At the conclusion of World War II the Allied nations began the process of disarmament of Axis controlled regions.
 Japan occupied Korea at this time and had been in control since 1910.
 In 1945, the decision was made to have American Marines forces oversee Japanese surrender and disarmament south of the 38th parallel and the Soviet Union would facilitate the change of power to the north.
 At the time there was no political motivation and seemed to be a logical and convenient plan of action.
 The original agreement and intent was to create a unified and independent Korea out of the post Japanese occupation era.
 Instead each side of the 38th parallel established its own government under the influence of the occupational country; the United States in South Korea and the Soviet Union in North Korea.
 Both new Korean governments discredited the other and claimed to be the only legitimate political system.
 Tensions between the North and South escalated and each side began to petition foreign powers for resources and support.
 South Korea wanted weapons and supplies from Truman and the United States government while North Korea sought help from Stalin and the Soviet Union.
 The United States was still war weary from the disruptive World War II campaign and refused South Korea's request for weapons and troops.
 North Korea convinced the Soviet Union to supply them with the weapons and support they requested.
 This decision coincided with the United States withdrawing the last remaining combat troops from South Korea.
 North Korea saw its opportunity and attacked South Korean forces at the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950 and thus initiating the Korean War.
William Henry Johnson (circa July 15, 1892 – July 1, 1929), commonly known as Henry Johnson, was a United States Army soldier who performed heroically in the first African American unit of the U.S. Army to engage in combat in World War I. On watch in the Argonne Forest on May 14, 1918, he fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while experiencing 21 wounds, in an action that was brought to the nation's attention by coverage in the "New York World" and "The Saturday Evening Post" later that year.
 On June 2, 2015 he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a posthumous ceremony at the White House.
Charles Robert Jenkins (born February 18, 1940) is a former United States Army soldier who lived in North Korea from 1965 to 2004 after deserting from his unit and crossing the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
Joseph T. White (November 5, 1961 — August 1, 1985) was a United States Army soldier who defected to North Korea on August 28, 1982.
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and ruling political party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and the largest party represented in the Supreme People's Assembly.
 The WPK is the sole governing party of North Korea, although it coexists "de jure" with two other legal parties making up the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland.
 It was founded in 1949 with the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea.
 The WPK also controls the world's 5th largest armed force – Korean People's Army.
 This political party (and all of the other parties in the DPRK) remains illegal in South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) under South Korea's own National Security Act and is sanctioned by Australia, the European Union, the United Nations and the United States.
Noah Matthew Galloway (born October 28, 1981) is a former United States Army soldier, motivational speaker, and extreme sports enthusiast.
 He was injured during the Iraq War, losing his left arm above the elbow and left leg above the knee.
 He was a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" season 20, paired with Sharna Burgess.
 The pair finished in third place.
 He led his team to victory in the first season of the "American Grit" TV show on FOX.
 His book "Living with No Excuses: The Remarkable Rebirth of an American Soldier" was released in August 2016.
Anocha Panjoy (Thai: อโนชา ปันจ้อย ; rtgs: "Anocha Panchoi" ; born 1955) is a Thai national who was abducted by North Korean agents from Macau on 21 May 1978.
 Her case only became known after the release of the American Charles Robert Jenkins and his Japanese family in 2004.
Robert Dale Maxwell (born October 26, 1920) is a former United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War II.
 With the death of Nicholas Oresko on October 4, 2013, Maxwell became the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient.
Shin Dong-hyuk (born Shin In Geun, 19 November 1982 or 1980 ) is a North Korean-born human rights activist.
 He is reputed to be the only known prisoner to have successfully escaped from a "total-control zone" grade internment camp in North Korea.
 He was the subject of a biography, "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey From North Korea to Freedom in the West", by former "Washington Post" journalist Blaine Harden.
 Shin has given talks to audiences around the world about his life in Camp 14 and about the totalitarian North Korean regime to raise awareness of the situation in North Korean internment and concentration camps and North Korea.
 Shin has been described as the world's "single strongest voice" on the atrocities inside North Korean camps by a member of the United Nations' first commission of inquiry into human rights abuses of North Korea.
 In January 2015, he recanted aspects of his story but a majority of experts continued to support his credibility as a victim of North Korean human rights abuses.
Junior James Spurrier, born James I. Spurrier, Jr., was a former United States Army soldier who received the United States' two highest military decorations for valor—the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross—for his heroic actions in World War II.

Question: What area did this former United States Army soldier cross before defecting to North Korea, who was later released in 2004, which brought light to the abduction story of the Thai national Anocha Panjoy known to the world?
Answer: Korean Demilitarized Zone