Context: Recently, North and South Korea separately marked the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, a conflict that killed millions of people and is technically yet to end.
Current Scenario

• In recent years North Korea has accelerated its nuclear programme by increasing its nuclear stockpile, withdrawn from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has tested nuclear explosives multiple times.
• USA has deployed THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) in South Korea to counter increasing missile adventurism of North Korea.
• North Korea recently demolished the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in Kaesong, which was established in 2018. In the absence of formal diplomatic relations, the building functioned as a de facto embassy and provided a direct communication channel for the two nations.

About Korean war (1950-53)

• After World War II, the Korean peninsula was divided along the 38th Parallel by American administrators.
• The northern part of the country was occupied by Soviet troops and the southern part was occupied by troops from the United States.
• During the late 1940’s Northern Korea established a communist government and the 38th Parallel became a political border between the two sides.
• North Korea wanted to expand its borders and sought assistance from both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China to mount an assault against South Korea.
• China committed supporting the leader of North Korea and on June 25, 1950, North Korean troops advanced across the 38th Parallel.
• The Korean War (1950-1953) began when the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded non-Communist South Korea.
• As Kim Il-sung’s North Korean army, armed with Soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea, the United States came to South Korea’s aid.
• Although Korea was not strategically essential to the United States, the political environment at this stage of the Cold War was such that policymakers did not want to appear soft on Communism.
• The Korean War halted following the signing of an armistice agreement in July 1953.

Consequences

• There were several casualties on both sides, though the exact figure is unknown.
• The Korean War created more friction between the United States and the Soviet Union.
• War made the United States truly aware of the falling domino effect of communism.
• South Korea became an important US military base with thousands of American troops stationed there.
• North Korea has carried out a controversial nuclear test and several ballistic missile tests, keeping South Korea, Japan, USA (Hawaii) and China in their missile range.

Role of India

• After the Armistice agreement in 1953, India sent Custodian Forces to the Korean Peninsula for the protection and repatriation of prisoners of war.
• The war resulted in large numbers of prisoners of war on either side who needed to be returned to their country of origin.
• A final operation- Operation Big Switch, occurred between August and September 1953, where North Korean, Chinese and UN Command prisoners of war were returned.
• The Neutral Nations Repatriation Committee (NNRC) was set up, with India at the helm, to put the prisoners of the Korean War who refused to return to their countries under the protection of the NNRC.
• India was tasked with sending a Custodian Force comprising military and civilian personnel who would ensure the welfare of all prisoners of war who did not wish to be repatriated.