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HISTORYUPDATED 24 OCT 2026

North Korea, from 1945 to today

Eight decades in one scroll - from a line drawn on a map to a nuclear state ruled by the same family.

Timeline

The key moments

  1. 1910Japan annexes Korea and rules it for 35 years.
  2. 1945Japan surrenders. The US and Soviet Union split Korea at the 38th parallel.
  3. 1948The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is founded under Kim Il Sung.
  4. 1950North Korea invades the South, starting the Korean War.
  5. 1953An armistice stops the fighting. No peace treaty is ever signed.
  6. 1968North Korean commandos try to kill South Korea's president; the US spy ship Pueblo is seized.
  7. 1994Kim Il Sung dies. His son Kim Jong Il takes over.
  8. 1994-98Famine - estimates run from hundreds of thousands to over 2 million dead.
  9. 2000First summit between the leaders of North and South Korea.
  10. 2006First nuclear test.
  11. 2010The South Korean warship Cheonan is sunk; Yeonpyeong island is shelled.
  12. 2011Kim Jong Il dies. Kim Jong Un, about 27, takes power.
  13. 2013Kim's uncle Jang Song Thaek is executed.
  14. 2017Kim Jong Nam murdered in Malaysia; sixth and largest nuclear test; first ICBM that can reach the US.
  15. 2018-19Three meetings between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.
  16. 2020North Korea blows up the inter-Korean liaison office and seals its borders for Covid.
  17. 2024Defence pact with Russia. South Korea declared a hostile state. Troops sent to Russia.
  18. 2026Ninth Party Congress. In October, Kim crosses the new bridge into China.

More inside North Korea

Who runs it, the military, energy, daily life and more.

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Sources

Where this comes from

Figures are public estimates and may be dated - North Korea publishes almost no statistics.