The war broke out on June 25, 1950, when the first of what the US military estimated as 135,000 North Korean forces stormed across the 38th parallel dividing North and South Korea in an effort to take total control of the Korean Peninsula.
The United States, under President Harry Truman, responded with what was called a “police action,” assembling a group of international allies under the auspices of the “United Nations Command” to come to the aid of South Korea. Twenty-two nations contributed combat troops or medical support units to the US-led effort.
Communist-controlled North Korea had the support of both the Soviet Union and China, with Beijing actively intervening on the military front in October 1950, sending almost a quarter-million troops into the Korean Peninsula as the US-led forces were advancing toward China’s border with North Korea.
Chinese support of the North pushed the UN advance back down the peninsula and by 1951 stalemate emerged along the 38th parallel, where the border between the two Koreas sits today.
How did the fighting stop?
Armistice talks began in 1951 and occurred intermittently until a final agreement to end combat was made at Panmunjom on the 38th parallel on July 27, 1953. Within three days, both sides withdrew their troops to be at least 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the cease-fire line.
Why didn’t the armistice end the war?
The signatories of the July 27, 1953 agreement to end hostilities were the heads of the UN Command, the North Korean army and of Chinese troops on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea is not a signee, and the agreement specifically says it is not a peace treaty.
According to the armistice preamble, it is made “in the interest of stopping the Korean conflict, with its…
Source : cnn
