Unification of Korea: Korea Divided at the 38th Parallel after WWII

Hope for Unification of Korea

   There’s been a clear division between North and South Korea ever since the surrendering of Japan August 15, 1945. It was the Allied victory that had ended Japan’s occupation of thirty-five in Korea. February, 1945 Stalin and President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed for a trusteeship for Korea. The Soviets decided to move into Korea from the north which made the US fearful of the spread of communism and the US did not want the Soviet Union to take over all of the Korean peninsula. Since the Soviets occupied the northern part of the country the US wanted to create a US occupation zone, so the US government officials drew an evenly divided line between north and south while still leaving Seoul under US control. August, 1945 the evenly divided line became official. The Soviet Union and the US agreed to divide Korea at this drawn line, more commonly known as the 38th parallel. Late 1945 Allied foreign ministers met up at a conference in Moscow to set up a trusteeship that lasted five years, to have Korea contain a provisional government so the country would be able to become independent. The ministers decided to form a joint US and Soviet body to help organize the provisional government. The Northern Korean communists at first did not agree to the proposal, but eventually changed their minds and pushed for a national divide.  

The Korean War (1950-1953) and its Armistice Agreement left the two Koreas permanently separated by the DMZ—roughly approximate to the 38th Parallel and through which runs the Military Demarcation Line—remaining technically at war through today. North Korea's communist government has presided over a state-controlled economy historically dependent upon massive aid from Russia and China to survive. South Korea, meanwhile, has developed into one of the world's leading economies, employing free enterprise economic policies as well as fostering a democratic government. Since the 1990s, the two Koreas have held two symbolic summit meetings (in 2000 and 2007) and slightly increased economic cooperation.  Is there a hope for unification for Korean in near future?  I sure believe it so.  It has been a long and painful years for both side of families.  It is time for peaceful talk and end the sufferings of many people.