North Korea in the Korean War parallel boundary, but they could not agree on whether prisoners of war should be forcibly "repatriated." Finally, after around more than two years of negotiations, the adversaries signed an armistice on July 27, 1953. The agreement drew a new boundary near the 38th parallel that gave South Korea an extra 1,500 square miles of territory; and created a 2-mile-wide "demilitarized zone" that still exists today in the North and South Korean borders, in the bottom and top, respectively. The Korean War was relatively short but exceptionally bloody compared to other wars. Nearly 3 million people died. More than half of
Canada in the Korean War recommended recruiting a separate Special Force for the Korean War. Recruits for the Special Force were enlisted for a period of eighteen months with recruits coming from both the Active Force, World War II veterans and adventure seeking young men. The normal recruitment standards were lowered since "the army would not wish to retain the 'soldier of fortune' type of personnel on a long term basis'". Units of the Special Force would be second battalions of the existing three Permanent Force regiments. On 15 August 1950, the 2nd Battalion was created within Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) as a