Official War map of Korea.

A large folding map of Korea published in the year of the outbreak of the Korean War, published by the Rand McNally Company. The map is extremely detailed and features a large inset key including, a legend, a glossary, mileage scale, heights in meters, principal cities.
VERSO : The reverse side of the map are a series of several small colored individual maps. These include: India, Pakistan and Burma / China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan / Indochina, Siam and Malaya.

The information provided by Rand McNally to accompany the map proclaims: "Thousands of cities and towns shown", Physical features vividly portrayed", "The most detailed map of Korea available", and Major highways in red - other roads and railroads clearly outlined".

The Korean War reached international proportions in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviet Union, invaded the South. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal participant, joined the war on the side of the South Koreans, and the People’s Republic of China came to North Korea’s aid.
The fighting ended in July 1953 with Korea still divided into two hostile states. Negotiations in 1954 produced no further agreement, and the front line has been accepted ever since as the de facto boundary between North and South Korea.

The map with a red boundary line at the 38th Parallel dividing North and South.
Following the unconditional surrender of the Japanese, the victorious Allies split the Korean peninsula into two occupational zones. The United States took over the area to the south of the 38th Parallel, while the Soviet Union took the area to the north.