The Korea War |
The Armistice Agreement
The Korean War
 
More than a half century has passed since the Korean people experienced
the tragedy of fratricidal Korean War.
But the Korean peninsula still remains divided, and the scars left by war are still visible in many places.
Major points of interest in the demilitarized area of the east front line, which connects Yanggu-gun and
Goseong-gun, are the Punch Bowl Battlefield of
Yanggu-gun, 4th Infiltration Tunnel,
Eulji Observatory, and
Goseong Unification Observatory,
which is located in the northern part of the east coast.
Communist North Korea invaded South Korea at 4:00 am on June 25, 1950. This was shortly after the United
States withdrew its forces from South Korea and excluded Taiwan and South Korea from its the Far East
Defense Line in June 1949.
Seoul fell to North Korea in only 3 days. Within a month, North Korea also took over most other areas, except
for a perimeter around Busan. The United Nations made a decision to join the war and appointed General Douglas
MacArthur as the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. The Allied Forces were able to push the Communists
back into North Korea.
War is the most tragic event in the world. A fratricidal war, such as the Korea War, only makes it more tragic.
For 3 years, the whole country was turned into ruins. Casualties included 480,000 soldiers
from South Korea and the 16 UN countries, 1-2 million Communist soldiers from North Korea and China, and 4.5
million civilians. On July 27, 1953, the tragedy of the Korean War came to an uneasy truce.
During the war, 1 million North Korea civilians came down to South Korea and 3.7 million children lost their
parents. Ten million separated family members spend every day in sorrow, missing their hometowns and hoping to
reunite with their lost family members.
The Armistice Agreement
The Korean War where South Korean and UN forces blocked North Korea's
ambition of communizing the Korea Peninsular is also significant in the larger context of the Cold War. It
exemplified the competition and struggle between the two dominant political ideologies in the world at the
time. The cease-fire imposed by the Armistice Agreement did not bring a permanent end to the
hostilities, mirroring the ongoing Cold War as well.
Signed in Panmunjeom
on July 27, 1953, the Armistice Agreement brought an end to fighting, yet left the Korean peninsula divided.
The 3-year fratricidal war left millions dead, wounded, or missing. Additionally, more than 10 million family
members remain separated.
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