DMZ Peace Park – From Armistice to Peace
Publisher: Vantage Point
Author(s): Kwang-ho Lee
Date: 2013
Topics: Cooperation, Land
Countries: North Korea, South Korea
The fratricidal Korean War ceased 60 years ago, but the dark shadow of the war still lingers over the divided Korean Peninsula. The Armistice Agreement of July 27, 1953 barely changed the division drawn across the peninsula along the 38th parallel shortly after Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. After the three-year war, the peninsula was split into two sides along the heavily-fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). For the past 60 years, South and North Korea have always been on the frontline of a severe ideological confrontation, fighting each other in the border areas, including the maritime border, largely due to the North’s persistent provocations. Permanent peace on the peninsula is the crucial topic as well as the dream for the entire Korean people. But Cold War strategies have intensified antagonism between the South and the North by deepening mutual distrust.