ABSTRACT
The Korean War experience and the failure of the Geneva political conference of 1954 to establish a framework for peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas left the leaders on both sides of the DMZ reliant primarily on the military capability of their own forces and the backing of their allies to assure the survival of their political systems. The armistice had halted the fighting, established a narrow demilitarized zone across the peninsula to separate the combatants, and set in place two international bodies, the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) to supervise the carrying out of the armistice terms.
