Why Korea Split Into Two Countries? USA vs USSR in the Cold War

The Korean Peninsula was once a single nation until Japan annexed it in 1910 and ruled for 35 years, right up to the end of World War II X Just days before Japan's surrender, Soviet troops entered from the north, while U.S. forces advanced from the south To prevent full Soviet control, the U.S. proposed a temporary division along the 38th parallel, but Cold War tensions turned it into a permanent split, creating two states with opposing ideologies

In 1950, North Korea launched a war to reunify the peninsula by force South Korea called for help, and U.S.-led UN forces pushed nearly to the Chinese border China then sent hundreds of thousands of "volunteers," while the USSR provided weapons, equipment, and air support The front line shifted back to the 38th parallel, where neither side could gain an advantage A ceasefire was signed in 1953, one that still holds to this day