Why do North and South Korea have beef?

Why do North and South Korea have beef?

In the last few weeks, South Korea has renewed its call for peace talks with North Korea. The Asian neighbours are technically still at war, neither side having signed a peace treaty after the Korean War back in the 1950s. But there’s a lot of interest in relations between the 2 because they have some of the most powerful allies in the world. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll get you across:

• The background to the conflict

• What things are like between them today

• And where their key allies sit…

🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Anna Pykett and Larissa Huntington

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Squiz the Shortcut

Bring me up to speed on North and South Korea…
They were once a unified nation - but despite sharing the same peninsula, ancestry, and centuries of history, they’re now 2 very different countries, divided by one of the most heavily fortified and militarised borders in the world.

Where are they in the world?
They’re on a peninsula that juts out from the Asian mainland. North Korea is bordered to the north by China and Russia, and South Korea to its south. South Korea’s only border is the one it shares with North Korea. As we mentioned, the 2 countries were one for 1,000 years, until 1910… 

What happened then?
That’s when Japan took control of the whole country. Experts say it was colonised because Japan wanted more power, land, and resources - and it didn’t stop there. According to historians, Japan tried to wipe out all Korean culture and language to make it as much like Japan as it could - things like making Koreans change their names to Japanese ones, and chopping down millions of trees and planting non-native species.

What about after World War II, when Japan was weaker? 
If we fast-forward to 1945, after losing World War II, Japan was forced to surrender all of its colonies, including Korea, to the winning Allied countries, so the Soviets and the United States. But Korea’s freedom didn’t last long…

Why not?
The Soviet Union invaded Korea around the same time Japan surrendered and left. The USSR army occupied the North, and the US military took the South while arrangements were made for Korean independence. The 2 regions were separated by what’s known as the 38th parallel - that’s a latitudinal border line between North and South Korea. 

Was that a permanent measure?
It was never meant to be. But in 1948, the 2 different states were created. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the North was established by the first Kim of the 3 generations of the Kim dynasty, Kim Il-sung - the first authoritarian or dictator leader. And in the South, the Republic of Korea, a US ally, was proclaimed, led by Syngman Rhee. 

Did the 2 recognise the legitimacy of the other?
Nope… Both leaders claimed to be the rightful ruler of the whole peninsula. And sure enough, things didn’t stay peaceful for long. On 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea to try to spread Soviet communism - and that kicked off the Korean War. 

Who was involved in the Korean War?
The United Nations and the US came to South Korea’s rescue. They were concerned that North Korea’s attempt to take over the entire peninsula could turn more countries communist. Eventually, they managed to push North Korea’s invading forces back over the border, but then in October of that year China also got involved; it came to its neighbour, North Korea’s aid with the support of the Soviet Union.

What was the toll?
Experts say up to 3 million people died in the conflict before the war ended in July 1953 with a ceasefire agreement. But it wasn’t an official peace treaty because nothing was officially signed. 

What are things like today?
More than 7 decades later, things are still frosty between the 2 neighbours. They’re divided by a 4km-wide and almost 250km-long demilitarised zone (you might’ve heard it called the DMZ…). Fun fact: because it’s been shut to humans for so long, it’s now a thriving nature reserve. But as well as wildlife, reports say it’s loaded with landmines and guarded by heavily armed troops, and it serves as a kind of buffer and physical reminder that North and South Korea are still technically at war. 

Have there been other attempts at reconciliation?
Yep, but things took a dicey turn in January 2024, when the current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un formally abandoned reunification talks. He said reconciliation was "impossible" and called the 2 nations “hostile states”. Further to that, he dissolved the 3 North Korean government bodies that managed relations with the South, effectively closing the door on the last formal diplomatic channels between them.

Did Kim Jong-un do anything else?
It was at this stage that tensions on the Korean Peninsula were said to be at their highest point in years, because in the months leading up to this, Kim had ramped up his weapons demonstrations. You might have seen headlines about them over the last few years - they tend to include ballistic missiles being fired, and there have been hundreds of ‘tests’ over the past decade or so - including as recently as last week. 

So what’s been happening lately?
Before this latest round of missile tests, South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung called for fresh peace talks with North Korea in a speech he gave on Korean Liberation Day, which celebrates his country’s independence from Japan.

What did he say?
That North and South Korea should talk directly, end the war, and halt the growth of the North’s nuclear program. So as things stand, we’ve got North Korea allying itself with China and Russia - it’s actually been providing military support and troops for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. And South Korea being an ally and business partner of the West. 

What are the main sticking points in the way of peace?
The 2 sides can’t agree on North Korea's nuclear program. South Korea wants to see denuclearisation, while experts say Kim Jong-un won’t relinquish nuclear weapons because he wants to guarantee that his regime survives. Another bug-bear of Kim’s is the US’s military presence in South Korea.

What’s that about?
He’s consistently complained about America’s joint military exercises with South Korea. This is partly why this issue has been back in the news in the past few weeks. South Korea and the US carry out joint military drills annually (called the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises), but they’ve just wrapped up early amid things looking a bit shaky between the allies.

Why are things looking shaky?
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said America would be scaling back its drills with South Korea, because he says they’re expensive and he wants allies to spend more on their own defence. He’s also sore about Seoul not offering support to the US in its war against Iran. Most analysts say this move by Trump to scale back drills and end them early was unexpected. 

What else did the US President say?
Trump also said that the joint exercises send “a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile”, and he dropped in some comments about his "very good relationship" with Kim Jong-un, whom he visited back in 2019 - becoming the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea.

Just rewind a bit…
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have had an interesting relationship. In Trump’s first term back in 2017, North Korea fired a heap of test missiles, culminating with a rocket capable of reaching Alaska which they tested on Independence Day. Some salty words were exchanged between the leaders, and then North Korea reached a crucial milestone…

What was that?
It tested a powerful new missile, which experts say was capable of reaching the US mainland. Kim then released a statement saying his nuclear mission program was complete, and he was ready to talk.

What followed?
Numerous diplomatic meetings, starting with a summit with the South Korean leader and then a sit-down with President Trump in Singapore in June 2018. This was seen as a big deal because bagging a one-on-one with the American president was something Kim Jong-un’s father and grandfather before him had never been able to do before. Trump said at the time the 2 men had an “excellent relationship” - similar to the comments he made just a few weeks ago.

Has North Korea continued its missile tests?
Yep… Trump’s recent comments about Kim followed Pyongyang carrying out ballistic missile tests banned by the United Nations earlier this month, and in the last week we’ve seen more. 

So where does that leave things?
Analysts say that faced with a US President who views 70-plus years of friendship through a financial, transactional lens, South Korea’s president has now called for military independence from the US in the event of war, meaning he wants his country to be more self-reliant.

What’s Trump’s next move?
Trump says he expects to meet Kim this year, with reports saying his team is trying to line up a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in China in November. The aim of that is to restart talks about it’s nuclear program and peace on the peninsula. But experts say Kim won't return to talks while the US and South Korea insist on denuclearisation as a starting point, and years of stalemate have let him build up his arsenal and hitch himself to Russia over the war in Ukraine. 

And where does China sit?
Peace between North and South Korea is something China supports. Last week its Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Seoul and said he welcomed the 2 countries moving towards peaceful coexistence, and said China was committed to playing a constructive role in the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula. China is considered North Korea’s closest ally and most important trading partner, so it could have some influence.

And what about South Korea’s olive branch?
Pyongyang hasn't responded to any of Lee Jae-myung's invitations - so as yet, 73 years on, the war that never officially ended still hasn’t.

Onto our Recommendations

Watching: National Geographic’s 4-part documentary series Inside North Korea's Dynasty on Disney Plus. 

Reading: This piece in Al Jazeera looks at the relationship between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Reading: This article from The Guardian on the DMZ explains what’s there, how it works - and how it’s also been declared a nature reserve.

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