Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Korea

Strip of land bisecting the Korean peninsula at roughly the 38th parallel, which separates North and South Korea. Following World War II, the demilitarized zone (DMZ) was considered the unofficial boundary between the Soviet-occupied northern portion of Korea and the American-occupied south. The DMZ is about 150 miles long and varies in width from 1.2 to 2.4 mi. Largely devoid of human settlement, it has become home to a variety of rare flora and fauna.

The DMZ boundary became a permanent boundary as a result of the 1953 cease-fire ending the Korean War. At that time, troops from North and South Korea and the United States, as well as a small contingent of UN observers, were stationed in the border village of Panmunjom, and tens of thousands of troops were stationed along both sides of the DMZ.

Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910 to the end of World War II. In 1945, Japanese forces north of the 38th parallel surrendered to the Soviets, whereas those south of this point surrendered to the United States. Because the Allies planned to reunite the Korean peninsula under an elected government, the parallel at that time served as a temporary border. The Soviets, however, refused to allow people in the North to participate in the 1948 UN-sponsored elections. Instead they handed power over to the North Korean Communist Party under Kim Il Sung. The South, however, participated in the elections and elected Syngman Rhee as its leader.

On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces stormed across the 38th parallel in an attempt to reunify Korea under communist rule. Although the North Korean forces initially met with swift success, U.S. and South Korean forces eventually repulsed the invasion. Fighting continued for three years until a cease-fire in July 1953 established the DMZ along the 38th parallel. Although this was considered a temporary solution at the time, a permanent peace was never realized. As a result, South Korea and North Korea still eye each other with suspicion across the demilitarized zone.

Although the DMZ and the surrounding area have not witnessed large-scale conflict since the 1953 cease-fire, subsequent years have seen continued high tension and suspicion as well as cross-border incidents that have claimed hundreds of Korean and U.S. lives. Among the most well known of these incidents were the North Korean capture of the spy ship USS Pueblo, the 1969 attack on a U.S. Navy EC-121 reconnaissance plane off the North Korean coast, and the 1974 attempt by North Korean commandos to assassinate then–South Korean president Park Chung Hee. In addition, in the 1970s and 1980s, American and South Korean forces discovered tunnels that the communists had dug under the DMZ to allow North Korean forces to infiltrate the South. As of 2004, firefights and border incursions across the DMZ were still occurring nearly every year. Fifty-plus years of rancor and suspicion continue to stand between reconciliation and reunification on the Korean peninsula, and the DMZ remains the dividing line between the two regions.