Have you ever heard of Panmunjom? It's a small and old village located 32 miles north of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Many foreign tourists visit this rural place because it symbolizes the division between South Korea and North Korea.

Korea is a divided country, which means it used to be one nation but split into two.

Korea is separated by a 155-mile-long line called the Armistice Line. Along this line, there is an area controlled by the United Nations, led by the U.S. and the North Korean military. This area is called Panmunjom. The area around Panmunjom is in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which is about 2.5 miles wide and 160 miles long.

In 1910, Japan took over Korea and occupied the country for 35 years. During the Japanese occupation, many Koreans fought hard for their freedom and formed armies and resistance groups to fight the Japanese forces. During World War II, they worked with the U.S. military to battle the Japanese. Koreans had the right to decide the fate of their own country and hoped to create a new independent nation at the end of the war.

When Japan was finally defeated at the end of WWII, the U.S. and its allies could have liberated Korea, but they chose not to. Instead, the U.S. and the Soviet Union (now Russia) decided to divide Korea and each occupy a part. They said they did this to disarm the remaining Japanese forces in the Korean Peninsula, but many scholars believe they did it for their own interests.

The United States wanted the dividing line to be the 38th parallel north, and the Soviet Union agreed. So, the U.S. military decided to occupy the southern part while the Soviet military occupied the northern part. However, by this time, a Cold War had begun between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

As the conflict between these two countries deepened, the 38th parallel turned into a fixed dividing line, like an international border. However, most Koreans did not wish for division. They had lived as one nation for over a thousand years, and splitting the country was not something they wanted. However, as the Cold War spread and the U.S. and Soviet Union grew more hostile to each other, the division became more permanent. In August 1948, a government friendly to the U.S. was set up in South Korea. A month later, a government friendly to the Soviet Union was set up in North Korea.

With foreign powers in control, the division caused conflict on the Korean Peninsula. This eventually led to a war. On June 25, 1950, North Korea suddenly attacked South Korea, with the support of the Soviet Union and China. In response, military forces from 16 countries, led by the United States, joined forces to help South Korea.

The Korean war had begun.

During the Korean War, the split between North and South Korea became more solid, and the conflict between big powers like the U.S. and China worsened. Koreans suffered as the war turned the entire Korean Peninsula into ruins. Their homes and villages were destroyed. Millions of unarmed people were killed by the brutal attacks from both sides.

Finally, after three years of the war, an armistice agreement was signed on July 27, 1953. This agreement created the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the Joint Security Area (JSA) along the new line close to the 38th parallel. With an agreement in place, the Korean War was paused. For the moment, the fighting had stopped, but the war did not officially end. Peace between North and South Korea remained uncertain.

Even though the war had paused, families continued to suffer. During the war, people had fled their homes because of bombings and attacks. Many families ended up in different places, and many Koreans did not know where their family members were. Were they in South Korea or North Korea, or were they even still alive? Communication between South Korea and North Korea was banned so people could not call or visit their old hometowns. This made it very hard for families to find one another.

In 1983, 30 years after the armistice, South Korea's TV station, KBS, created a special live show to help people find their family members within South Korea. It was meant to be a one-day show, but so many responded that the show ended up running for 138 days.

Because of this TV show, around 10,000 people
were reunited with their long-lost family members.

It wasn't until 2000, when leaders from South Korea (Kim Dae-jung) and North Korea (Kim Jong-il) met for the first time, that families separated by the Armistice Line had a chance to reunite.

Koreans remained resilient during this time of suffering and worked hard to rebuild their nations. During the Korean War, U.S. forces had wiped out North Korean villages, but the people pulled together to recover quickly. South Korea's progress was even more remarkable. South Korea became one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. South Koreans also became known for their movements for democracy.

A democracy is a form of government where the people have a say in how the country is run.

The path to democracy was a difficult one. Although there were times when authoritarian leaders were in charge, South Koreans organized many protests to fight for their right to govern themselves. The famous 5.18 Gwangju Uprising is an example of one of these protests. People wanted to create a democratic government that protected their future. In contrast, North Korea was ruled by one powerful family. After Kim Il-sung's rule, power was passed down to his son Kim Jong-il, and then to his grandson Kim Jong-un.

As South Korea moved toward democracy, there were more efforts for peace. Meetings between South and North Korea began taking place. In 2019, the world congratulated the two countries when the leaders of South and North Korea, along with the President of the United States, met together at Panmunjom. The leaders discussed the possibility of officially ending the war. These meetings were important steps forward, but the Korean War is still ongoing.

Even today, both Korean and U.S. soldiers are sent to military stations in Korea in case fighting breaks out. With an official end to the war, they would be able to lay down their weapons and return home to their families. Creating peace for both sides is long overdue. Because the Korean Peninsula was divided not according to the will of the Korean people, but by foreign powers, the world will need to work together to end the Korean War and reunify Korea.