The Korean War (1950-53) was the first and largest proxy war of the Cold War. The defeat of the Japanese empire after World War II gave the United States control of the southern portion of the Korean peninsula, below the 38th parallel, while the Soviet Union controlled the northern portion. This war never officially ended, with the imperfect solution known as the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement (KAA) struggling to keep peace on the peninsula to this day. 

The KAA is strictly a military document. It ensured a ceasefire long enough to answer the “Korea Question,” outlined in Paragraph 60, which asked how to reunite and bring lasting peace to the divided peninsula. Paragraph 60 called for a meeting to answer this question within three months, but, while the meeting took place, it was unsuccessful in establishing a framework to reunify the peninsula. Even though the armistice was signed on July 27th, 1953, it is considered a living document as Paragraph 62 allows for the KAA to be amended based on the current situation of the peninsula.

The 1954 Geneva Conference addressed both the ongoing war in Indochina and the Korea Question. The US delegation was mainly focused on the Korea Question, and met with diplomats from the USSR, China, and North Korea. The main demand of North Korea and China was an “equal Korea,” and suggested an “all Korea commission be established.” South Korea declined this and countered with a 14-point plan that was seen as highly risky by the Americans. North Korea in turn declined the South Korean plan, to the relief of the US. The conference concluded with no solution and kept the KAA as the lone document keeping peace on the peninsula. 

The KAA has seen its fair share of violations and incidents on both sides over the years.

• Perhaps most egregious was the addition of new nuclear weapons on the peninsula by the Americans in 1958—an act strictly prohibited by the document. This act was carried out under the strategy that coercion and threats were the best way to negotiate with the Communist bloc.
• North Korea attempted to assassinate Park Chung-Hee, South Korea’s President at the time, over his decision to send troops into Vietnam. 
• In 1968, North Korea seized the USS Pueblo, an American spy ship collecting surveillance off its east coast. The USS Pueblo was in international waters at the time of its capture, and the move was widely considered shockingly aggressive. 
• In 2006 North Korea conducted its first recorded nuclear test, violating multiple agreements and resulting in a new era of tension on the peninsula.

The fragility of the Korean Armistice Agreement is a critical issue for American foreign policy. South Korea remains a major ally of the U.S. politically, economically, militarily, and geographically given its close proximity to China and Russia. A significant amount of the U.S. military budget goes to maintaining troops and operating bases in South Korea. Between 2016 and 2019, U.S. military activity in South Korea cost $13.4 billion. The majority of this funding went to the U.S. army, with Camp Humphreys costing $9.2 billion alone. A military conflict between North and South Korea would potentially draw in China and Russia, in addition to the United States, creating a global conflict.