38th parallel north

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{{#if:삼팔선三八線| {{#switch: |n |north |dprk |nk=<tr><th style="background: #ccf; border-bottom: 1px solid border-top:1px solid; color:" colspan="2" align="center" width="250"> 38th parallel north </th> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2" align="center" style="border-top: 1px solid">Image:Crossing the 38th parallel.jpg</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center" style="background:#ccf; border-top:1px solid; color:">Korean name</td></tr>

<tr><td align="right" style="border-top: 1px solid">Hanja:</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid;">三八線</td></tr> <tr><td align="right" style="border-top: 1px solid">McCune-Reischauer:</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid;">Samp'alsŏn</td></tr> <tr><td align="right" style="border-top: 1px solid">Revised Romanization:</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid;">Sampalseon</td></tr>

Chosŏn'gŭl:	삼팔선

|s |south |rok |sk | #default = The 38th parallel north is a line of latitude that cuts across Asia, the Mediterranean and the United States. It has been especially important in the recent history of Korea.

[edit] Korea

After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the parallel was established as the boundary between the Soviet (north) and American (south) occupation zones in Korea, as Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel had earlier suggested. The parallel divided the peninsula roughly in the middle. In 1948, the dividing line became the boundary between the newly independent countries of North and South Korea. At the end of the Korean War (1950-1953), a new border was established through the middle of the Demilitarized Zone, which cuts across the 38th parallel at an acute angle, from southwest to northeast.