The Korean Peninsula, which is connected to the chinese landscape, has a complex historical trajectory, and conquest and partition are the historical themes of the Korean Peninsula. However, from 668 AD into the era of unified Silla, through the Goryeo Dynasty to the end of the Joseon Dynasty, more than 1,000 years of the period is a rare history of unification of the peninsula, but also shaped the Korean nation's consistent national identity and centripetal force. Unfortunately, since the outbreak of the Korean War 71 years ago, the war has once again caused the Korean Peninsula to suffer from blood and fire, resulting in the separation of the north and the south. But what many people don't know is that the Korean War began on the 38th Parallel and ended on the 38th Parallel.
The Korean Peninsula is located in the northeast of Eurasia, surrounded by the sea on the east, south and west sides, and at the junction of the three major geological plates of China, Japan and Russia, with a special geographical location.
Artificially dividing the 38th parallel north of the peninsula
The Korean Peninsula is located in the northeast of Eurasia, surrounded by the sea on the east, south and west, like a huge "thumb" extending from eurasia to the sea, its north is close to China's Liaoning, Jilin and borders with Russia, the south points directly to Kyushu Island, one of Japan's four main islands, and the southernmost busan to the entrance of the Japanese inland sea, Shimonoseki, with a voyage of only 228 kilometers. Located at the junction of the three major geopolitical plates of China, Japan and Russia, it has a special geographical location and has been a battlefield for various forces since ancient times.
Map of the territory of North and South Korea
From February 4 to April 11, 1945, at the end of World War II, the heads of state of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union held the Yalta Conference on the Crimean Peninsula in the northern Part of the Black Sea to formulate a new post-war world order and resolve the distribution of the interests of the victorious powers, while agreeing on the scope of the U.S. and Soviet navy and air force operations against Japan in Korea.
The big three at the Yalta Conference: Roosevelt (center), Stalin (right), and Churchill (left) determined the new world order after World War II.
During this period, at an urgent operational meeting, the United States and the Soviet Union reached an agreement: the Soviet troops participating in the war against Japan would fight against the Japanese army north of the 38th parallel north of Korea and the Kwantung Army in northeast China, while the American army would fight the troops south of the Korean 38th parallel and the Japanese mainland in the case of landing operations. In this way, the 38th parallel was linked to the scope of operations of the Soviet Union and the United States against the Japanese forces in Korea.
On August 6, 1945, the United States detonated Hiroshima with the atomic bomb "Little Boy" carried by B-29 bombers.
On August 6, 1945, the United States detonated Hiroshima with the atomic bomb "Little Boy" carried by B-29 bombers; then on August 8, the Soviet Union hastily declared war against Japan; on August 15, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. At this time, the Soviet army had landed in Rajin and Qingjin in northeastern Korea, while the American army was still far away in Okinawa, Japan, and had not yet set foot on the Korean Peninsula.
Schematic diagram of the Pacific War
On this day, President Truman of the United States informed Stalin and other allied heads of state of document No. 1 on the steps to surrender that he had approved. The document stipulates that the Commanders of the Japanese Army and the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Auxiliary Forces stationed in Korea, Manchuria (Northeast China), Sakhalin Island, Kuril Island, and other places north of the 38th parallel north shall surrender to the Supreme Commander of the Soviet Far East Army; the army, navy, air force, and auxiliary forces of the Japanese Army stationed at the base camp of the Imperial Japanese Government and the Japanese army stationed in japan and its surrounding islands, as well as in Korea and the Ryukyu Islands south of the 38th parallel, shall surrender to the Supreme Commander of the Pacific Army of the United States of America.
The United States fought bloody battles on Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific, with huge losses, and urgently needed the Soviet Union to send troops to the northeast to clamp down on Japan.
Stalin replied the next day, not only without mentioning the question of the 38th parallel, but instead making a demand for a joint occupation of Hokkaido, Japan, and reiterating that the Liaodong Peninsula, including Dalian, was part of Manchuria and should be occupied by soviet troops. As a result, the Soviet Union's request to jointly occupy Hokkaido was rejected by the United States, and the US military's plan to land at Dalian was also rejected by the Soviet Union, but the issue of the Soviet Union and the United States occupying the Korean Peninsula was invisibly tacitly acquiesced by Stalin.
The Korean Peninsula, which is strictly demarcated according to the 38th parallel north, has divided rivers, mountains, and even villages.
By September 8, 1945, U.S. and Soviet troops had drawn a line along the 38th parallel from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea, separating the Korean Peninsula from north to south. South of the 38th parallel was occupied by American troops, and north of the 38th parallel was occupied by Soviet forces. In fact, the 38th parallel north is only the coordinates of the geographical dimension on the map, and it is a auxiliary line assumed by human beings for the convenience of measurement. But this untrue boundary has artificially become a political boundary, slicing rivers, mountains, and even villages, and a barbed wire fence simply and crudely splitting the Korean Peninsula in half.
For political purposes, the 38th parallel north, which is not divided according to natural terrain, blocked the traffic and personnel exchanges between the north and the south, and a large number of contradictions began to accumulate
The politically motivated line, which is not demarcated by natural topography, cuts off 75 streams, 12 rivers, crosses 118 country lanes and cuts off 15 all-weather roads. In the past, people in the same village could come and go freely, but now it is like a thousand mountains and rivers, when some people crossed the river to find something for their children, but when they returned, they were blocked by American soldiers. The US military announced: "Those who pass through this place will be killed immediately", so the transportation and personnel exchanges between the north and south of the peninsula were forced to be interrupted, and a large number of contradictions began to accumulate.
In 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union supported Syngman Rhee and Kim Il Sung in North and South Korea in accordance with the 38th parallel north latitude, and established the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
With the signing of the Moscow Agreement at the end of 1945 by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom on trusteeship of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a provisional democratic government on the Korean Peninsula, the United States and the Soviet Union supported Syngman Rhee and Kim Il Sung in North and South Korea, respectively. They established the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948, respectively, when the total population of the Korean Peninsula was about 30 million, the population south of the 38th Line was about 21 million, the population north of the 38th Parallel was 9 million, and the North and South respectively accounted for 44% and 56% of the total area of the Korean Peninsula. Subsequently, the United States and the Soviet Union withdrew their troops from the Korean Peninsula one after another, but although the United States and the Soviet Union left, the contradictions accumulated by the 38th parallel in the north became more and more intense, and civil war was inevitable.
The picture shows the new 38th Line controlled by the military after the war, and the military prohibition of 68 years has made the vicinity of the 38th Line a paradise for animals and plants.
The military de facto controlled the new 38th line after the war
From January 1949 to June 1950, there were more than 2,000 disputes between the two Koreas near the 38th parallel. Armed conflict intensified, culminating in the outbreak of the three-year Korean War on June 25, 1950. However, it should be noted that Kim Il Sung only obtained the consent of "Pope" Stalin and did not inform China of the detailed battle plan and the date of the war in advance, so China, like the United States, did not know until the war began.
North Korea's unilateral "undeclared war" caught South Korea by surprise and captured the South Korean capital, Seoul (present-day Seoul), three days later.
North Korea's unilateral "undeclared war" caught South Korea by surprise, and three days later it occupied the South Korean capital, Seoul (present-day Seoul), Daejeon on July 20, Mokpo on July 24, and Jinju on July 31, and North Korea had already encircled Busan, where South Korean troops had retreated, from the north to the west. By this time North Korea had occupied 90 percent of the korean peninsula and 92 percent of the population. However, on September 15, after the successful implementation of the Inchon landings, the situation changed drastically, and the north Korean army that was suffering from the enemy on its back collapsed completely, and Seoul was retaken by the American army on September 28; Pyongyang was lost on October 19; and on October 24, only the northeastern and southwestern Sinuiju areas of North Korea remained under control.
North Korea was in danger, and China finally decided to enter the Korean War to defend its homeland. The picture shows the situation of the frontal war between the enemy and ourselves after the fifth battle in 1951.
North Korea was in danger, and China finally decided to enter the Korean War to defend its homeland. On October 19, the Volunteer Army took the lead in crossing the Yalu River from Ji'an (present-day Ji'an City) into Korea, and the first battle on October 25, 1950 withdrew the "United Nations Army" to the Cheongcheon River; on November 25, the second campaign recaptured Pyongyang and drove the coalition forces back to the vicinity of the 38th Line, initially reversing the situation in Korea; on December 31, the third campaign repelled the coalition forces to the 37th Line; on January 25, 1951, the fourth campaign was mainly a defensive counterattack, and finally Incheon Seoul changed hands again, and the Chinese and North Korean troops retreated north of the 38th Line On 22 April, the Fifth Campaign thwarted attempts by the "United Nations Army" to land from the flank and rear, blocking it near the 38th Parallel, and the Korean War turned into a strategic standoff, and the two sides began ceasefire negotiations.
On November 27, 1951, China, north Korea and the United States reached an agreement on the military demarcation line and demilitarized zone, which became the basis for the post-war 38th Line.
Subsequently, although the Coalition launched the Summer Offensive from 18 August to 18 September and the Autumn Offensive from 29 September to 22 October in an attempt to gain favourable terms for armistice negotiations, both were crushed, and on 27 November 1951, the belligerents reached an agreement on the military demarcation line and the demilitarized zone: "With the existing physical line of contact between the two sides as the military demarcation line, each side will retreat two kilometers from this line to establish a demilitarized zone during the armistice." The 43-day Battle of Shangganling, launched on October 14, 1952, made the U.S. military realize that the Korean War could only be concluded through negotiations.
In the Battle of Jincheng in 1953, the White Tiger Regiment was destroyed by the regiment, and the "Tiger Head Banner" was captured by the volunteer army and is now in the collection of the Chinese Civilian Military Museum.
On July 27, 1953, China, north Korea, and the United States signed a ceasefire agreement between the Korean Armistice Agreement and the Interim Supplement to the Armistice Agreement at Panmunjom (Syngman Rhee of South Korea resolutely opposed the armistice and actively expanded the army to fight again, and as a result, on July 8, it was rubbed on the ground by the Chinese and North Korean troops who launched the Battle of Jincheng, and 78,000 people Chinese were captured. South Korea, which did not participate in the signing of the agreement, has been honestly implementing the armistice agreement article by article under the control of the United States.
Schematic map of the extent of the "38th Line" before and after the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.
Comparing the "38th Line" before and after the Korean War, it will be found that the 38th parallel north before the war was a political boundary line that was not divided according to natural terrain, while the post-war 38th Line was accurately dmZ (demilitarized zone), which was divided by the dangerous mountains and rivers occupied by both sides. In terms of area, South Korea's newly occupied land (the eastern front) is obviously more than the lost land (the western front), which is obviously earned; but in terms of land value, the western land occupied by North Korea is the anointed land along the Han River Plain and the Hwanghae-do coast, while the lost eastern front is the rolling Taebaek Mountains.
Today, 68 years later, the two sides of the 38th Line are still in a confrontation, south Korea erected a 98-meter-high flagpole, and North Korea immediately built its own flagpole to 160 meters.
Today, 68 years later, the Korean Peninsula is still two divided countries because of the existence of the "38th Line": North Korea and South Korea, and the road to reunification between the north and the south is long. In 2009, North Korea announced that it would no longer be bound by the armistice because of South Korea's accession to the Proliferation Security Initiative, which in the strict sense of the word means that the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, which means that the two Koreas are still at war.
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