Editing Economy of North Korea (section)

===Colonial period and post Second World War===
Japan colonized Korea, [[Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910|officially annexing it]] on 22 August 1910 as the [[Korea under Japanese rule|Province of Choson]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |title=The Cold War in East Asia |date=2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-138-65179-1 |location=Abingdon, Oxon}}</ref>{{Rp|page=24}} Japan encouraged an inflow of Japanese capital to Korea's less developed economy.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=24}} A large majority of major firms in Korea became Japanese owned and operated as a result, with key positions reserved for Japanese.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=24}} Koreans were permitted to work in menial roles under harsh labor conditions.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=24}} Most of Korea's coal, iron, and crop production was shipped to Japan.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=24}}

Beginning in the mid-1920s, the [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese colonial administration]] in Korea concentrated its industrial-development efforts in the comparatively under-populated and resource-rich northern portion of the country, resulting in a considerable movement of people northward from the agrarian southern provinces of the Korean Peninsula.<ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite web|author= Encyclopedia |url= http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/cha.korea |title= The Economic History of Korea &#124; Economic History Services |publisher= Eh.net |access-date= December 20, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111212052033/http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/cha.korea |archive-date= December 12, 2011 }}</ref>

This trend did not reverse until after the end  in 1945 of the [[World War II|Second World War]], when more than 2 million Koreans moved from North to South following the [[division of Korea]] into [[Soviet Civil Administration|Soviet]] and [[United States Army Military Government in Korea|American military]] zones of administration. This southward exodus continued after the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) in 1948 and during the 1950–53 [[Korean War]].<ref name="Encyclopedia"/>

The post-World War II [[division of Korea|division of the Korean Peninsula]] resulted in imbalances of natural and human resources, with disadvantages for both the North and the South. In 1945, about 80% of Korean [[heavy industry]] was in the North but only 31% of light industry, 37% of agriculture, and 18% of the peninsula's total commerce.<ref name="blogspot1">{{cite web|author= Tino |url= http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2010/06/north-korean-economic-history.html |title= Super-Economy: North Korean economic history |publisher= Super-economy.blogspot.com |date= June 27, 2010 |access-date= December 20, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111016132702/http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2010/06/north-korean-economic-history.html |archive-date= October 16, 2011 |df= mdy }}</ref>

North and South Korea both suffered from the massive destruction caused during the Korean War. Historian [[Charles K. Armstrong]] stated that "North Korea had been virtually destroyed as an industrial society".<ref name=wilsoncenter-20120501>{{cite report |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/NKIDP_Working_Paper_4_China_and_the_Postwar_Reconstruction_of_North_Korea.pdf |title=China and the Post-War Reconstruction of North Korea, 1953–1961 |author=Zhihua Shen. Yafeng Xia |publisher=Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars |date=May 2012 |access-date=July 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705205556/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/NKIDP_Working_Paper_4_China_and_the_Postwar_Reconstruction_of_North_Korea.pdf |archive-date=July 5, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the years immediately after the war, North Korea mobilized its labour force and natural resources in an effort to achieve rapid economic development. Large amounts of aid from other communist countries, notably the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China,<ref name=wilsoncenter-20120501/> helped the country achieve a high growth-rate in the immediate [[Post-war|postwar]] period.<ref name="csm-20120801">{{cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/0801/Inside-North-Korea-more-cellphones-and-traffic-lights-but-real-change-lags |title=Inside North Korea, more cellphones and traffic lights, but real change lags |author=Donald Kirk |newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor |date=August 1, 2012 |access-date=August 1, 2012 |quote=an economy that was, as late as the 1960s, ahead of that of South Korea. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801193750/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/0801/Inside-North-Korea-more-cellphones-and-traffic-lights-but-real-change-lags |archive-date=August 1, 2012 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite web 
 |url=http://www.north-korea-travel.com/north-korea-economy.html 
 |title=North Korea Economy&nbsp;— North Korea Information & tours to the DPRK 
 |publisher=North-korea-travel.com 
 |access-date=December 20, 2011 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226215234/http://www.north-korea-travel.com/north-korea-economy.html 
 |archive-date=December 26, 2011 }}</ref>