1896, Japan and Russia plotted to carve up Korea, and Japan secretly drew a line with Russia. Later, when Japan defeated Russia, this line lost its meaning. But in fact, "this is a dividing line fabricated regardless of the actual situation." It is about 300 kilometers long and passes through North Korea obliquely, without considering political boundaries, geographical features and the needs of waterway and land trade.
The 38th Line cuts off 12 rivers and 75 streams on the peninsula, and passes through 18 1 path, 104 country dirt roads, 15 inter-road highways, 8 high-grade highways and 6 north-south railway lines. John toland, an American, commented that this is a "rigid latitude line, which arbitrarily violates the' natural' national boundaries".
The history of the 38th parallel:
After the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Korean Peninsula, a kingdom once attached to China to some extent, was ruled by Japan. 19 10 Japanese imperialism annexed the Korean peninsula and made it a conquered province. At the end of the Second World War, the leaders of the allied countries also talked about the fate of North Korea when discussing the post-war international arrangements.
At the Cairo Conference in June 1943 1 1, the Cairo Declaration signed by Roosevelt, Chiang Kai-shek and Churchill said this about the Korean issue: "My three major countries, mindful of the enslavement of the Korean people, decided to make Korea free and independent for a considerable period of time." At the following Tehran meeting, Roosevelt and Stalin discussed the future of North Korea.