The 38th Parallel Term Analysis

The 38thth parallel is a popular name given to latitude 38 N—the latitude marker which roughly separates North Korea from South Korea. The 38thth parallel was chosen somewhat arbitrarily by U.S. military planners at the Potsdam Conference toward the end of World War II in July of 1945 as a way of placing North Korea under Soviet control and South Korea under U.S. control. The demarcation was intended to be temporary, but the Cold War increased tensions between the Soviet regime and the United States, thus deepening divisions between North and South Korea. Barbara Demick notes that the division at the 38thth parallel represents a profound lack of Western understanding about the geopolitics of the Korean peninsula., which was Hhistorically, the peninsula was divided longitudinally between eEast and wWest, with the eastern part of the peninsula tending to be more sympathetic to and accepting of Japanese influence and the western part traditionally allying itself with China.