The 3-inch difference between Koreans

Discussions on — and the jokes about — the 3-inch difference between the heigh of the South and North Koreans have resumed after the failed long-range rocket launch. Actually, the height difference is 1.6 inches among pre-school boys and 1.2 inches among pre-school girls, according to a BBC report. Since genetics could not be blamed (they belong to the same population) nor migration, economic growth (or the lack of it) has been the culprit. Poverty, the lack of industrialization, and no trade with the outside world, resulted in poor diet for the young North Koreans. Meantime, people in South Korea are getting taller. In fact, the average South Korean woman is approaching the height of the average North Korean man, the report said. It seems that heigh statistic just reveals the tragic fact about the different economy of the two.

Read more on BBC.