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.