ABSTRACT
Japan was defeated at the end of the Pacific War on 15 August 1945, terminating its 35-year rule over Korea. The United States proposed to divide the Korean peninsula at the 38th parallel into two separate occupation zones – the United States in the south and the Soviet Union in the north – to disarm the Japanese troops while preparing a provisional government in Korea. North Korea has held the family to be the basic unit of society and people were mobilised specifically around the idea of the nation as an extension of the family. In addition to the legislation pertaining to marriage, divorce, and gender equality, the Labour Law, promulgated on 24 June 1946, was also premised on the importance of protecting the integrity of the family. Many communist states have attempted to solve the ‘woman question’ by enabling women to work outside the home and be free from dependence on male breadwinners.
