North and South Korea are divided largely because of Japanese colonial rule, World War II, and the Cold War. Japan ruled Korea from 1910 until its surrender in 1945 at the end of World War II; afterward, the United States and the Soviet Union divided the peninsula along the 38th parallel in an arrangement that was intended to be temporary. As Cold War tensions intensified, however, separate governments were established in 1948. The Korean War (1950–53) hardened the division, ending with an armistice that established the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two countries.
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