Why Are North and South Korea Divided?
Learn more about the consequences of the Korean War.
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Transcript
The Korean War was a conflict between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (also known as North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (also known as South Korea).
Stretching from 1950 to 1953, it resulted in the deaths of at least 2.5 million people along with a perpetually divided Korea.
After World War II, the Soviet Union occupied all Korean land north of the 38th parallel and the United States occupied all Korean land to the south.
Though the Allied powers originally planned to exit and leave Korea a united nation once more, Soviet and American interference created two very different ruling governments: a communist state in the north and a democratic state in the south.
In 1948 the United Nations established the Republic of Korea as an independent country in the south—a move made amid violence between partisan groups.
When news of the violence reached North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung, he determined that war—financed by the Soviet Union—would be the only way to reunify Korea.
With the Soviet Union and China fighting on behalf of North Korea and the U.S. and the United Nations fighting on behalf of South Korea, the war became yet another global conflict.
This one didn’t have a neat ending: in 1953 all involved reached an uneasy armistice. The 38th parallel, where the front line had stabilized, would mark the division between two new countries.
Like the West and East Germans who would be separated by the Berlin Wall, North and South Koreans were now isolated from one another—including family members who now lived in different “halves” of the peninsula.
Both new countries faced economic devastation, with much of their existing industry destroyed.
And despite their geographic proximity, North and South Korea didn’t begin a diplomatic relationship.
The Korean peninsula has been severed in two ever since.
Stretching from 1950 to 1953, it resulted in the deaths of at least 2.5 million people along with a perpetually divided Korea.
After World War II, the Soviet Union occupied all Korean land north of the 38th parallel and the United States occupied all Korean land to the south.
Though the Allied powers originally planned to exit and leave Korea a united nation once more, Soviet and American interference created two very different ruling governments: a communist state in the north and a democratic state in the south.
In 1948 the United Nations established the Republic of Korea as an independent country in the south—a move made amid violence between partisan groups.
When news of the violence reached North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung, he determined that war—financed by the Soviet Union—would be the only way to reunify Korea.
With the Soviet Union and China fighting on behalf of North Korea and the U.S. and the United Nations fighting on behalf of South Korea, the war became yet another global conflict.
This one didn’t have a neat ending: in 1953 all involved reached an uneasy armistice. The 38th parallel, where the front line had stabilized, would mark the division between two new countries.
Like the West and East Germans who would be separated by the Berlin Wall, North and South Koreans were now isolated from one another—including family members who now lived in different “halves” of the peninsula.
Both new countries faced economic devastation, with much of their existing industry destroyed.
And despite their geographic proximity, North and South Korea didn’t begin a diplomatic relationship.
The Korean peninsula has been severed in two ever since.
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