The Two Koreas: The Armistice and the Boundary

Abstract

The North Koreans issued a statement carried by its official news agency, KCNA, that they “no longer feel bound by the armistice” that ended the fighting in the Korean War of 1950-53. Many media commentators have leaped to the conclusion that the North Korean statement means that the North and South are still at war.

It is technically true that the 38th Parallel that forms the line between the two states was artificially created back in 1950 and, in the absence of any peace treaty, may appear to be something less than an actual boundary between two sovereign states. But international law, I suggest, has a very different take on this issue.

Keywords: Korea, North Korea, South Korea, Korean War, Korean War of 1950-53, 38th Parallel, International Law