1. The truce took two years to negotiate
Soviet Ambassador to the United Nations Jacob Malik first proposed a cease-fire in 1951, and the first negotiations began in July of that year at Kaesong. However, talks broke down in 1952 over the issue of how to deal with prisoners of war. Meanwhile, hostilities continued. It wasn’t until April of 1953 that the issue was resolved and an agreement was reached and signed in July. Though South Korea refused to sign, fighting ended soon after.
2. The Korean War was the first involving the United Nations
When the North Korean People’s Army invaded South Korea in 1950, the UN called upon its members to help stymie their advance – the first time the newly minted organization had ever done so. Sixteen countries sent troops and 14 sent supplies, though the vast majority of both came from the US. The entry of the US into the war turned the tide and the North’s forces were pushed back across the 38th parallel, the temporary border set up between the northern and southern parts of Korea after Wold War II. However, the entry of Chinese troops and Soviet military aid forced the conflict into a stalemate.
Approximately 36,000 US soldiers were killed during the war and about 103,000 were injured, while North Korea and South Korea suffered millions of casualties, including about 1 million dead on each side. Almost 8,000 US troops are still officially missing in action from the war.
3. The armistice created the demilitarized zone (DMZ)
The DMZ is a kind of buffer zone between the two Koreas. It spans 1.2 miles of territory on either side of the line of armistice – the de facto border between the two states that runs along the 38th parallel line – and is not technically part of either country.
The division of the peninsula along 38th parallel goes back to the end of World War II. At the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide the administration of Japanese-occupied Korea: the Soviet Union would manage the north and the US the south. The division was meant to be temporary. However, two ideologically opposed regimes emerged on either side – a Western-allied government under Syngman Rhee in the south and Kim Il-Sung’s Communist regime in the north – and the peninsula was effectively partitioned.
4. The war was the first to feature battles between jet fighters
Both sides fielded jet fighters in combat, with the UN forces using F-86s and the Communists deploying MiG-15s. The US and its allies unquestionably won the battle for the air, with US forces downing over 500 MiGs at a loss of less than 80 of their own jets.
Several times throughout the war, the use of an atomic bomb was discussed, though never employed. Ultimately, it would not have served any strategic purpose other than the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The closest the US came to using the bomb was in 1950, but its allies – particularly Britain – were severely opposed to it.
5. The armistice is not a peace treaty
Though the armistice agreement ended hostilities, the war – known in North Korea as “The Great Fatherland Liberation War” – never technically ended. To this day, the US and South Korea are still legally at war with North Korea.
Soon after the armistice was declared, the US organized a meeting of the belligerent parties in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss how to definitively end the war, but no solution was produced. Since then, several skirmishes and ambushes have taken place on either side of the DMZ. A little-known prolonged period of conflict between 1966 and 1969 is sometimes called the Second Korean War, although it is more commonly referred to as the Korean DMZ Conflict.
Tensions between the North and the South continue to this day.
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