27 lugl 1953 anni - The Korean Armistice Agreement

Descrizione:

On July 27th, 1953, the United States of America, North Korea, and China signed an armistice agreement, creating a complete cessation of hostilities and all acts of armed force, ending the Korean War. The Korean War raged from 1950 to 1953 between North and South Korea, along with the involvement of outside forces – like the U.S. and China. The War began when North Korea, led by Kim II-Sung, invaded South Korea, with the intention and hope to unify the Korean Peninsula under communist rule. By the late spring of 1951 the battle lines had stabilized around the 38th Parallel, which was the line of division between the two Korea’s prior to the invasion. The war quickly escalated as China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea, while the United States and a coalition of UN forces supported South Korea. Despite several attempts at creating peace, there remained a stalemate at the 38th Parallel – in late 1951 when no further progress had been made, and the number of casualties increasing, the major parties began to seek an end to the conflict with the desire for peace. The Soviet Union posed the idea of an armistice agreement, the U.S. and UN were amenable and armistice talks began on July 10th 1951. However there were still multiple major sticking points that the two sides could not agree on: first was the prisoner exchange policy, U.S. and Un diplomats wanted an exchange in which prisoners had some sort of dictation on whether or not they wanted to be exchanged, the communists desired all prisoners to be returned, even if that meant involuntary repatriation. Another issue upholding an armistice was Syngman Rhee, South Korea’s President, wanting UN forces to help South Korea take over the entire peninsula. After lengthy conversations and arguments over these issues, the UN delegation declared an indefinite recess to armistice talks on October 8, 1952. Talks began once again on April 26, 1953 after U.S. President Eisenhower was sworn in and hoped to create a diplomatic solution. After three months on July 27th, 1953, all sides, besides South Korea, agreed to the armistice. The armistice agreement was specifically a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, meaning that although they are no longer actively in a state of war, the Korean war has not definitively ended – the armistice was created so that both sides could rebuild but the underlying tensions remained. The terms of this agreement were: a ceasefire, an immediate end to all hostilities from both sides, the establishment of the DMZ (demilitarized zone), which is a 4 km wide buffer between North and South Korea, prisoners could now decide if they wanted to return to their respective countries, and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) was implemented to monitor the ceasefire and ensure the terms of the agreement were adhered. The armistice envisioned a future peace settlement, and there have been many conversations trying to address the official end to the war, but no such treaty has been signed to date.

-- Macy Lawrence

Works Cited
Image: United Nations Command. “United Nations Command > History > 1951-1953: Armistice Negotiations.” Www.unc.mil, www.unc.mil/History/1951-1953-Armistice-Negotiations/.

Vergun, David. “Long Diplomatic Wrangling Finally Led to Korean Armistice 70 Years Ago.” U.S. Department of Defense, 24 July 2023, www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3423473/long-diplomatic-wrangling-finally-led-to-korean-armistice-70-years-ago/.

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