Korea, a former colony of the now-defeated Japan, was still a backwater when the Allies inherited it at the end of WW II. The United Nations agreement split it along the 38th parallel: north to the Soviet Union, South to the other Allies, and that was where agreement between the sides ended. After numerous failed meetings, the UN General Assembly turned the issue to a vote — predictably boycotted by the North Koreans, who created their own state in response to the South Korean elections.

On this day, September 9, in 1948 North Korea established the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established, with Kim Il-Sung, the Soviet-installed North Korean leader, put at the head of the new regime.

Lionized to this day by North Koreans, Kim Il-Sung cultivated a cult of personality around him, which transferred over to his successors, Kim Jong Il and very recently his son Kim Jong Un. Some 500 statues of “Great Leader” stand around North Korea, in every place of prominence, and his giant portraits hang at all train stations. Yet Kim Il-sung was plucked from obscurity by the Soviet Union to lead North Korea, and much of what he is credited with he never accomplished.