板门店（朝鲜语：판문점）是位于韩国与朝鲜之间北纬三十八度停战线上的一个村落。韩战中，韩国与朝鲜的代表在1953年7月27日于此签定停战协定而闻名。板门店之名，得自于停战条约签定地点附近一个卖香烟的杂货店。板门店与柏林墙被视为冷战时期的象征。

板门店离首尔约60公里，离平壤约215公里，为朝韩之间唯一的接点，并且设有中立国停战军事委员会，由瑞士、瑞典、捷克、波兰四国监察。附近除了会议室之外，还设有韩国的和平之家与朝鲜的统一阁等设施；板门店周边为“共同警备区域”，相隔双方的军队。

板门店目前只向外国旅客开放，而不对朝韩旅客开放；而板门店也曾经发生过“橡木事件”、“苏联大学生越境事件”等小规模冲突。

三八线是位于朝鲜半岛上北纬38度附近的一条军事分界线。

第二次世界大战结束时，美国、苏联在朝鲜半岛商定以北纬38°作为接受日军投降的范围的界限。北部为苏军受降区，南部为美军受降区。

以38度线为分界线的理由，一是该线将朝鲜半岛近似分割为面积相等的两部分，二是1945年日本撤消朝鲜军编制，将38度线以北的朝鲜军并入关东军，38度线以南的朝鲜军并入国内军。

1948年大韩民国和朝鲜民主主义人民共和国成立后，三八线成为朝鲜和韩国的国界。1953年朝鲜战争结束后，停战界线大致上仍沿三八线自东至西横贯朝鲜半岛，因此在中文中仍习惯将其称为“三八线”。

三八线北部为朝鲜民主主义人民共和国，南部为大韩民国。长度248公里，宽度大约4公里。双方一度都有重兵把守，并互相播放广播。近几年局势缓和，除了少数船舰越界事件以外，基本没有冲突，双方的广播对峙也已经停止。


Panmunjeom in Gyeonggi province is a village on the de facto border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War was signed. The building where the armistice was signed still stands, though it is on the northern side of the Military Demarcation Line, which runs through the middle of the Demilitarized Zone. It is considered one of the last vestiges of the Cold War. It should not be confused with the Joint Security Area (JSA) nearby, where discussions between North and South still take place in blue buildings which straddle the Military Demarcation Line.

The village is 53 kilometres north-northwest of Seoul and 10 kilometres east of Kaesong and was the meeting place of the Military Armistice Commission provided some supplies and generators/lighting to allow the work to continue at night). After the cease-fire was signed, construction began in September of 1953 on a new site located approximately one kilometer east of the village; this is the . The meetings took place in several tents set up on the south side of the Kaesong-Seoul road on the west bank of the Sa'cheon stream; the village, a small cluster of less than ten huts, was opposite the negotiation site on the north side. The eighteen copies of Volume I and II of the armistice were signed by the Senior Delegates of each side in a building constructed by both sides over a 48-hour period (North Korea provided labor and some supplies, the United Nations CommandJoint Security Area and all meetings between North Korea and the United Nations Command or South Korea have taken place here since its completion. The JSA is often, mistakenly, called Panmunjeom. After the war, when all civilians were removed from the DMZ (except for two villages near the JSA on opposite sides of the MDL), the empty village of Panmunjeom fell into disrepair and eventually disappeared from the landscape. There is no evidence of it today, however, the building constructed for the signing of the armistice has since been renamed by North Korea as the Peace Museum.

United Nations forces met with North Korean and Chinese officials at P’anmunjŏm from 1951 to 1953 for truce talks. The talks dragged on for several months. The main point of contention during the talks was the question surrounding the prisoners of war. North Koreans largely mistreated American and allied POWs, including subjecting them to brainwashing. The problem was very different for North Korean and Chinese POWs. As many as one third of the captured North Koreans and many more of the Chinese did not want to be returned to their communist countries. Moreover, South Korea was uncompromising in its demand for a unified state.

On June 8, 1953, an agreement to the POW problem was reached. Those prisoners who refused to return to their communist countries were allowed to live under a neutral supervising commission for three months. At the end of this time period, those who still refused repatriation would be released.

A final agreement was reached on July 27, 1953. The United Nations, China and North Korea agreed to an armistice, effectively ending the fighting; however, South Korea refused to sign it. The agreement established a 4 kilometer wide demilitarized zone along the 38th parallel, effectively dividing Korea into two separate countries. Although most troops and all heavy weapons were to be removed from the area, it has been heavily armed by both sides since the end of the fighting. Since South Korea never signed the armistice, the two countries technically remain at war.

Incidents

Being at the centre of one of the world's most tense military and political fault lines, Panmunjeom has been the location of numerous high profile incidents.

• Axe Murder Incident - On August 18, 1976, at 1040 hours, North Korean guards attacked a United Nations Command work party which was pruning a large tree obscuring visibility between two UNC checkpoints. During the fight, two US soldiers (Capt. Bonifas and Lt. Barrett) were killed by the KPA using axes dropped by the fleeing work party.

• On August 21, 1976, at 0700 hours, UNC forces conducted Operation Paul Bunyan, a massive show of force to reassert their right to operate freely and within the armistice conditions, on their side of the DMZ.

• On December 23, 1968, the crew of the captured U.S.S. Pueblo crossed through the village via the so-called ' Bridge of No Return' when they were returned to American forces after exactly 11 months in custody.

• A number of defections have taken place over the years, the most recent being the defection of North Korean People's Army Senior Captain Byun on February 3rd, 1998.

• A North Korean tunnel presumably constructed to conduct infiltration and invasion was discovered approximately 3 miles SSE of the village of Panmunjeom in 1978. Three other tunnels were discovered at various points along the DMZ during the 1970s, and 1990s.