[BobL]

Not based on what I read. The North was doing quite well. In fact, lots of Koreans that were in Japan after the war came back to the North (rather than the South). One book that I read dealt with one of those families and how the father regretted that decision for the rest of his life.

I’m only talking economics. The Soviets had an interest in propping up North Korea, and they did so quite well.

[FredZarguna]

North Korea was never "doing quite well." In the 1950's they had some advantages because the original partition of the country left most of the industry in the hands of North Korea, and most of the poorest peasants in the South. They were also heavily subsidized by both China and the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, they were never anything but a third-world country.

Here is a graph of North Korea's GDP. South Korea's GDP roughly follows this graph until the 1970's, at which point it continues to grow. Note what happens to NoKorea when the Soviet Union dies.