The division of Korea into a North and a South stems from the August 1945 Allied victory in World War II in Asia, ending Japan's 35-year colonization of Korea. Through General Order No. 1 issued by General Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. and the USSR were to supervise the surrender of Imperial Japanese forces in their sectors, divided by the 38th parallel, as well as temporarily establish respective military governments until such time as Korea was either administered under an international trusteeship or achieved independence. In 1948, the USSR refused to participate in the U.N.'s supervised peninsula-wide elections for a new government, leading to the U.N.'s recognition of the Republic of Korea, South Korea, as the sole legitimate government in all of Korea.

The Korean War (1950-1953) and its Armistice Agreement left the two Koreas permanently separated by the DMZ, roughly approximate to the 38th parallel and through which runs the Military Demarcation Line. They remain technically at war today. North Korea's communist government has presided over a state-controlled economy historically dependent upon massive aid from the USSR, Russia and mainland China in order to survive. Meanwhile, Korea has developed into one of the world's leading economies, employing free enterprise economic policies as well as finally fostering a democratic government.

Since the 1990s, the two Koreas have held two symbolic summit meetings in 2000 and 2007, and have slightly increased economic cooperation.

Today, only a day left until the third big Inter-Korean Summit, the Korean people share their hopes, dreams and expectations for the future of Korea. Here, you can listen to a North Korean defector and a young South Korean executive in the next video.

Author: Alexandra Taseva
Video edit: Alexandra Taseva

​Contemporary Asian artist Ilhwa Kim launched her new UK solo show titled "Sensory Portrait" in London on April 4th. The South Korean artist says she wants her unusual, large-scale paper art to take people by surprise. Kim's works are made of tens of thousands of paper rolls she calls "seeds".​

Works of art made of hanji paper by Ilhwa Kim in 2015

The seeds are made by traditional handmade Korean mulberry paper known as "hanji" which the artist hand dyes following ancient traditions and rolls and cuts into pieces of varying lengths and sizes. Each seed is unique and putting them together they construct a universe with a constantly changing dialogue between light and shadow, shares with us artist Ilhwa Kim.

Ilhwa Kim shared with us "If you look closer, each piece represents a world of its own. And each piece also represents a small unit. These tiniest particles combined together become another world or another universe. That is why I see these as the seeds of the world." 

This uniqe artist, doesn't make gourous plans and preparations for her pieces. She works spontaneously when inspiration comes! Usually other paper artists glue the pieces directly onto the base, but Kim found that this only limits the movement of the pieses so she prefers to lay the "seeds" down freely at first. One art work takes months to create. But often she works on several pieces simultaneously to optimize her time.

Making tens of thousands of paper rolls requires patience but the artist said she does not get frustrated with the laborious process and only loses her patience when she cannot express her vision.

"When there is something I want to express, but I'm lost and cannot find the way to do it, that's what is most difficult for me.", she said.

Artist Ilhwa Kim 

Ilhwa Kim is born in South Korea in 1967 and has a background in oriental painting. She studied at the Hong-Ik University in Seoul. Her art has been exhibited in art galleries and art fairs around the world and it is its global nature Kim hopes will appeal to art-lovers worldwide.

"I majored in oriental painting. So I think the colours or other traditional elements which I learned from oriental painting influence my works unconsciously. But I don't deliberately focus on those in my art work." Kim said.

​The "Sensory Portrait" exhibition at the HOFA (House Of Fine Art) Gallery in London's Pall Mall runs through April 17.

Reporter: Alexandra Taseva
Photos: https://www.ilhwakim.com/