War · 1950–1953
Korean War
Panmunjom, Korean Demilitarized Zone
Korea, a Japanese colony for 35 years, was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet and US occupation zones in 1945, and rival governments formed in 1948. On 25 June 1950 North Korea invaded the South; a US-led United Nations force came to the South's aid and China and the Soviet Union backed the North, and after two years of attritional fighting an armistice signed on 27 July 1953 created a 4-kilometre-wide Demilitarized Zone along the front line.
Why it mattered
The war caused around one million military deaths and an estimated 1.5 to 3 million civilian deaths, and left Korea divided under an armistice that has never been replaced by a peace treaty.
Related
- The world in 1945: Victory, Ruin and the Atom chapter
- Korean War 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953
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