evidence: At the end of World War II, the 38th Parallel was chosen somewhat arbitrarily by U.S. officials Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel as a practical demarcation line for the military occupation of Korea by the Soviet Union in the north and the United States in the south. This division was intended to be temporary but became more permanent due to Cold War tensions. [...] The Korean War began when North Korean troops crossed the 38th Parallel on June 25, 1950, invading South Korea. This marked the start of hostilities that would last until an armistice was signed in 1953, although the armistice line was not along the 38th Parallel but rather along the Military Demarcation Line, which forms part of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). [...] No, the actual border between North and South Korea is not the 38th Parallel but the Military Demarcation Line within the DMZ, which was established by the armistice agreement in 1953. The DMZ is approximately 4 kilometers wide and stretches across the Korean Peninsula, but it deviates from the 38th Parallel.