USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -38th parallel, popular name given to latitude 38° N that in East Asia roughly demarcates North Korea and South Korea. The line was chosen by U.S. military planners at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945) near the end of World War II as an army boundary, north of which the U.S.S.R.

Detailed explanation-2: -Why Korea was split at the 38th parallel after World War II. North and South Korea have been divided for more than 70 years, ever since the Korean Peninsula became an unexpected casualty of the escalating Cold War between two rival superpowers: the Soviet Union and the United States.

Detailed explanation-3: -demilitarized zone (DMZ), region on the Korean peninsula that demarcates North Korea from South Korea. It roughly follows latitude 38° N (the 38th parallel), the original demarcation line between North Korea and South Korea at the end of World War II.

Detailed explanation-4: -Since U.S. policy toward Korea during World War II had aimed to prevent any single power’s domination of Korea, it may be reasonably concluded that the principal reason for the division was to stop the Soviet advance south of the 38th parallel.

Detailed explanation-5: -The colonels consulted a National Geographic map and focused on the 38th parallel, a degree of latitude north of the equator, passing through the middle of the Korean peninsula. Korea’s ancient capital, Seoul, was conveniently located sixty miles south. The 38th parallel followed no river or mountain range.