The Korean War which began on 25 June 1950 continued for more than 3 years. The Korean War broke out right after the start of the cold war in the world, with major powers and the United Nations participating in the war on the international level. The participant states had various views on the war according to their national interests. Some states thought that they should do their best to win the war in order to show their will and power to the opponents, whereas other states believed that they should limit the war in the Korean peninsula not to expand their involvement.
Since most major powers in the world involved in the war, the war became cruel and complicated with the from moving up and down on the peninsula. Before and during the course of the war, some states sought the peace mediation. Among others, the British and Indian governments tried to stop the North Korean aggression while contacting the Chinese and Soviet governments. Although there were some progress in the negotiations, it failed because of the American rejection.
Just before the Chinese intervention, the British government suggested the buffer-zone proposal. The proposal was to stop the UN advance at the 40th parallel, setting the remaining area to the frontier as a buffer-zone. The proposal was based on the idea that the UN forces would gain favorable position even if the Chinese forces intervened. The US government, however, refused this idea. It wanted to win the war with all the UN forces advancing to the China-Korea border. At last the Chinese forces intervened.
It is doubtful whether the war would end earlier if the peace proposal had proceeded without delay. But in terms of the delay of the completion of the war for 3 years and of the result of the division of the Korean puninsula, it was worthwhile to reconsider the peace proposal to end the war earlier.