South KoreaandAND⤬THE JUNCTION
10 SHARED EVENTSNorth Korea

Entangled histories

10 events in which either nation’s sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle; nothing here was written for this page.

ONE SPINE OF YEARS · TWO WALLS OF EVENTS · KOR LEFT · PRK RIGHT

1. 9 September 1948

   Founding of the DPRK

   The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is proclaimed under Kim Il Sung, weeks after the Republic of Korea is established in the south, institutionalizing the division.

   Formation · from the North Korea chronicle · Colonial Rule and Division · REFS 2 — History of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung

2. 15 September 1950

   Inchon landing

   US Marines, backed by naval and air bombardment, assault Inchon and quickly defeat its North Korean defenders. On 27 September MacArthur is authorized to conduct operations north of the 38th parallel.

   War & Rupture · from the South Korea chronicle · Division, the Korean War, and Authoritarian Rebuilding · REFS 1 — Policy and Direction: The First Year, Chapter X, Crossing the Parallel

3. 25 June 1950

   North Korea invades the South

   North Korean forces cross the 38th parallel, opening the Korean War; the North nearly overruns the peninsula before a US-led UN coalition intervenes.

   War & Rupture · from the North Korea chronicle · The Korean War · REFS 2 — The Korean War and Japan's Recovery, NSC-68 and the Korean War

4. 25 June 1950

   The Korean War

   North Korea invades the South; a US-led UN force and Chinese intervention turn the war into a grinding stalemate that devastates the peninsula and kills millions.

   War & Rupture · from the South Korea chronicle · Division, the Korean War, and Authoritarian Rebuilding · REFS 2 — The Korean War and Japan's Recovery, Korea (history)

5. 27 July 1953

   Korean War armistice

   An armistice halts the fighting near the 38th parallel and creates the Demilitarized Zone; no peace treaty is signed, freezing the division to the present day.

   War & Rupture · from the South Korea chronicle · Division, the Korean War, and Authoritarian Rebuilding · REFS 2 — The Korean War and Japan's Recovery, Korea (history)

6. 27 July 1953

   Korean War armistice

   An armistice halts the fighting and creates the Demilitarized Zone; no peace treaty is signed, freezing the division of the peninsula to the present day.

   War & Rupture · from the North Korea chronicle · The Korean War · REFS 2 — The Korean War and Japan's Recovery, US Enters the Korean Conflict

7. 17 September 1991

   North and South Korea join the UN

   Both Korean states are admitted to the United Nations with separate seats, an acknowledgment of the durability of the two-state division.

   Politics & Power · from the North Korea chronicle · The Juche State · REFS 2 — United Nations Member States (admission of the two Koreas, 1991), History of North Korea

8. June 2000

   First inter-Korean summit

   President Kim Dae-jung meets North Korea's Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang under the Sunshine Policy; Kim Dae-jung receives the Nobel Peace Prize that year.

   Politics & Power · from the South Korea chronicle · Democratization and Modern South Korea · REFS 1 — Kim Dae-Jung

9. June 2000

   First inter-Korean summit

   Kim Jong Il hosts South Korean president Kim Dae-jung in Pyongyang in the first summit between the two Koreas, briefly easing tensions.

   Politics & Power · from the North Korea chronicle · Famine and the Second Succession · REFS 2 — History of North Korea, Kim Jong Il

10. January 2024

    South Korea declared principal enemy

    Kim Jong Un renounces the goal of peaceful reunification, declaring South Korea a hostile separate state and the North's principal enemy and calling for constitutional revision.

    Politics & Power · from the North Korea chronicle · The Kim Jong Un Era · REFS 2 — North Korea's Nuclear Weapons and Missile Programs, Kim Jong-Un