- Title: File footage of key events during and since the Korean War
- Date: 25th July 2017
- Summary: KAESONG, NORTH KOREA (FILE - 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF FACTORIES IN KAESONG INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX NORTH KOREAN WORKERS INSIDE FACTORY WOMAN IRONING The joint industrial zone in Kaesong, North Korea, opened in 2004 as part of the so-called Sunshine Policy of engagement and optimism between the two Koreas, and 124 South Korean companies produced clothing, household goods and motorcycle helmets employing local workers.
- Embargoed: 8th August 2017 01:28
- Keywords: Korean War file footage armistice South Korea North Korea anniversary of the Korean War
- Location: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, KOREA / PANMUNJOM, SEOUL, SOKCHO, ISLAND PYEONGTAEK, YEONPYEONG ISLAND, POHANG, PAJU, SOUTH KOREA / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, PYONGYANG, MOUNT KUMGANG, KAESONG, YONGBYON, CHOLSAN COUNTY, NORTH KOREA / BEIJING, CHINA
- City: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, KOREA / PANMUNJOM, SEOUL, SOKCHO, ISLAND PYEONGTAEK, YEONPYEONG ISLAND, POHANG, PAJU, SOUTH KOREA / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, PYONGYANG, MOUNT KUMGANG, KAESONG, YONGBYON, CHOLSAN COUNTY, NORTH KOREA / BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA0066R7SS3R
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS EDITED KRT MATERIAL
Two rival Koreas are set to commemorate on Thursday (July 27) the 64th anniversary of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea calls July 27 its "Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War" and blames U.S. military presence in the South for the confrontation on the peninsula.
The conflict started in 1950 when Communist North Korean troops launched a surprise attack across the 38th parallel into South Korea. U.S.-led United Nations forces battled Chinese-and-Soviet-backed North Korea, in which three million soldiers and civilians were killed and five million became refugees.
The Korean War ended roughly where it started - near the 38th parallel. The armistice signed on July 27, 1953, stipulated that both sides withdraw their forces two kilometres from there to form a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The zone remains the world's most heavily-fortified frontier, with about one million troops stationed on each side.
Over the years, the reclusive state in the North has faced varying degrees of international condemnation and pressure in the face of its continued claims that it is growing and developing an arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles.
The founder of North Korea Kim Il Sung, known as "the Great Leader" died in 1994, making room for his son Kim Jong Il. During his rule, the second Kim, known as "the Dear Leader", was revered at home by a propaganda machine that turned him into a demi-god and vilified in the West as a temperamental tyrant with a nuclear arsenal.
In 2005, the six-party talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear programme produced an agreement to provide the impoverished state with economic aid in return for it taking steps to suspend the programme. The deal was proclaimed dead in 2009 when North Korea walked out of the negotiations after the United Nations imposed fresh sanctions on it for conducting a long-range missile test.
Kim Jong Il died in 2011 of a heart attack, and his son - believed to be in his early 30s, took over. The young Kim, Kim Jong Un, has removed most of Pyongyang's old guard during his comparatively short rule, replacing ageing generals and cadres with figures closer to his age.
The youngest Kim has also sped up missile tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions, thereby slowing dialogue efforts. Earlier this month, North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that experts believe has the range to reach Alaska and Hawaii and perhaps the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
In the wake of the test and under a new presidency, South Korea proposed military talks, which could lead to the first high-level discussions between the rival states since 2015. Southern President Moon Jae-in has said he wants to persuade Pyongyang to revive a "sunshine" era of talks from the early 2000s.
The North has remained silent on Seoul's proposal. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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