Time line of Korean war: History reveals stark contrast between North and South

The war between North and South Korea broke out exactly70 years agoand ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war.

As well as pitting North against South, the Korean War embroiled each side's communist and Western allies with the Soviet Union and China backing Pyongyang, and a US-led coalition under a United Nations banner supporting Seoul.

While leaders have come and gone, calendars have changed, the war between the two nations is still on.

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Also see:70 years of Korean War: How power games kept the peninsula divided

The Korean Demilitarized Zone has become one of the most tensed borders onthe Earth.

And the fight between the two sides have evolved from war of bombs to one of balloons and leaflets.

Themodern world's longest warthat began in 1950 andit never really ended. In the wake of world war 2, the Korean peninsulawas divided into two parts.

While the north had the Soviet Union's backing and the south leaned towards the west.

In 1948 the two Koreas were re-named. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north and the Republic of Korea in the South. The war broke out two years later.

North Korean Leader Kim il Sung wanted to reunite the Korean peninsula. So, the communist north invaded the south and Seoul was captured within days.

The North Korean army was advancing further south when a U.N. Coalition intervened.

The coalition was led by the US and it pushed North Korean troops as far as the Sino-Korean border.

China launched a counter-offensive and U.N. Forces relatiated. By 1953, 4 million people had either died or disappeared and lost 520,000South Koreans, 137,000 North Koreans died while America lost 37,000 troops.

Cities were ravaged on both sides of the divided peninsuala.

In july 1953, North Korea signed an armistice with the US due to which the fighting ended, but the war did not. There have been numerous flare-ups over the years.

In 1968, the North sent 31 commandos to kill then-South Korean president Park Chung Hee. However, the assassination plot failed.

In 1987, North Korea allegedly planted a bomb onboard a South Korean airliner. The flight from Baghdad to Seoul exploded over the Bay of Bengal and 115 people were killed.

In 1996, North Korea deployed thousands of troops into the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

In 1999, the two sides clashed on the Yellow Sea. The turn of the millenium saw a landmark summit.

In 2000, North Korea's Kim Jong-il met South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung in Pyongyang.

Soon, border liaison offices were reopened and family reunions were given a nod.

It was followed by some historic meets including those between Kim Jong and Trump during a summit, Kim's sister in South Korea for winter olympics and diplomatic overtures.

Although it is 2020 butNorth Korea has decided to walk backwards.

Earlier this month, Pyongyang blew up its inter-korean liaison office on June 16 whichsevered all hotlines with the south.

Today, the 38th parallel continues to divide the two koreas in more ways than one.

An authoritarian North versis a democratic South,restricted and isolated North versis a liberal South.

One side is poverty striken, the other is uber-development.

While the South is winning the world with its talent and culture, the North is sliding back into its cocoon.

And amidst all of this, the korean war is very much on. It has progressed from a war of bombs to one of balloons and leaflets...