Q 01/05

On what date did North Korea launch its invasion of the South, starting the war?

A) 25 June 1950

B) 15 August 1948

C) 1 September 1949

D) 27 July 1953

Answer · why

A) 25 June 1950

South Koreans still call it the '625 War' after that date; the armistice came on 27 July 1953.

Q 02/05

Korea was divided in 1945 into Soviet and American occupation zones along which line of latitude?

A) the 17th parallel

B) the 38th parallel

C) the 49th parallel

D) the 45th parallel

Answer · why

B) the 38th parallel

Two US colonels, Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel, picked the line in Washington on 11 August 1945.

Q 03/05

Which future US Secretary of State was one of the two colonels who drew Korea's dividing line in 1945?

A) Henry Kissinger

B) George Marshall

C) Dean Rusk

D) John Foster Dulles

Answer · why

C) Dean Rusk

He said the aim was to make sure the capital, Seoul, fell within the American zone.

Q 04/05

For how many years had Korea been a Japanese colony before its liberation in 1945?

A) 40

B) 45

C) 50

D) 35

Answer · why

D) 35

Japan annexed Korea in 1910 after making it a protectorate in 1905.

Q 05/05

Who led North Korea from Pyongyang at the outbreak of the war?

A) Kim Il Sung

B) Kim Jong Il

C) Park Chung Hee

D) Kim Ku

Answer · why

A) Kim Il Sung

His communist forces had fought the Japanese in Korea and Manchuria; his southern rival was Syngman Rhee.