What's life like for North Koreans?

Most North Koreans are extremely poor.

Thousands starved to death after flooding and drought caused a massive famine in 1995.

And one out of every three North Koreans still relies on donations from the United Nations for food.

Two out of every three are chronically malnourished or suffering from stunted growth.

And the temperature in the capital, Pyongyang, can dip to -10 C.

Why is Korea divided?

The Soviet Union occupied the northern half of Korea after World War II ended in 1945.

Southern Korea was controlled by the United States.

The peninsula was formally split in two on 9 September 1948.

The political differences between the two rival states led to the outbreak of a horrific war in 1950.

Three years later, a cease-fire agreement ended the Korean War.

But the North Korea and South Korea have to this day never signed a peace treaty.

Expalin apartheid

It means simply 'apartness'. Basically it was a system where blacks and whites were kept separate. Separate residential areas, separate schools, jobs, churches, parks, shopping areas, etc.

The problem was that blacks didn't have nearly the life opportunities that whites had. Their schools were underfunded and falling down, so a black kid growing up in a black neighborhood didn't have nearly the chance of going to college and bettering himself.

One of the basic fundamental values on which America was founded is the idea that every citizen has the same rights and privileges, the same governmental protections and legal status. This is why we don't have knighthoods or royalty or titles. Segregation violated that principle, making blacks 'second class citizens' for all intents and purposes.

Apartheid is now being practiced in Israel where Palestinians don't have the same rights as Jews. It's not called 'apartheid', but that's what it is.