00:00Why are there two Koreas?
00:02In the past, it was one country,
00:04until Japan annexed Korea in 1910
00:06and occupied it for 35 years up to the end of World War II.
00:10Just days before Japan's surrender,
00:12Soviet troops entered the peninsula from the north
00:14while U.S. forces advanced from the south.
00:16To prevent the USSR from gaining full control of the region,
00:19the U.S. proposed temporarily dividing Korea along the 38th parallel.
00:24However, due to growing tensions between the two superpowers,
00:27Korea was never reunified
00:29and ended up under the influence of two opposing ideologies,
00:32which led to the establishment of South Korea and North Korea.
00:35In 1950, North Korea started a war trying to reunify the peninsula by force.
00:40South Korea asked for help,
00:42and the U.S.-led UN forces pushed nearly to the Chinese border.
00:45China then sent hundreds of thousands of volunteers,
00:49while the USSR provided equipment, weapons, and air support.
00:52The front line shifted back to the 38th parallel,
00:55where neither side gained an advantage and a ceasefire was signed,
00:58one that still holds to this day wilson,
01:00one that still holds to this day.
01:01And the Japanese border improved thexxx,
01:14one that still holds to this day.
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