Korean War Era New Mexico

On 10 August 1945 with the Japanese surrender imminent and following a plan drawn up by the United States, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea along the 38th parallel. Japanese forces north of that line would surrender to the Soviet Union; those to the south to the United States. Thus, without consulting the Korean people, the two major powers had divided the Korea peninsula into two occupation zones. The United States did not envision this as a permanent partition, though its later policies and actions contributed to Korea's division.