North and South Korea

North and South Korea shared a common ethnic, cultural and historical experience until 1945 when the splitting of the country along the 38th parallel into Russian and American zones to facilitate Japanese withdrawal destroyed immediate hopes of maintaining a unified national identity. The industrial North and the agricultural South, geographically separate, were economically complementary. South Korea became the third East Asian country where American involvement after the war produced a moderately sweeping land reform. The fact that South Korean peasants owned their land was, however, significant, especially when thousands of disillusioned refugees from North Korean collectivisation were streaming in. Comparative data assembled by Pak on agricultural productivities shows little significant difference between North and South. Post-reform labour absorption has been greater in the South, due to lower mechanisation and the need to accommodate refugees. The entire labour force in the North is compulsorily active; in the South large numbers of rural workers are underemployed.