The story of how North Korea came to be goes back to September 9, 1948, when Kim Il Sung led the founding of the country. Years earlier, as a teenager, he had joined the armed struggle against Japanese occupation, fighting on until the peninsula was finally liberated in 1945. According to historical archives recently highlighted in local state media, the situation back then was chaotic. While some factions wanted to model the country after the Soviet Union and others looked to the US—with American forces occupying the south and stirring up trouble—Kim ultimately decided to forge an independent path, rallying workers, farmers, and merchants together to build the nation.
Those early reforms moved fast and deep. Back in 1946, the regime rolled out sweeping land redistribution, nationalized major factories, granted women equal rights, and held its first democratic elections. Local media have been republishing these historical details in recent days.
By coincidence, things have been lively over at Phnom Penh's Palace Gate Hotel. According to news reports, Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra and North Korea's Chargé d'Affaires ad interim, Pak Chol Jun, raised a toast together to mark the 78th anniversary of North Korea's founding. Cambodia and North Korea share a diplomatic friendship spanning nearly six decades, and even as traffic buzzes outside and people chat over iced tea on the street, ties with these old friends are still very much part of the conversation.
