Korean War: foreign aid for reconstruction in North Korea 1953-1960

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea, suffered the devastation of its economy and society during the Korean War, which it fought from 1950 to 1953. While no precise numbers exist for the number of victims of war in North Korea, estimates conclude that between 12-15 percent may have been killed during the war. Along with the aerial bombardment of the North, which flattened entire cities and destroyed much of the economic infrastructure of the state, this left the communists with a massive task of reconstruction in the aftermath of the war.
The countries which stepped in to assist the North Koreans were all communist allies, with the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China making up the majority of aid. These two states would remain North Korea's two main allies for the rest of the Cold War (1947-1991), with the Koreans even managing to retain close ties to both countries in the aftermath of the Sino-Soviet split of 1961, when the Chinese communist leadership denounced the Soviets as "revisionists" for their abandonment of the legacy of their former leader, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953). Other countries which contributed to the rebuilding of North Korea came from the Eastern Bloc of communist states in Europe, including East Germany and Poland.