As Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in held their landmark meeting, the world's attention turns to the Korean Peninsula — a region with deep historical and cultural similarities but stark ideological differences.
A little history — how the split happened
In the last days of World War II, when it became clear Japan would surrender to the Allied powers, the question of what would happen to Korea became louder than ever. After decades of occupying the Korean Peninsula, Japan had retreated.
The United States and Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea at the 38th parallel in August 1945, with the US taking the southern part and the Soviet Union the north.
The plan was to hand back control to the Koreans and withdraw, and in 1948 several attempts were made at getting the nations to vote for reunification.
But the distrust engendered by a few years of opposing ideologies had grown too deep. What started as an almost "accidental division" gave rise to one of the most hostile and heavily militarized borders in the world, and split one people in two.
Human rights and personal liberty
North Korea is now a Stalinist state and is accused of holding hundreds of thousands of people — including children — in political prison camps and other detention facilities across the country. It also receives the lowest ratings when it comes to press freedom and government accountability.
Years of isolation have seriously damaged North Korea's economy, and the country's populace has long suffered from poverty and famine. The United Nations reports that over a third of the population is malnourished and many people lack access to proper healthcare.
Life in South Korea, on the other hand, is fueled by an unashamedly loud and proud style of capitalism. The country is also officially a constitutional democracy.
However, it does have its own political prisoners. South Korea's controversial National Security Law makes it an offense to express sympathies with North Korea. But South Korea ranks as far less corrupt than its northern neighbor.
And it's a key ally for Western powers — particularly the United States, which still stations around 30,000 American soldiers on South Korean soil and holds regular military drills with the South's troops.
The size divide
Despite a similar geographical size, South Korea's population (over 51 million) is almost twice as large as North Korea's (more than 25 million). Due to their poor diet, North Koreans tend to be smaller than South Koreans. This is most visible among school children.
Daniel Schwekendiek from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul estimated the height difference to be "approximately 4 centimeters among pre-school boys and 3 centimeters among pre-school girls."
The difference in life expectancy is similarly notable: while South Koreans on average live to the ripe old age of 82, North Koreans die ten years younger at 70.
