Unified Korea
| Korean reunification | |
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| Korean name | |
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| Hangul | |
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Tong(-)il |
| McCune–Reischauer | T'ongil |
Korean reunification (Korean: 한국의 재통일) refers to the potential future reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (commonly known as North Korea), the Republic of Korea (commonly known as South Korea), and the Korean Demilitarized Zone under a single government. The process towards such a merger was started by the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration in June 2000, where the two countries agreed to work towards a peaceful reunification in the future. However, the process of reunification has met many difficulties due to ongoing tension between the two states, which have become politically and economically different since their separation in the 1940s.
The current division of the Korean Peninsula is the result of decisions taken at the end of World War II. In 1910, the Empire of Japan annexed Korea, and ruled over it until its defeat in World War II. The Korean independence agreement officially occurred on 1 December 1943, when the United States, China, and Great Britain signed the Cairo Declaration, which stated: "The aforesaid three powers, mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent". In 1945, the United Nations developed plans for trusteeship administration of Korea.
The division of the peninsula into two military occupation zones was agreed – a northern zone administered by the Soviet Union and a southern zone administered by the United States. At midnight on 10 August 1945, two army lieutenant colonels selected the 38th parallel as a dividing line. Japanese troops to the North of this line were to surrender to the Soviet Union and troops to the South of this line would surrender to the United States. This was not originally intended to result in a long-lasting partition, but Cold War politics resulted in the establishment of two separate governments in the two zones in 1948 and rising tensions prevented cooperation. The desire of many Koreans for a peaceful unification was ended when the Korean War broke out in 1950. In June 1950, troops from North Korea invaded South Korea. Mao Zedong encouraged the confrontation with the United States and Joseph Stalin reluctantly supported the invasion. After three years of fighting that involved both Koreas, China and United Nations forces led by the U.S., the war ended with an at approximately the same boundary.
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