Captioned: "Crossing the 38th parallel. United Nations forces withdraw from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. They recrossed the 38th parallel." After WWII the 38th parallel was established and divided the Korean peninsula roughly in the middle. In 1948, this parallel became the boundary between the newly created countries of North Korea and South Korea. On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when soldiers from the North Korean People's Army crossed the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea's behalf. After some early back-and-forth across the 38th parallel, the fighting stalled and casualties mounted with nothing to show for them. Meanwhile, American officials worked to fashion some sort of armistice with the North Koreans. The alternative, they f