How Korea Was Divided

On 24 October 2026 North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un crossed the newly opened Yalu River bridge into Dandong, China, and paid tribute to the Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War. This film explains the history behind that gesture: Korea as one kingdom for centuries, Japanese rule from 1910, the night in August 1945 when two American officers chose the 38th parallel, the two states of 1948, the war of 1950 to 1953 with its swinging front lines, China's entry, the armistice signed at Panmunjom that created the Demilitarized Zone, and why, with no peace treaty, the two Koreas remain apart.

How Korea was divided

A line chosen in one night, a war that never formally ended.

One peninsula

Five centuries as one kingdom.

A line in the night

Two officers, one map, the 38th parallel.

War

A front that swung the length of the peninsula.

The armistice

Two years of talks, two years of trenches.

Two Koreas

One people, two very different countries.

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