Following Sudan's independence in 1956, the northern and southern regions fought two civil wars, the First Sudanese Civil War (1955-1972) and the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). In order to prevent further damage, the southern regions was separated from Sudan and the South Sudan became an independent nation in July 2011. The United Nations created the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to support the South Sudanese peace process in 2011. In 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked the government of the Republic of Korea to deploy a unit of the South Korean Army as part of the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. South Korean passed an agreement to form and dispatch a dedicated peacekeeping unit on 27 September 2012, resulting in the Hanbit Unit being created in January 2013.