The U.S. officially recognizes only the government of South Korea and not the government of North Korea. I am trying to understand why this is because the U.S. has recognized many other dictatorships including the governments of Saddam Hussein and the government of Bashar Al Assad. Historically we also recognized the existence of our greatest enemy, the U.S.S.R.
So my question is why does the U.S. not recognize the North Korean government as it does with other enemies, and what does the U.S. gain from this?