South Korean President Moon Jae-in, on Monday, announced that China, North Korea and the United States have agreed ‘in principle’ to officially end the Korean War. This move comes after multiple ceasefires between South Korea and North Korea in the history of around seven-decade-old conflicts.

The declaration will put a formal end to the Korean War that ended in an armistice in 1953. According to the South Korean President, the declaration would be instrumental to the cause of establishing peace in the Korean Peninsula.

The Korean War took place between South Korea, backed by the US forces and North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China, from 1950 to 1953. The two Korean peninsula neighbours have technically been at war since.

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The war began towards the end of World War 2, when the United States and the Soviet Union freed Korea, which was then a single country, from Japanese possession. The nation was then split into two occupation zones North and South.

While the US-backed South Korea transitioned into a republic, the soviet forces installed a communist government headed by Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of North Korea's current Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. The two countries were separated by a border named the 38th parallel.

On June 25, 1950, the North Korean forces backed by the Soviet Union and communist China stormed through the 38th parallel into South Korean territory with a plan to unify the Korean Peninsula once again.

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The invasion prompted the United Nations to encourage its member countries to send in troops to control the escalation. American troops joined the South Koreans and pushed back the North Korean troops.

The conflict between the two sides came to a seeming end as the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed between the two parties on July 27, 1953. The Korean War claimed over five million lives of troops and civilians belonging to both sides. The armistice agreement established a Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) to divide South and North Korea and facilitate the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty was signed back then.

The armistice only laid down principles for suspension of open hostilities, 4km long demilitarisation zone and mechanism for the transfer of the prisoner of war. As there was no peace treaty between the two combatant countries the Korean War officially continued.

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Despite the armistice agreement, the borders of both countries remained one of the most militarised zones of the world and tensions escalated between the two neighbours on several occasions.

(Edited by : Jomy Jos Pullokaran)