n of states has
existed almost continuously for several millennia. Between its
initial unification in the 7th century - from three predecessor
Korean states - until the 20th century, Korea existed as a single
independent country. In 1905, following the Russo-Japanese War,
Korea became a protectorate of imperial Japan, and in 1910 it was
annexed as a colony. Korea regained its independence following
Japan's surrender to the United States in 1945. After World War II,
a Republic of Korea (ROK) was set up in the southern half of the
Korean Peninsula while a Communist-style government was installed in
the north (the DPRK). During the Korean War (1950-53), US troops and
UN forces fought alongside soldiers from the ROK to defend South
Korea from DPRK attacks supported by China and the Soviet Union. An
armistice was signed in 1953, splitting the peninsula along a
demilitarized zone at about the 38th parallel. Thereafter, South
Korea achieved rapid economic growth with per capita income rising
to roughly 14 times the level of North Korea. In 1993, KIM Young-sam
became South Korea's first civilian president following 32 years of
military rule. South Korea today is a fully functioning modern
democracy. In June 2000, a historic first North-South summit took
place between the South's President KIM Dae-jung and the North's
leader KIM Jong Il. In October 2007, a second North-South summit
took place between the South's President ROH Moo-hyun and the North
Korean leader.

Kosovo
Serbs migrated to the territories of modern Kosovo in the 7th
century but did not fully incorporate them into the Serbian realm
until the early 13th century. The Serbian defeat at the Battle of
Kosovo in 1389 led to five centuries of Ottoman rule during which
large numbers of Turks and Albanians moved to Kosovo. By the end of
the 19th century, Albanians replaced the Serbs as the dominant
ethnic group in Kosovo. Serbia reacquired control over Kosovo from
the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War (1912). After World
War II (1945), the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia led by Josip TITO reorganized Kosovo as an autonomous
province within the constituent republic of Serbia. Over the next
four decades, Kosovo Albanians lobbied for greater autonomy, and
Kosovo was granted the status almost equal to that of a republic in
the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution. Despite the