The Korean war began on 25 June 1950 when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. As far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself. American officials worked anxiously to fashion some sort of armistice with the North Koreans. The alternative, they feared, would be a wider war with Russia and China – or even, as some warned, World War III. Finally, on 27 July 1953 the Korean War came to an end when an armistice was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to separate North and South Korea. However, no peace treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war. Periodic clashes, many of which were deadly, have continued to the present.

 Source: History.com and Wikipedia (12 September 2025)