Oppressed Korea

• South Korea has a free market economic policy.Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
  
  People from the Tungusic tribes in northern China and Manchuria began to migrate to the Korean peninsula about 3,000 B.C. In the following centuries, the Chinese, Japanese, Mongols, and Manchus invaded, occupied and controlled Korea. Ultimately, the Japanese annexed Korea starting at the end of the 19th century. The U.S. and major European powers formally recognized the annexation in 1910. Korea was Japanese property until its surrender at the end of World War II. Japan exploited Korea for labor, women and natural resources. It even banned the Korean language to eliminate Korean national identity. Japanese control over Korean cultural and political issues pushed people, inside Korea and exiled from it, toward communism. This political shift contributed to the significance of the 38th parallel.
  
  

End of World War II and the Cold War

• U.S. President Harry Truman ordered the nuclear destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. These events happened on August 6 and 9, 1945. Japan surrendered on August 14. This nullified the Japanese annexation of Korea. Between the two bombings, Soviet forces entered northern Korea. U.S. troops would enter the south a month later. The two governments agreed the 38th parallel would be the boundary -- a "cold" war due to mistrust on both sides. In the south, the U.S. established a military government with politically powerful conservatives. In the north, the Soviet Union created a Communist government with the help of former exile Kim Il Sung. The idea was to reunify Korea, but the Soviets and the U.S. could not agree on the method. The issue went to the fledgling United Nations in September 1947. The organization hadn't even existed two years prior. The U.N. resolution was to hold elections. The south complied, but the north balked at U.N. authority. Elections were held in early May 1948, and the Republic of Korea was formed on August 15. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea declared itself on September 9, with Kim Il Sung at the head. Both governments claimed legitimacy and control of all of Korea, but only the ROK was recognized by the U.N.
  
  

Korean War

• The two Koreas engaged in many armed border disputes on the 38th parallel until the early morning of June 25, 1950. At 4:30 a.m. local time, almost six divisions and a tank brigade of DPRK ground troops crossed the boundary headed for the South Korean cities of Seoul, Uijongbu, Yoju, Wonju and Samchok. The DPRK was backed by the Soviets and the Chinese, who provided money, weapons, equipment, advisors and troops. The ROK had the U.S. and a host of U.N. forces as allies, all of whom were doing the same as North Korea's allies. It was now a "hot" war. The fighting and control went back and forth for three years. The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, and created, officially, the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Casualties are estimated at over two million military personnel and possibly a million more civilians.
  
  

The Modern DMZ

• The DMZ on the 38th parallel is 2.5 miles wide and 155 miles long. The intent is to keep space between the two Koreas. The DMZ acts as a nature sanctuary because of the isolation and limited civilian access.