Hello and welcome to the History Hour Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson,

the past brought to life by those who were there.

And this week in the afterglow of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un's summit in Singapore, we're dedicating the whole of the

podcast to the history that has shaped the Korean peninsula. From the devotion

shown to the first Kim, Kim Il-Sung, everybody is howling, everybody's crying, they were basically programmed since childhood

to believe in the goodness of this figure.

To the fear felt in the south when communists invaded from the north.

I was just trembling like anything.

They were friendly enough, but I just couldn't overcome my own anxiety and fear. We'll also examine how and why the

peninsula was divided. We'll hear of efforts at reconciliation and even from one

American GI who chose to stay with his Chinese captors at the end of the Korean War.

At first we were expecting the worst and when they started treating us well,

I said, well, that's great.

That's all coming up. So let's start with North Korea's

founding communist leader Kim Il-sung. Promoted by the Soviet Union, Kim Il-sung was in

power from 1948 until his death in July 1994.

Our first eyewitness this week is Dr Antonio Betancourt, a Colombian-American of the Unification Church.

He knew Kimil-Sung, and as he's been telling Paul Schuster,

he was in Pyongyang waiting for a meeting with communist officials

on that fateful morning when the first in the Kim dynasty died.

I got dressed, I got ready for the meeting.

They're very formal and also they are very disciplined

...