What seemingly harmless backyard activity nearly caused World War 3? Gardening! In 1976, a group of South Korean and US soldiers were ordered to cut down a poplar tree in the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. The North Korean soldiers watching on were not happy and attacked and killed two US soldiers, leaving the US with the question of how to retaliate. They didn't want to look weak but they also didn't want to kick off a huge war... This is known to history as The Poplar Incident, AKA The Korean Axe Murder Incident.

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REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:

Toby Luckhurst’s BBC article
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49394758

Uri Friedman’s article with The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/axe-murder-north-korea-1976/562028/

https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/korean-axe-murder-incident-48f3e16e47b6

https://www.koreakonsult.com/Attraction_DMZ_eng.html

https://www.britannica.com/place/Korea/Armistice-and-aid

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43806930

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/01/607399907/north-and-south-korea-dismantle-loudspeakers-blaring-propaganda-on-the-dmz

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea-summit-dmz/armistice-and-axe-murders-koreas-dmz-summit-site-full-of-diplomatic-military-history-idUSKBN1HX0YI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_axe_murder_incident#cite_ref-2koreas_3-6

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve12/d285

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/04/26/at-korean-summit-in-dmz-deranged-ax-murders-still-cast-a-shadow/’  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.