axis territories amongst themselves.
Germany was split in two.
The west became a democracy, while the east
fell under communist rule.
Back in Korea, the Allies had already
agreed before the end of the war that the region
would become ultimately free and independent.
In reality, Korea went the way of Germany.
The Soviets occupied the north, while the United
States controlled the south.
In November of 1947, the United Nations called for elections
to establish a democracy throughout
the entire Korean peninsula.
But the Soviets refused to comply.
They feared free elections would weaken their strong influence
in the north.
Elections only took place in the southern half of Korea.
And Syngman Rhee won the presidency in 1948.
North Korea went in a very different direction.
This is where Kim Song Ju, the anti-Japanese
communist guerrilla leader, comes back into play.
By this time, he had adopted the name
Kim Il Sung, roughly translating to Kim Become The Sun.
The Soviets chose to install Kim as their puppet in North Korea,
capitalizing on his communist ideals and Korean origins.
However, because Kim was mostly raised in China,
he actually spoke very little Korean.
And his speeches had to be written
out and translated by the Soviets before being recited.
The Russians also promoted Kim's past as a guerrilla leader
and portrayed him as a national hero
to boost his Korean identity.
Kim quickly set out to assemble the institutions that
make North Korea what it is today,
establishing the Korean People's Army in 1948
and placing his old guerrilla comrades
in senior leadership roles.
Kim also formed the North Korean Federation of Literature
and Art, through which he sought to obtain
complete control over the country's cultural output.
He began to foster a cult of personality,
using art and media to portray himself as a godlike figure
to the North Korean people.
Three months after Syngman Rhee's election in the south,
Kim officially proclaimed the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, with himself as leader.
Kim sought to reunify the north and south from the earliest
days of his rule, restoring Korea
to its former imperial glory.
After gaining the support of a reluctant Joseph Stalin
and China's new leader, Mao Tse-tung,
Kim invaded South Korea in June of 1950.
The ensuing war pitched South Korea and the United States
against China, North Korea, and indirectly, the Soviet
Union, resulting in millions of deaths,
both military and civilian.
The Korean War ended with a cease fire agreement in 1953.
However, because a formal peace treaty was never signed,
technically, the two Koreas are still at war to this day.
Militarism and authoritarianism have
dominated North Korea since the beginning of the Kim dynasty.
Kim Il Sung transformed the once prosperous and peaceful
kingdom into a dictatorship that emphasizes
war over human rights.
This legacy has been carried out by his descendants
into the 21st century.