North of the 38th parallel is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and south is the Republic of Korea. It is 248 kilometers long and about 4 kilometers wide. At one time, both sides were heavily guarded and broadcast to each other. In recent years, the situation has eased, there is basically no conflict, and the broadcast confrontation between the two sides has stopped.
It is a well-known fact that the 38th parallel is closely related to the Korean War. However, how was the 38th parallel drawn? What does it mean to divide the 38th parallel itself? What is the intrinsic connection between the 38th parallel and the Korean War? There are different views on these issues in history, and the results are very important for analyzing the trend of the post-war situation in the Far East, which deserves further study and discussion.
After the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Korean Peninsula, a kingdom once attached to China to some extent, was ruled by Japan. 19 10 Japanese imperialism annexed the Korean peninsula and made it a conquered province. At the end of the Second World War, the leaders of the allied countries also talked about the fate of North Korea when discussing the post-war international arrangements. At the Cairo Conference in June 1943 1 1, the Cairo Declaration signed by Roosevelt, Chiang Kai-shek and Churchill said this about the Korean issue: "My three major countries, mindful of the enslavement of the Korean people, decided to make Korea free and independent for a considerable period of time." At the following Tehran meeting, Roosevelt and Stalin discussed the future of North Korea. Stalin said that he saw the Cairo Declaration and that North Korea should gain independence. He also agreed that before North Korea can achieve complete independence, it will take some time to prepare, which may take 40 years. 1the Yalta meeting in February 1945 once again talked about the Korean issue. On February 8, Roosevelt met with Stalin. After they talked about the conditions for the Soviet Union to participate in the war against Japan, Roosevelt proposed to discuss the issue of territorial trusteeship, and proposed to Stalin that "North Korea should be managed by a representative of the Soviet Union, an American representative and a China representative" and that "the shorter the trusteeship period, the better". Probably because British Foreign Secretary Eden rejected the postwar trusteeship plan of the Korean Peninsula and Indian zhina proposed by the United States in March 1944, Roosevelt thought that "it is unnecessary to invite Britain to participate in the trusteeship of North Korea". Stalin agreed to the trusteeship plan, but he suggested inviting Britain to participate in the trusteeship. Therefore, the plan of temporary trusteeship of North Korea by China, the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain after the war was decided at the Yalta Conference. However, the meeting document did not specifically talk about the trusteeship of North Korea, but only said that "this will be something to be achieved in the future" when referring to which territories will be entrusted. After Truman succeeded the President of the United States, he sent special envoy Hopkins to see Stalin 1945 at the end of May. Stalin said that he had not changed the policy of the four countries that received North Korea.
However, Japan's unconditional surrender caused a sudden change in the military and political situation in the Far East. Therefore, before the four major countries reach a specific agreement on the trusteeship of North Korea, we must first solve the problem of the surrender and occupation of Japanese troops on the Korean peninsula by the United States and the Soviet Union respectively. This led to the division of the 38th parallel.
38 degrees north latitude was originally a natural geographical line. Although this invisible line, which is about 300 kilometers long, divides the Korean peninsula into two parts with roughly the same area, it has no military, political and economic significance in itself. Man-made military or political use of this line was first proposed by Japan and Russia. 1896, Japan and Russia plotted to carve up Korea, and Japan secretly proposed to Russia to take the 38th parallel as the dividing line. 1904 On the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, the Tsar also decided that Russia only controlled the north of the 38th parallel and allowed Japan to land anywhere south of the 38th parallel. However, these two divisions were not realized because of the conflict of interests between the two sides.
Taking the 38th parallel as the dividing line from a military point of view was realized when Japan adjusted its garrison deployment in North Korea during the Second World War. 1February, 945, Japan divided the Japanese troops deployed on the Korean peninsula into two parts, with the northern army under the command of the Kwantung Army and the southern army as the base camp. Later, in view of the possibility that the Soviet Union might take part in the war against Japan, the Japanese base camp put forward a plan to put all Japanese troops stationed in Korea under the command of the Kwantung Army, and the governor of North Korea served as the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army. But on May 7th, when Umezu Yoshijiro, the chief of staff, went to see Emperor Hirohito with this plan, he was rejected by the Emperor. In this way, the 38th parallel actually provided an objective basis for the Soviet Union to fight the Japanese Kwantung Army in northeast China and North Korea, while the United States fought the Japanese army under the direct command of South Korea and the Japanese archipelago.
But the 38th parallel was actually used by the United States and the Soviet Union, and it was sudden and accidental. Before the Soviet Union sent troops to fight against Japan, the United States and the Soviet Union did not clearly divide their respective combat areas. 1At the Potsdam meeting in July 1945, the military leaders of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union unanimously agreed that after the Soviet Union participated in the war against Japan, the air forces and navies of the United States and the Soviet Union would draw a line on the operational scope of the entire Korean peninsula. Its purpose is obviously to avoid misunderstandings in the war and confuse their respective responsibilities. As for ground operations or occupied areas, there is no discussion at all. For the United States, the core of the Pacific War is to solve the Japanese problem. Therefore, although Marshall, the chief of staff of the three armed forces at that time, asked Truman to authorize MacArthur to send a division to Busan in a short time after the war, in addition to occupying Seoul and Jin Qing, it was only after the war against Japan. At the Potsdam meeting, the Soviet General Staff told Marshall that the Soviet Union would attack Korea after declaring war on Japan, and asked whether the US military could carry out military operations on the Korean coast to cooperate with this attack. Marshall clearly replied that the United States was not prepared to carry out amphibious operations on the Korean Peninsula until Japan was destroyed and the military forces in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula were eliminated. According to Truman's recollection, it was because no one thought that the ground troops of both the United States and the Soviet Union would enter the Korean Peninsula in a short time. Truman was convinced that the topic of dividing the Korean Peninsula by the 38th parallel had never been discussed at an international conference.
The Soviet Union suddenly declared war on Japan, and the Japanese emperor decided to surrender unconditionally, which made the situation change rapidly. When Soviet troops attacked the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria and Korea, the nearest American ground troops were still in Okinawa, 600 miles away. Therefore, the sudden collapse of the Japanese war agency created a vacuum on the Korean peninsula. It is in this urgent situation that the United States can't wait to put forward the specific dividing line between the occupation of the Korean peninsula by the United States and the Soviet Union and the acceptance of Japan's surrender.
There are several different opinions about taking the 38th parallel as the dividing line.
Kim Ji-joo, a member of the Korean Foreign Affairs Association, provided the following information: At about 6 a.m. on August 1945, the United States eavesdropped on a telegram from Japan's base camp, which stated that the Japanese Imperial Parliament had decided to accept the declaration of unconditional surrender. Soon after, he intercepted a telegram sent to the base camp by the commander of the Japanese army stationed in Korea, which said: "Soviet troops are entering the Korean peninsula in large numbers. If the US military enters this area, all Japanese troops may surrender to the US military. " When Marshall learned of this situation, he immediately summoned the Minister of Operations Hull and Brigadier General Lincoln, ordered them to draw the boundary line when the Soviet Union invaded the Korean Peninsula, and instructed the US military to immediately make plans to March into the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. It is said that Brigadier General Lincoln returned to his office after receiving the order, and accidentally got the inspiration for drawing the 38th parallel from the The New York Times. Because, when The New York Times reported the Soviet attack, he published a map, which only drew the area north of the 38th parallel. Thus, the American general's unexpected discovery became the basis for the United States to propose the 38th parallel as the boundary.
Schnabel provided another situation: Japan's sudden surrender prompted the United States to quickly draft the "No.1 General Order" on surrender procedures, and the first paragraph of this order involved the division of surrender areas. August 10 The War Department Bureau worked late into the night in order to work out a document as soon as possible. As a result of the discussion, the allies should surrender in several areas of the Far East, and the geographical boundaries of these areas should be clearly defined. Colonel Bonisteel, the head of the policy group, has only 30 minutes to draft the first paragraph of the order, and the the State Council-War Department-Admiralty Coordination Committee is eagerly awaiting the results. At first, Bonisteel had envisaged dividing the boundaries of surrender according to the administrative divisions of North Korea, but there was no news at the moment. Later, he noticed that the 38th parallel of north latitude almost passed through the central part of Korea, and Seoul and its nearby concentration camps were all south of the 38th parallel, so he decided to use the 38th parallel as the demarcation line of the surrender zone.
There is another saying: after learning that Japan decided to surrender and that Soviet troops had declared war on Japan and flooded into the Korean peninsula, the the State Council-War Department-Admiralty Coordination Committee held an emergency meeting at the Pentagon on the night of August 10. The main topic is North Korea's surrender. Present at the meeting were Assistant Secretary of State Dunn and Assistant Secretary of the War Department John? Mcroy and Bud, a senior officer of the Admiralty, and other five people. At the meeting, Dunn suggested that American troops should push as far north as possible to surrender. But one of Marshall's young staff, Dean? Colonel rusk pointed out that the lack of immediately available troops in the army, coupled with the factors of time and space, made it difficult for the US military to reach the northern part of Korea before Soviet troops entered it. At this time, McIlroy invited Roske and another colonel, Charles? Bonisteel went to the third lounge and asked them to draw a line that "pushed as far north as possible" but was not "rejected by the Soviet Union". Therefore, the 38th parallel was hastily put forward by two American colonels at a meeting.
Judging from the data source, the third statement is more reliable. However, these differences in details have no essential influence on our analysis of the problem. In a word, this proposal on the demarcation of the 38th parallel was quickly agreed by the US military and the State Council, and was approved by Truman in August 14. The next day, Truman sent a secret telegram to Stalin, informing the Allied Supreme Commander douglas macarthur of the "No.1 Circular Order" on the surrender details of the Japanese armed forces, which was approved by Truman. One of the contents of this order is to determine the surrender area of the United States and the Soviet Union on the Korean Peninsula with the 38th parallel as the dividing line. On August 16, Stalin replied that he "basically did not object to the contents of the order" and did not raise any objection to the issue of North Korea's demarcation line. On September 2, MacArthur issued the No.1 Circular after the signing ceremony of the Japanese surrender book held on the ship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, and its content was slightly modified according to Stalin's proposal. The order mentioned: "Senior Japanese commanders, as well as the army, navy, air force and auxiliary forces stationed in South Korea, Manchuria, Sakhalin Island and Thousand Islands north of the 38th parallel of north latitude, should surrender to the Supreme Commander of the Soviet Far East Army; The base camp of the Japanese imperial government and the senior Japanese commanders stationed in Japan and its surrounding islands, as well as the land, sea, air force and auxiliary forces stationed in South Korea and Ryukyu Islands south of the 38th parallel of north latitude, should surrender to the Supreme Commander of the US Pacific Army. "
In this way, the 38th parallel was clearly defined as the dividing line between the surrender and military occupation of the United States and the Soviet Union in Korea. By the time the surrender order reached the battlefield, the Soviet troops who had split up had crossed the 38th parallel and were heading for Seoul along the highway. But as soon as they received the order about the demarcation line, they quickly withdrew to the north of the 38th parallel. On September 8, the 7th Infantry Division of the US Army arrived in North Korea and landed in Incheon. This is the first and last real cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union on the Korean Peninsula.
The 300-kilometer-long boundary line of this treaty obliquely crosses the Korean Peninsula, cutting off 75 streams and 12 rivers, crossing mountains at different angles, passing through 1 path, 104 rural dirt roads, 15 inter-highway roads, 8 high-grade highways and 6 north-south railway lines. Obviously, for administrative management and economic development, and from a geographical point of view, the 38th parallel is an extremely unreasonable dividing line. However, this does not mean that this hastily drawn dividing line has no political considerations.
Although the United States and the Soviet Union made a unanimous statement when they were stationed on the Korean peninsula, the 38th parallel was only the boundary drawn by the two armies when they were stationed in Korea, and it had no political significance. But in fact, especially the later historical development shows that the military significance of the 38th parallel to the so-called surrender is only superficial and temporary, and the confirmation of the 38th parallel by the United States and the Soviet Union has already contained far-reaching political significance.
Many researchers believe that the demarcation of the 38th parallel has only military significance. For example, Kim believes that "the decisive factor in dividing the Korean Peninsula into two by the 38th parallel north latitude" is "preventing Soviet troops from going south". He also quoted John, commander of the US military in South Korea? Hodge1947101October 27th and171October said that the Korean peninsula was divided by the 38th parallel because of the establishment and deployment of Japanese troops on the Korean peninsula. U.S. Secretary of War Walter also said in June 1949, 16: A dividing line was drawn between the two parts of the Japanese army. Slavenski, a scholar in the former Soviet Union, also asserted that "accepting Japanese surrender is the only purpose of splitting Korea into two". Later in the Cold War, the 38th parallel "became the dividing line between the north and the south of the Korean Peninsula". Russian experts on North Korea, Tolkunov and Ufimtsev, still believe in a monograph just published, arguing that dividing the 38th parallel "is a very temporary measure, and its purpose is to completely defeat the Japanese troops entrenched there and accept their surrender". This shows that the demarcation of the 38th parallel between the United States and the Soviet Union is only considered in the military sense, which is obviously unconvincing. When the United States proposed to demarcate by the 38th parallel, the first consideration was the military significance of preventing the Soviet troops from going south. This is beyond doubt, but it is not the final or decisive consideration. If we don't look at the problem in isolation or superficially, we must point out the political significance hidden behind the military significance.
First, as we said earlier, the consideration of the North Korean issue by the United States, the Soviet Union and other allies is itself from the perspective of international politics. Just because I didn't expect Japan to declare unconditional surrender immediately, I hastily raised the dividing line between surrender and military occupation under the sudden change of situation.
Second, the United States proposed that the North Korean demarcation line has political considerations. As early as March 1944, the United States began to consider the issue of military occupation of Korea. Although the Korean issue is not the core of Roosevelt's postwar Far East policy, he must prevent the Soviet Union from playing a leading role in Korea after the war. Roosevelt tried to achieve this goal through diplomatic channels. He told Secretary of State Codel? Hull said that with the participation of China, the United States and one or two other countries, North Korea can be placed under international trusteeship. He also made this suggestion to Britain. The State Council's plan goes further. It requires the United States to rule Korea after the war, which means that the United States should play a decisive role in solving the Korean issue by force. A document from the State Council pointed out that the United States' participation in military operations in North Korea and its surrounding areas will greatly strengthen its main role in North Korea's internal affairs and international supervision over the interim government. The report predicts that the United States may occupy North Korea militarily for a long time, and may occupy it together with the Soviet Union, which will occupy a considerable part of the country. In May, another the State Council document warned that if the Soviet Union occupied the Korean peninsula alone, the United States believed that it would endanger the future security of the Pacific region. This document and other documents suggest that any occupation must be carried out through a central government with the participation of all parties, rather than being divided by several regional governments. It can be seen that when the United States considers military issues, the first thing that comes to mind is its political consequences.
Third, the plan of demarcation by the 38th parallel proposed by the United States is not just "caused by an accidental discovery by an American officer", as Kim said. Although the proposal of the 38th parallel was accidental and sudden, and it was indeed aimed at the issue of surrender first, it did not prevent people from considering the issue from a political perspective. In fact, the US Army Colonel draws the demarcation line on the premise that it conforms to the State Council's "political considerations". It is no accident that the demarcation of the 38th parallel just includes Seoul, the old capital of North Korea, and Incheon and Busan, two important ports in the southern region where the US military surrendered. Colonel rusk, who put forward the plan of the 38th parallel, later talked about this problem. He admitted in a memorandum in July 1950: "If this line is rejected by the Soviet Union, it is impossible for the US military to reach these areas according to its strength. However, we believe that it is very important to bring the North Korean capital into the jurisdiction of the US military, so this line was proposed. " Obviously, the consideration of the capital Seoul is directly related to the State Council's plan that "any occupation must be carried out through a central government with the participation of all parties". Obviously, if these two considerations can be realized, then the temporary central government of North Korea will be under the jurisdiction of the US military in the future. Doesn't this have typical political significance? We will see how the Soviet Union conspired with the United States on this issue.
Fourth, it was not without political considerations that the Soviet Union accepted the plan with the 38th parallel as the boundary. Indeed, according to rusk's estimation and the military situation at that time, the Soviet Union could completely reject the 38th parallel and propose the 37th line or even a line further south as the demarcation line for military surrender, and the United States had to accept this amendment from reality. But Stalin did not do this, but agreed to the proposal of the 38th parallel without hesitation. This not only surprised Rosk and the US War Department, but also puzzled some later researchers. Indeed, by the end of World War II, the military strength of the Soviet Union had been unprecedentedly enhanced, so that Stalin could proudly declare: "This war is not what it used to be. Now the troops occupy the land wherever they go, and their social system is implemented there. " So, why did Stalin accept the 38th parallel? In fact, as a politician, Stalin had more far-reaching considerations. When he accepted the proposal of the 38th parallel, there was an exchange. It should be noted that when Stalin called Truman back in August 16 to express his agreement with the American surrender plan, he also put forward two important amendments: (1) handing over the entire Kuril Islands belonging to Japan to the Soviet Union; (2) Hand over the northern part of Hokkaido, which belongs to Japan, to the Soviet army. Stalin also emphasized the second point. He thought: "If the Russian army does not occupy any part of Japan, Russian public opinion will be in an uproar." Stalin finally said to Truman in a tough tone: "I urgently hope that the above moderate opinions will not be opposed." Obviously, Stalin wanted to exchange the Soviet occupation of part of Japan for the American occupation of part of the Korean peninsula. It is a pity that Stalin forgot that the United States can give up North Korea, but it is determined to win Japan and will never allow the Soviet Union to intervene. In the top secret telegram to Stalin in August 18, Truman agreed with Stalin's first opinion that the Thousand Islands should be included in the Soviet surrender zone, but he cleverly rejected Stalin's second opinion. Truman said that the allied forces under the command of General MacArthur "include the Soviet Union". On the one hand, Stalin expressed regret that the United States refused the Soviet Union's request in the telegram on August 22, but on the other hand, he issued an order to the Soviet Union on August 20, demanding that Soviet Lu Haijun fully enter Hokkaido, Japan, on the grounds that Hokkaido is located north of 38 degrees north latitude. Just when Stalin gave the order, Kuzma, the Soviet representative in Japan? Lieutenant General Drevyanko visited MacArthur and claimed that Soviet troops would be stationed in Hokkaido whether the United States agreed or not. MacArthur retorted in a tough tone on the spot: Without my permission, even if a single soldier landed in Hokkaido, all members of the Soviet delegation in Japan, including you, would be arrested immediately. In this way, the Soviet Union's plan to March into Hokkaido was finally frustrated. But the Soviet Union had previously agreed to divide the Korean peninsula through the 38th parallel, and the water under the bridge. Therefore, Stalin had to accept the fait accompli and leave the problem to be solved in the future. Therefore, the Soviet Union's acceptance of the 38th parallel also had a political purpose, but it was not fully realized.
From the above analysis, we can draw the following conclusions: for both the United States and the Soviet Union, the delineation of the 38th parallel has far-reaching political considerations from the very beginning, although on the surface, it raises questions from a military perspective; The division of the 38th parallel has sown the seeds of the long-term division of the Korean nation, and this bitter species is bound to sprout because of the trend of confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in the late World War II. The demarcation of the 38th parallel laid the cold war pattern between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Far East and the Korean Peninsula, and the 38th parallel became the established boundary for the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union on the Korean Peninsula.
If these conclusions are established, it can be inferred that the confrontation between the US and Soviet forces in the Far East, the deepest root of the Korean War, is manifested in the delineation of the 38th parallel. History has proved that the tension on the Korean Peninsula and the division of the Korean nation developed around this parallel line. As a main line, the military actions involving the 38th parallel also run through the whole process of the Korean conflict and the Korean War: the military conflict between the ROK and the DPRK started along the 38th parallel; The Korean army attacked across the 38th parallel, which made the United States fully involved in the war. United Nations troops crossed the 38th parallel and attacked north, forcing China to send troops to the Korean peninsula. China's army crossed the 38th parallel because it did not accept the ceasefire agreement, and was accused by the United Nations as an "aggressor". MacArthur was dismissed by President Truman because he once again advocated crossing the 38th parallel and other wars. Armistice negotiations began with a ceasefire along the 38th parallel; Finally, the end of the war is still generally the 38th parallel as the dividing line between Korea and North Korea. Cycle after cycle, the end point is the starting point, which is the beginning and end of the Korean War around the 38th parallel.
Of course, logically speaking, the emergence of the 38th parallel only provides a possibility for the future conflict between South Korea and North Korea and even the outbreak of war. If there is no confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Far East, if the intra-Korean conflict does not intensify, and if there is no cold war situation in the world, then this possibility will hardly become a reality. Unfortunately, history is moving in the opposite direction to these assumptions.
Nowadays, people often designate a line to determine the control range of two people when dividing areas, especially in schools, where men and women sit at the same table often do so. Influenced by the concept of the 38th parallel, people usually call this dividing line the 38th parallel. This "38th parallel" is also the product of "friendliness" and exclusion between people.