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: -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-3: -The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Korean: / ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north.

Detailed explanation-4: -South and North Korea took dramatically different social, economic, and political paths following the end of fighting in the Korean War in 1953. The 38th parallel marks the so-called demilitarized zone that straddles the border of the two countries.

Detailed explanation-5: -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.