38th parallel
38도선
The 38th parallel was a dividing line hastily drawn across the Korean peninsula in August 1945 by two U.S. Army officers using a National Geographic map, with no expert consultation and no prior plan. Accepted by the Soviet Union, it became the boundary between Soviet and American occupation zones, and with the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1948 it hardened into a de facto border. When the Korean People's Army crossed it southward in June 1950 the Korean War began; the 1953 armistice replaced it with the Military Demarcation Line, ending its role as the effective dividing line.
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) The division of Korea at the 38th parallel, the August 1945 decision by Rusk and Bonesteel, and the subsequent hardening into separate states.
- Wikipedia (KO) Korean Wikipedia: 38선 as the boundary between Soviet and American occupation zones, the 1948 de facto border, and its replacement by the MDL in 1953.
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia: 38-я параллель as the line dividing zones of influence, agreed 10 August 1945.
- nationalgeographic.com National Geographic: Dean Rusk's firsthand account of choosing the 38th parallel using a National Geographic map, with no Korea experts consulted.
- johndclare.net Account of Rusk and Bonesteel drawing the line on a National Geographic map on the night of 10 August 1945.