Editing North Korea–South Korea relations (section)

==Korean War==
{{Main|Korean War}}

[[File:Korean War armistice agreement 1953.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5|Delegates sign the Korean Armistice Agreement in [[Panmunjom|P'anmunjŏm]].]]
North Korea invaded the South on 25 June 1950, and swiftly overran most of the country. In September 1950 the [[United Nations Command|United Nations force]], led by the United States, intervened to defend the South, and advanced into North Korea. As they neared the border with China, Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war again. Fighting ended on 27 July 1953, with an [[Korean Armistice Agreement|armistice]] that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | url = https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo | url-access = limited | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge| location = London | isbn = 0-415-23749-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernkore00buzo/page/n81 71]}}</ref> Syngman Rhee refused to sign the armistice, but reluctantly agreed to abide by it.<ref name="Bluth 2008">{{cite book | title = Korea| last = Bluth | first = Christoph | year = 2008| publisher = Polity Press| location = Cambridge| isbn = 978-07456-3357-2 |page=20}}</ref> The armistice inaugurated an official ceasefire but did not lead to a peace treaty. It established the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone]] (DMZ), a buffer zone between the two sides, that intersected the 38th parallel but did not follow it.<ref name="Bluth 2008"/> North Korea has announced that it will no longer abide by the armistice at least six times, in the years 1994, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2009/05/28/46/0401000000AEN20090528004200315F.HTML |title=Chronology of major North Korean statements on the Korean War armistice|agency=Yonhap |date=28 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312170354/http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2009/05/28/46/0401000000AEN20090528004200315F.HTML |archive-date=12 March 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21709917 |title=North Korea ends peace pacts with South |work=[[BBC News]] |date=8 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311043455/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21709917 |archive-date=11 March 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Large numbers of people were displaced as a result of the war, and many families were divided by the reconstituted border. In 2007 it was estimated that around 750,000 people remained separated from immediate family members, and family reunions have long been a diplomatic priority for the South.<ref>{{cite book |author= Hyung Gu Lynn |date= 2007 |title= Bipolar Orders: The Two Koreas since 1989 |url= https://archive.org/details/bipolarorderstwo00lynn |url-access= limited |publisher= Zed Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/bipolarorderstwo00lynn/page/n24 10]}}</ref>