Which parallel divided Japanese surrender responsibilities in Korea in 1945?

The 38th parallel divided Japanese surrender responsibilities in Korea in 1945.

General Order No. 1 assigned Japanese forces north of the 38th parallel to surrender to the Commander in Chief of Soviet Forces in the Far East. Japanese forces south of the line were directed to surrender to U.S. Army Forces in the Pacific.

The line was a temporary military boundary, not an immediate declaration that Korea would become two permanent states. Nevertheless, separate Soviet and American occupations developed on opposite sides. In 1948, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established in the north and the Republic of Korea in the south.

The Korean War began in 1950 and later produced the Korean Demilitarized Zone near, but not exactly identical to, the original 38th-parallel division. Thus, the surrender boundary is an important predecessor to the later political division of the Korean Peninsula.