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As Japanese troops in Korea surrender to US forces at Keijo, September 9, 1945, officials sit round a table to negotiate (Japanese to the left of the table, Americans to the right). As the Japanese lost control of Korea towards the end of World War II., Soviet forces swept in to control the Northern provinces while the Americans dominated the South, leading to a division at the designated "38th Parallel", now the border between North Korea and South Korea. The Korean war started in June 1950 as the communist North invaded the South. The three-year war left millions dead, wounded, or missing. Additionally, more than 10 million family members remain separated. The war finally ended on July 27, 1953 as the Armistice Agreement, signed in Panmunjeom, brought calm to the battlefields, though the Korean peninsula remains divided. (KEYSTONE/CAMERA PRESS/Str) === , ===