User:Wackywace/sandbox4

Historical background
World War II saw Korea, a Japanese colony, split in two pending the return of its independence. The north was to be ruled by Soviet Russia, who installed a Stalinist regime under Kim Il-Sung; and the south by the United States. The United Nations became involved in 1947 when the U.S. and the Soviet Union were unable to negotiate the unification of the two states. The U.N. organised general elections but the Soviet Union refused to cooperate with the plans; a Communist state was permenantly established in the North and a pro-Western state in the South. There was tension between the two states which on 25 June, 1950, began the Korean War, when soldiers from the North crossed the 38th parallel and attacked troops in the South. The war ended on July 27, 1953 when the two sides signed an armistice which agreed to a suspension of hostilities and a four kilometre (2.4 miles) wide area between the two countries to act as a buffer, named the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

However, even after the war tensions remained very high between the two countries because their ideologies were so different. While the South became increasingly Westernised and liberal, the North became more authoritarian, militaristic and isolated.http://www.historyextra.com/northkorea Since the armistice, there had been several incidents in the DMZ. The Second Korean War took place between 1966 and 1969, when the North and South engaged in small conflicts along the border.http://www.koreanwar.org/html/dmz_war.html On January 21, 1968, North Korean commandos attempted to assassinate the President of South Korea, Park Chung-hee, at his residence in what later became known as the Blue House Raid.http://tacticalmilsim.com/1-military/wheels-up/the-blue-house/ http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/02/120_59604.html On October 9, 1983, North Korean officials allegedly detonated a bomb in Rangoon, Burma, in an attempt to kill President of South Korea Chun Doo-hwan. Chun was not killed but several South Korean officials were.http://www.burmanet.org/news/2006/02/23/yonhap-news-agency-calls-rise-for-review-of-1983-rangoon-bombing-by-north-korea-kim-hyung-jin/

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/222043.html http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=8751 http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/01/06/2009010661011.html http://www.x-rayscreener.com/?CategoryID=332&ArticleID=161

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15256929