So, like, North Korea is at war with the USA.

How have we come to this? It could possibly have something to do with the two man-boys currently holding positions of power, but we will leave that be for now.

As the two countries continue to trade threats, we have minimal insight into what the citizens of North Korea think of the whole debacle. After all, Kim Jong Un “maintains an iron grip over the population, carefully controlling access to the outside world,” explains BBC.

So, through the small amount of facts outsiders do know, as well as a little bit of guestimation, the BBC published nine charts that can help us learn a thing or two about North Korea, compared to its southern counterpart, South Korea.

Here are five:

Kim Il-sung effectively founded North Korea in 1948 and his family dynasty has ruled the country ever since, with control passing from father to son.

In the same period South Korea has managed six republics, a revolution, a couple of coups and the transition to free and fair elections. In total 12 presidents have led the country, covering 19 terms of office.

Three million mobile phones might seem like a lot – but in a country of 25 million it amounts to just over one out of every ten people. Most mobile users are likely to be concentrated in the capital Pyongyang.

While North Korea is the 52nd largest country by population, it is considered to have the world’s fourth largest army.

Military spending is estimated to account for as much as 25% of GDP, and almost every North Korean man undergoes some form of military training.

A series of famines in the late 1990s caused a sharp drop in life expectancy in North Korea, but even without that factor, the North lags nearly 12 years behind.

Food shortages persist and are one of many reasons why South Koreans generally live longer.

Until 1973 North and South Korea were pretty evenly matched in terms of wealth.

Since then, South Korea has rocketed ahead to become one of the world’s leading industrial producers, with companies like Samsung and Hyundai becoming global household names.

North Korea stagnated in the 1980s as the country stuck rigidly to its state-run system.

You can check out some other charts on North Korea here, although I am not too sure what this tell us about the imminent war.

[source:bbc]