Panmunjeom
Encyclopedia
Panmunjom, located in Gyeonggi Province, is a village on the de facto border between North
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
was signed. The building where the armistice was signed still stands(37.961414°N 126.664507°W), though it is on the northern side of the Military Demarcation Line
Military Demarcation Line (Korea)
The Military Demarcation Line , sometimes referred to as the Armistice Line, is the land border or demarcation line between North Korea and South Korea. On either side of the line is the Korean Demilitarized Zone...
, which runs through the middle of the Demilitarized Zone
Korean Demilitarized Zone
The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and...
. It is considered one of the last vestiges of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. It should not be confused with the Joint Security Area
Joint Security Area
The Joint Security Area is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face. It is often called the "Truce Village" in both the media and various military accounts...
(JSA) nearby, where discussions between North and South still take place in blue buildings that straddle the Military Demarcation Line.
Location
The site of the former village is 53 kilometers north-northwest of SeoulSeoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
and 10 kilometers east of Kaesong
Kaesong
Kaesŏng is a city in North Hwanghae Province, southern North Korea , a former Directly Governed City, and the capital of Korea during the Koryo Dynasty. The city is near Kaesŏng Industrial Region and it contains the remains of the Manwoldae palace. It was formally named Songdo while it was the...
and was the meeting place of the Military Armistice Commission
UNCMAC
UNCMAC refers to the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission, established in July 1953 at the end of the Korean War to supervise the Korean Armistice Agreement, and which has been operating ever since.-History:...
. The meetings took place in several tents set up on the north side of the Kaesong-Seoul road on the west bank of the Sa'cheon stream. The village, a small cluster of less than ten huts, was opposite the negotiation site on the south side. The eighteen copies of Volume I and II of the armistice were signed by the Senior Delegates of each side in a building constructed by both sides over a 48-hour period. (North Korea provided labor and some supplies, the United Nations Command
United Nations Command (Korea)
The United Nations Command is the unified command structure for the multinational military forces supporting the Republic of Korea during and after the Korean War...
provided some supplies, generators and lighting to allow the work to continue at night.)
After the Armistice Agreement was signed, construction began in September 1953 on a new site located approximately one kilometer east of the village; this is the Joint Security Area
Joint Security Area
The Joint Security Area is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face. It is often called the "Truce Village" in both the media and various military accounts...
and all meetings between North Korea and the United Nations Command or South Korea have taken place here since its completion. The JSA is often mistakenly called Panmunjom.
After the war, when all civilians were removed from the DMZ (except for two villages near the JSA on opposite sides of the Military Demarcation Line), the empty village of Panmunjom fell into disrepair and eventually disappeared from the landscape. There is no evidence of it today. However, the building constructed for the signing of the armistice has since been renamed by North Korea as the Peace Museum
North Korea Peace Museum
The North Korea Peace Museum is in the building constructed to house the signing of the Korean War Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953. It is located in the former village of Panmunjeom in Gyeonggi province, North Korea....
.
Truce talks and POW issue
United Nations forces met with North Korean and Chinese officials at Panmunjom from 1951 to 1953 for truce talks. The talks dragged on for several months. The main point of contention during the talks was the question surrounding the prisoners of war. Moreover, South Korea was uncompromising in its demand for a unified state. On June 8, 1953, an agreement to the POW problem was reached. Those prisoners who refused to return to their countries were allowed to live under a neutral supervising commission for three months. At the end of this time period, those who still refused repatriation would be released. Among those who refused repatriation were twenty two American and British POWs, all but two of whom chose to defect to the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
A final agreement was reached on July 27, 1953. The United Nations Command, Chinese Peoples Liberation Army and North Korea Peoples Army agreed to an armistice ending the fighting. The agreement established a 4 kilometer wide demilitarized zone along the 38th parallel, effectively dividing Korea into two separate countries. Although most troops and all heavy weapons were to be removed from the area, it has been heavily armed by both sides since the end of the fighting. Since South Korea never signed the armistice, the two countries technically remain at war.
See also
- Korean Demilitarized ZoneKorean Demilitarized ZoneThe Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and...
- Joint Security AreaJoint Security AreaThe Joint Security Area is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face. It is often called the "Truce Village" in both the media and various military accounts...
- Daeseong-dongDaeseong-dongDaeseong-dong , South Korea, is a town in South Korea close to the North Korean border. It lies within the Korean Demilitarized Zone . The village is about one mile south of the Bridge of No Return towards the North and 7.5 miles from the city of Kaesong, North Korea.Daeseong-dong belongs...
- Kijŏng-dong
External links
- Travel in Korea: Panmunjeom information about the village and its history.
- North Korea Uncovered, (North Korea Google Earth) A full mapping of the North Korean side of Panmunjeom (including all of the buildings and monuments, the location of the Axe incident, and location of the signing of the armistice), the two major North Korean military lines, and the Northern Line Limit in the West Sea.
- Video of Panmunjom DMZ
- Video of Panmunjom DMZ