How did Cold War tensions make Korea’s division permanent?

The division of Korea, initially intended as a temporary administrative measure following Japan’s surrender in 1945, became permanent due to the intensifying Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.12

After World War II, the peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel into Soviet and American occupation zones. Efforts to establish a unified government failed as the two superpowers supported opposing political factions: the Soviet Union backed a communist government in the north under Kim Il-Sung, while the United States supported the anticommunist Syngman Rhee in the south. By 1948, these zones solidified into two separate states, each claiming legitimacy over the entire peninsula.13245

The Korean War (1950–53) further hardened this division. The conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, establishing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This buffer zone remains one of the world's most heavily fortified borders, cementing the separation of the two nations into distinct political and economic systems.12