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North Korea’s founding day and Its legacy

Published: 09 Sep. 2025, 09:19

Roh Jung-tae

The author is a writer and a senior fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

On Sept. 9, 1948, in Pyongyang, the establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was proclaimed. Less than a month earlier, on August 15, the Republic of Korea was founded in Seoul. With two governments emerging on the peninsula, the division of Korea became a political reality only three years after Japan’s surrender in 1945.

At the end of World War II, the Allies invited the Soviet Union to join the fight against Japan’s Kwantung Army. Under the Yalta Agreement, the Soviets declared war on Japan at midnight on Aug. 9, 1945. Contrary to expectations, Japanese defenses collapsed quickly. The Red Army advanced through Manchuria and entered northern Korea on Aug. 11. By Aug. 25, Soviet forces had taken Pyongyang, establishing a division at the 38th parallel: U.S. troops occupied the south, while Soviet troops controlled the north.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on the evening of Sept. 2 that “Comrade Kim Jong-un arrived in the capital of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, at 4 p.m. local time on Sept. 2.” Photos released by the agency showed his daughter Kim Ju-ae accompanying him. [YONHAP]

For years, progressive circles in Korea placed responsibility for the division on President Syngman Rhee, the Republic of Korea, and the U.S. military government. That view lost ground when the diary of Terentii Shtykov, the Soviet political officer who directed military administration in the north, was uncovered after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His records revealed that Moscow had orchestrated the creation of a separate regime in the north, with Kim Il Sung at its center.

Seventy-seven years later, North Korea has become a hereditary system rooted in the cult of Kim Il Sung. Leadership passed to his son Kim Jong-il and now to Kim Jong-un. Most recently, Kim’s daughter Kim Ju-ae appeared alongside him at a war commemoration event in Beijing, signaling the possibility of a fourth-generation succession.

The state presents itself as a republic of the people, but has instead evolved into a dynastic order. Its claims to democracy are hollow, and its citizens remain under tight control. With succession appearing entrenched, even the notion of peaceful coexistence on the peninsula has become uncertain. The question facing Korea and its allies is no longer only about reunification, but whether stability with the North is even possible.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.