KoreaA

Brief

History

The Myth •I

n Korea mythology there is a story of the birth of the Korean nation when a god named Hwanung comes from heaven and transforms a bear into a woman. He marries her and she gives birth to a son, Tangun.. Tangun establishes the first capital of the Korean nation in 2333 B.C. and calls it Joseon - Land of the Morning Calm. Granite, 2004, np.

Physical Setting

•Korea's position as a peninsula on the eastern edge of Northeast Asia has determined much of its social, political, and cultural history. Civilization on the Korean peninsula has developed in close interaction with neighbouring China and other cultures on the Northeast Asian mainland, and with Japan.

(Armstrong, np)

Look at your Map

•Korea shares a long land border with China to the north, a much shorter border with Russia to the northeast, and across a narrow strait to the southeast are the islands of Japan (Armstrong, np).

Cultural Infusion

•Through much of its history Korea has been greatly influenced by Chinese civilization, borrowing the written language, arts, religions, and models of government administration from China, and, in the process, transforming these borrowed traditions into distinctly Korean forms.

•Korea has in turn exerted a strong cultural influence on Japan. (Armstrong, np).

There were many other nations in Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula during the Iron Age. In the 1st century B.C., Kojoseon gives way to three nations. The first is Goguryeo (37 B.C.- 668 A.D.) to the north which was in Manchuria and northern Korea. Goguryeo becomes a buffer against the aggressive nations of China. Two other kingdoms developed, Silla (founded in 57 B.C.) in the south eastern corner of the peninsula, and Baekche (founded in 18 B.C.) in the south-western part of the peninsula. They become known as the "Three Kingdoms" although there was a fourth kingdom known as Kaya (founded in 42 A.D.) (Granite, 2004, np)

Beginnings of “Korea”

Kingdoms and Foreigners

Korea, being a peninsula and being surrounded by the great powers of the Orient, has been subject to invasions throughout its history by warring nations from China and Manchuria to the north and from Japan to the east.

The cultures of the Three Kingdoms became very refined with an aristocratic society where the aristocrats became the leaders. With the development of Silla and Baekche, friction developed between the three kingdoms. (Granite, 2004)

A Unified Korea

IIn the 7th century Silla conquered the other kingdoms and the Three Kingdoms are united by Silla except for the part of Goryeo in Manchuria. They are then able to form a nation under one government known as Unified Silla.

(Granite, 2004)

But Then

•The Silla rulers began to fight among each other and in 918 Wang Kon founded the Goryeo Dynasty. This was where the name, Korea, was derived.

•In the 12th century, Goryeo underwent conflicts between the civilian and military structures and later in the 13th century Goryeo was invaded several times by the Mongolians from the north. Goryeo was also weakened by Japanese pirates.

(Granite, 2004)

A New Dynasty

•In 1392 the Goryeo Dynasty was taken over by the Joseon Dynasty who had a Confucian form of government. The Joseon Dynasty was ruled by the Yi family from 1392 to 1910. This was a government which promoted loyalty to their country and respect for parents (Granite, 2004)

•Confucian form of government means the government was a strong believer and follower of the teachings of a Chinese philosopher, Confucius.

ATTACK!!

•Korea was attacked by the Japanese in 1592-98 with destruction of many buildings and the killing of many Koreans. Kobukson, the world's first ironclad battleships, were built by Admiral Yi Sun-shin which helped the Koreans prevent Japan from taking over Korea. (Granite, 2004)

•The Korean society changed as traders and merchants began to trade with Japan and the West. In the 1800's the Joseon leaders wanted to close Korea to foreigners, while the merchant class wanted to improve their economy and technology to deal with outside trade.

•Japan began to grow stronger and in 1895 they defeated China during the Sino-Japanese War. Russia was defeated in 1905 in the Russo-Japanese War. Japan had become the the military power in Northeast Asia. Japan annexed Korea as a Japanese colony in 1910. (Granite, 2004).

•Korea had very little influence from the West until the latter half of the nineteenth century. Korea was colonized not by Western imperialist powers in the late 1800s and early 1900s but by Japan, an Asian imperialist power. Japan fought China for dominance in Korea in 1894-95 and annexed Korea in 1910. Japanese colonialism ended in 1945 at the end of World War II. (Armstrong, np).

On August 15th, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced on the radio that Japan had surrendered and that the long war in the Pacific was finally over. The news came as a shock that

rocked the very core of the Japanese nation. In contrast, the news of the Japanese capitulation was welcomed with a great deal of relief and joy in Korea. The Japanese surrender to the

Allies meant that forty years of harsh colonial rule would come to an end. The 15th of August, the day that WW II was

officially over, was also the Day of Liberation in Korea

“Liberation” the Aftermath of WWII

Unfortunately, liberation from the Japanese would not spell the end for Korea's

misfortunes. The division of Korea into two separate states loomed just beyond the

horizon. And perhaps the greatest tragedy of all, the Korean War, lingered not too far

behind. The events that would occur between Liberation Day and August 25th (the day that

there were two official governments in the Korean peninsula) would set the stage for the

tragedy of the Korean War.

What can we tell of this source just by looking at it?

•http://myhome.shinbiro.com/~mss1/preface.html

The Korean War

•In 1950, on June the 25th, North Korea attacks South Korea (Evanhoe,2008).

•Personnel from the Australian Army, RAAF, and RAN fought as part of the United Nations (UN) multinational force, defending South Korea from the Communist force of North Korea.

•At the end of the Korean War in 1953, both Koreas lay utterly devastated. In addition to the loss of millions of lives, the two Koreas were beset with a ruined economic infrastructure, millions of displaced persons, and hundreds of thousands of war orphans. South Korea in 1953 was one of the poorest countries in the world. Despite a huge amount of economic assistance from the United States, the United Nations, and other Western countries for post-war reconstruction, the South Korean economy did not really begin to pick up again until the early 1960s. In 1961 the civilian government was removed in a coup led by Major General Park Chung Hee, who ruled South Korea until his assassination in 1979.

•(Armstrong, np)

Flags, a country Divided.

Prior to the Korean separation, the country was united in a single flag….

But Today….

•South Korea has this flag

And

•North Korea has adopted

Contemporary (Today’s) Korea

•The Republic of Korea (South Korea) today is a prosperous nation with a per capita annual income of around $US 10,000, putting it in the middle ranks of developed nations–less affluent than the United States, Japan, or Germany, but on par with Portugal, Spain, and Greece. It is also a developing democracy, having thrown off military rule in the early 1990s and maintaining a representative civilian democratic government.

•The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), although ahead of the South economically until the 1960s or even the early 1970s, has suffered great economic hardship in recent years, and went through a period of severe famine in the mid-1990s. North Korea’s government is a single-party state established along Leninist principles borrowed from the Soviet Union, and was under the leadership of Kim Il Sung from its founding in 1945 until Kim’s death in 1994. After Kim Il Sung’s death, leadership passed to his son Kim Jong Il.

Watch this Clip

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN1a9WIvxoI

•Is this really the sort of country you would call “Democratic” or “Republic”?

References

•Granite Schools Distrit Education project 2004, Korean History, UTAH, viewed 5th August, 2008, <http://media.graniteschools.org/curriculum/korea/history.htm>

•Armstrong, C. KOREA in EAST ASIAN and WORLD HISTORY:A Guide for Teachers by Charles K. Armstrong (associate Professor of Korean History) Columbia University

• Evanhoe, E. (Compiler) 2008 The Korean War. Accessed 05/06/08 <http://www.korean-war.com/TimeLine/KoreanWarChronology.html