Explainer | How the Korean peninsula was divided
- Following the second world war, two separate governments were established in 1948 – one backed by the US in the South, the other backed by the Soviet Union in the North
Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 and liberated in 1945 at the end of the second world war.
How was Korea carved up?
In August 1945, two young US colonels arbitrarily partitioned the peninsula along the 38th parallel with a National Geographic map for reference. The Soviet Union agreed to the proposed demarcation line as a condition of the surrender of Japanese troops in Korea.
At the Moscow Conference for Foreign Ministers in December 1945, the Allies agreed to place Korea under a four-power trusteeship of up to five years until it became an independent state. After international efforts to achieve unification failed, two separate governments were established in 1948.
UNTCOK oversaw elections that were held only in the US-occupied southern half of the peninsula.
The fundamental principles of Juche are independence in politics, the economy and national defence.
Juche ideology and the cult of personality surrounding the ruling Kim family is used as a mechanism to maintain isolationism and totalitarian rule.
How did the Korean war start?
The Korean war began when North Korea, with Soviet and Chinese backing, launched a large-scale invasion of South Korea on June 25, 1950.
The Pentagon was caught off guard despite earlier predictions of a North Korean attack. North Korean troops, supplied with Soviet tanks and heavy artillery, quickly overwhelmed the opposition and advanced rapidly south but the tide was turned by UN and US intervention.
Of the 16 UN member countries that sent military troops to support South Korea, the US provided about 90 per cent of the personnel.
On October 25, 1950, the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army launched its “First Phase Offensive” and officially entered the Korean war.
How damaging was the Korean war?
The Korean war was the first “hot” war of the cold war. There were more than 4 million casualties, including at least 2 million civilians. The percentage of civilian casualties was higher than in the second world war or the Vietnam war.
Truce talks began on July 10, 1951, but were derailed over the issue of repatriation of prisoners of war on all sides. The fighting came to an end on July 27, 1953, when an armistice agreement was signed.
