Video: 'Korean Truce Signed (1953)'

(Monday, July 27, 1953, 10:01 a.m. Korea Standard Time; during the Korean War, part of the Cold War and the Korean conflict) — The long-awaited Korean Armistice Agreement was signed this morning at Panmunjom, calling for a cease-fire in the Korean War after three years of bloody fighting, effective at 10:00 p.m. Korea Standard Time (9:00 a.m. EDT).

The agreement was signed by United States Army Lieutenant General William Harrison Jr. and General Mark W. Clark representing the United Nations Command (UNC), North Korea leader Kim Il Sung and General Nam Il representing the Korean People’s Army (KPA), and Peng Dehuai representing the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (PVA).

Video: 'Signing of the Korean War Armistice'

The armistice was designed to “ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved.”

The signed armistice established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the de facto new border between the two nations, put into force a cease-fire, and finalized repatriation of prisoners of war.

Video: 'Korean War - PART 28, End of the War, 6.25' (July 27, 1953, at 8:15)

The DMZ runs close to the 38th parallel and has separated North and South Korea since the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953.

Video: 'M.A.S.H -Final episode (Goodbye,Farewell and Amen) FHD quality' (July 27, 1953, 10:06 a.m. Korea Standard Time at 1:20:34)

According to the data from the U.S. Department of Defense, the United States suffered 33,686 battle deaths, along with 2,830 non-battle deaths during the Korean War and 8,176 missing in action.

Recent scholarship has put the war’s death toll on all sides at just over 1.2 million.