NARRATOR: 150 miles
of electric fences,
2 million landmines, and
thousands of opposing soldiers.
This is the demilitarized
zone or DMZ,
and it's the dividing line
between North and South Korea.
For 60 years, the DMZ has
rested near the 38th parallel
of the globe, running from the
Han River on the Western side
to the North Korean town
of Kosong on the east.
But why?
The answer involves a
century of foreign meddling
in the Korean peninsula.
The first unified Korean
kingdom was founded in 668 AD.
For hundreds of years,
it remained unified,
becoming known as
the hermit kingdom
for its lack of interaction with
the international community.
It especially limited
contact with the West.
But at the start of
the 20th century,
things began to change.
Korea had been caught
in the cross fires
of the Russo-Japanese War.
By the war's end in 1985,
the victor, Japan, had staked
a claim in the peninsula.
By 1910, the Japanese
had officially
annexed Korea as a
colony and would continue
to rule for decades,
installing puppet emperors,
banning Korean history
books, and trying
to wipe out their language.
Over the years, rebellions
by the Korean people
were common but
never successful.
Japan even forced
thousands of Koreans
to fight in World War
II, a war Japan lost.
With Japan vanquished, it
seemed for a brief moment
that Korea might once
again forge its own future.
But that wasn't the case.
In the post-war
settlement, the US and USSR
took it upon themselves
to decide what to do
about the Korean peninsula.
The intention was for both
sides to help stabilize Korea
and facilitate the removal
of Japanese forces,
but they had to decide
which parts of the landmass
they would each oversee.
ANNOUNCER: When
World War II ended,
Korea was divided
in half and occupied
by two of the Allied powers.
NARRATOR: So they just picked
an arbitrary middle point
and said, here's
where we'll split it.
Two US army officers, Charles
Bonesteel and Dean Rusk,
were responsible for
picking the line in the sand
during the Potsdam Conference
in July of 1945, a line which
became enshrined in
General Order Number
One, the guidelines
that dictated
Japan's postwar surrender.
It was declared that all
Japanese forces in Korea north
of 38 degrees North
latitude shall surrender
to the commander in
chief of Soviet forces
and that all Japanese forces
south of 38 degrees North
latitude shall surrender
to the commander
in chief of US Army forces.
The Korean people, who had
hoped for postwar independence,
had no say in whether the
country would be split
or where.
It is my sincere belief
that our great victory
on the battlefield
will be followed
by complete
cooperation resulting
in continuous world peace.
NARRATOR: The US and USSR
professed good intentions,
even claiming that
they would eventually
hold elections to
appoint a single leader
of a unified Korea.
But as the Cold War began, the
argument over Korea's system
of government-- a
capitalist democracy
or a communist state--
became insurmountable.
ANNOUNCER: In North Korea,
the Soviet interpretation
of the administration
and occupation
consisted of imposing
communism on them.
NARRATOR: In 1948,
Syngman Rhee was elected
president of South Korea.
And in the north, Kim
Il-sung became the first
in a series of dynastic rulers
who continue to hold power
in North Korea to this day.
Tensions grew on both
sides, and each claim
to represent Korea as a whole.
And in 1950, it reached
the breaking point.
On June 25, 1950, the Korean
War broke out when North Korean
forces invaded the South.
It was a deadly war that killed
nearly 4 million soldiers
and civilians on both sides.
This Soviet people believed
that, as the first step,
discussions should be started
without the belligerence
for a ceasefire.
NARRATOR: The war finally
halted with a truce in 1953.
But with no formal
declaration of peace,
the two Koreas technically
remained at war.
ANNOUNCER: The pot had
boiled over and now
simmered quietly,
waiting for the heat
to be applied once more.
NARRATOR: Each side agreed to
pull their military forces back
roughly one mile on their
side of the dividing line,
setting aside the 2 and 1/2
mile wide and 150 mile long
area that formally became the
DMZ, or demilitarized zone.
In the center stands
the joint security area,
often known as the Truce
Village in Panmunjom
where North and South
signed the truce
agreement on July 27, 1953.
March, ho.
NARRATOR: The
military demarcation
line shows exactly where
the two countries are split.
This heavily fortified
area is the only place
on the entire peninsula
where North and South
military and political
leaders can come face to face.
The DMZ has since become one
of the most heavily militarized
borders in the entire world.
It is nearly
impossible to cross,
but that hasn't stopped
people from trying.
Most North Korean
defectors have chosen
to escape via their
border with China,
with as many as 300,000
defections since the end
of the Korean War.
A lucky few have made
it across the DMZ,
but many more have died trying.
Such attempted crossings,
or even the perception
of people trying
to cross, have led
to numerous violent
altercations at the border.
From 1966 to 1969,
fighting at the border
was so intense, with over 600
North Korean, South Korean,
and American soldiers killed,
that it became known by some
as the Second Korean War.
The South has even discovered
tunnels built by the North
as supposed tunnels
of aggression
meant as possible surprise
invasion routes into the South.
REPORTER: The South
Korean government now
believe the North Koreans have
dug 14 tunnels under the DMZ
and there could
be as many as 20.
NARRATOR: North Korean
defectors in the 1970s
alerted the government
to their existence
claiming Kim Il-sung
had personally
ordered them to be
built, an accusation
the North has denied.
Both sides have consistently
used various forms
of propaganda at
the dividing line,
from loudspeakers
broadcasting across the DMZ
and even balloons
dropping propaganda
leaflets on the other side.
But in 2004, they agreed
to suspend such tactics.
For years, relations between
North and South worsened.
But in 2018, there
was a glimmer of hope.
North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un met
with South Korean president
Moon Jae-in for the first time
at the DMZ.
They then held a summit
on the South Korean side
of the joint security area.
It was the first time a
North Korean leader had
ever set foot in the
South since the Korean
War ceasesire in 1953.
