Korea (
KoreanKorean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers. It was formerly written using Hanja, borrowed Chinese characters pronounced in the Korean...
: 한국 or 조선) is a
civilizationA civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, population, and class stratification.-Definition:...
and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the
Korean PeninsulaThe Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan on the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two...
, it borders
ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
to the northwest,
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
to the northeast, and is separated from
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to the east by the
Korea StraitThe Korea Strait is a sea passage between South Korea and Japan, connecting the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean...
.
Taekwon-do is the national sport of Korea.
Korea was united until 1948; at that time it was split into
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
and
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a capitalistic,
democraticDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
developed countryThe term developed country is used to describe countries that have a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue and there is fierce debate about this. Economic criteria have tended to dominate...
with memberships in the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, WTO, OECD and G-20 major economies, and home to such global brands as Samsung,
LG ElectronicsLG Electronics is the world's second-biggest maker of televisions and third-biggest maker of mobile phones.With its headquarters in the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea, LG Electronics is the flagship company of LG Group, one of the world's largest electronic conglomerates.The...
,
HyundaiHyundai is a group of companies founded by Chung Ju-yung in South Korea. The first Hyundai company was founded in 1947 as a construction company, and eventually became South Korea's largest conglomerate company ....
and
KiaKia Motors , is South Korea's second largest automobile manufacturer with headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, owned by the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group. Its CEO is Chung Eui-sun. The American arm is Kia Motors America. On October 20, 2006, Kia Motors America formally hosted a groundbreaking...
. North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a single-party communist state founded by
Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, exercising autocratic power...
and currently led by his son Kim-Jong-il, who has maintained relations with the
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest the origins of the Korean people were in Altaic language-speaking migrants from south-central
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
, who populated
ancient KoreaThe history of Korea stretches from Lower Paleolithic times to the present. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000 BC, and the Neolithic period began before 6000 BC, followed by the Bronze Age around 2500 BC...
in successive waves from the
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
age to the
Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
. The adoption of the Chinese writing system ("
HanjaHanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
" in Korean) in the 2nd century BC, and
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
in the 4th century CE, had profound effects on the
Three Kingdoms of KoreaThe Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium CE...
.
BaekjeBaekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....
later passed on a modified version of these cultural advances to
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Since the Goryeo Dynasty, Korea was ruled by a single government and maintained political and cultural independence until the 20th century, despite the
Mongol invasionsThe Mongol invasions of Korea consisted of a series of campaigns by the Mongol Empire against Korea, then known as Goryeo, from 1231 to 1270...
of the
GoryeoThe Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a sovereign state established in 918 by King Taejo. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
Dynasty in the 13th century and
Japanese invasionsTwo Japanese invasions of Korea and subsequent battles on the Korean peninsula took place from 1592 to 1598. Toyotomi Hideyoshi led the newly unified Japan into the first invasion with the professed goal of conquering Korea, the Jurchens, Ming Dynasty China and India. The second invasion was...
of the
Joseon DynastyJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
in the 16th century. In 1377, Korea produced the
JikjiJikji is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document, whose full title can be translated "The Monk Baegun's Anthology of the Great Priests' Teachings on Identification of the Buddha’s Spirit by the Practice of Seon." Printed during the Goryeo Dynasty in 1377, it is the world's oldest...
, the world's oldest existing document printed with movable metal type. In the 15th century, the
turtle shipThe Turtle ship, also known as Geobukseon or Kobukson, was a type of large warship belonging to the Panokseon class in Korea that was used intermittently by the Royal Korean Navy during the Joseon Dynasty from the early 15th century up until the 19th century.The first references to older, first...
s were deployed, and King
Sejong the GreatSejong the Great was the Third king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He is best remembered for creating the Korean alphabet Hangul, despite strong opposition from the scholars educated in hanja...
promulgated the Korean alphabet
HangulHangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language, as distinguished from the logographic Sino-Korean hanja system...
.
During the latter part of the
Joseon DynastyJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
, Korea's isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname the "
Hermit KingdomHermit kingdom is a pejorative term applied to any country or society which willfully walls itself off from the rest of the world...
". By the late 19th century, the country became the object of the colonial designs of
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. In 1910, Korea was forcibly
annexed by JapanKorea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Formally, Japanese rule ended on September 2, 1945 upon the Japanese defeat in World War II in 1945....
and remained occupied until the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in August 1945.
In 1945, the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
agreed on the
surrenderThe surrender of Japan in August 1945 brought World War II to a close. By August 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy effectively ceased to exist, and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...
and disarming of Japanese troops in Korea; the Soviet Union accepting the surrender of Japanese weaponry north of the 38th parallel and the United States taking the surrender south of it. This minor decision by allied armies soon became the basis for the
division of KoreaThe division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea stems from the 1945 Allied victory in World War II, ending Japan's 35-year colonial rule of Korea. In a proposal opposed by nearly all Koreans, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to temporarily occupy the country as a trusteeship...
by the two
superpowerA superpower is a state with a leading position in the international system and the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests; it is traditionally considered to be one step higher than a great power.Alice Lyman Miller ,...
s, exacerbated by their inability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. The two
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
rivals then established governments sympathetic to their own ideologies, leading to Korea's current division into two political entities:
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
and
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
.
Names of Korea
The name "Korea" derives from the
GoryeoThe Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a sovereign state established in 918 by King Taejo. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
period of Korean history, which in turn referred to the ancient kingdom of
GoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
. Merchants of the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
called it
Cauli (from the Chinese pronunciation), which then came to be spelled Corea and Korea. Korea is now commonly used in English contexts by both North and South Korea. A
K is often used in
Germanic languagesThe Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
, while a
C is preferred in
Romance languagesThe Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
.
In the
Korean languageKorean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers. It was formerly written using Hanja, borrowed Chinese characters pronounced in the Korean...
, Korea as a whole is referred to as
Han-guk in South Korea, and
Chosŏn in North Korea. The latter name, also Romanised
Joseon, is from the
Joseon DynastyJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
and the earlier
GojoseonGojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom, considered the first proper nation of the Korean people. According to the Samguk Yusa and other Korean medieval-era records, Gojoseon is said to have been founded in 2333 BC by the legendary Dangun, who is said to be the Posterity of Heaven...
. "The Land of the Morning Calm" is an
English languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
nickname loosely derived from the
hanjaHanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
characters for
Joseon.
History
Prehistory and Gojoseon
Korean Academy of Social Sciences discovered ancient human fossils originating from about 100,000 BC in the lava at a stone city site in Korea. Fluorescent and high-magnetic analyses indicate the volcanic fossils may be from as early as 300,000 BC. The best preserved Korean pottery goes back to the
paleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
times around 10,000 BC, and the
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
period begins around 6000 BC.
GojoseonGojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom, considered the first proper nation of the Korean people. According to the Samguk Yusa and other Korean medieval-era records, Gojoseon is said to have been founded in 2333 BC by the legendary Dangun, who is said to be the Posterity of Heaven...
's founding legend describes
DangunDangun Wanggeom was the legendary founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, around present-day Liaoning, Manchuria, and the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the grandson of heaven, and to have founded the kingdom in 2333 BC...
, a descendent of heaven, as establishing the kingdom in 2333 BC. Archaeological and contemporary written records indicate it developed from a federation of walled cities into a centralised kingdom sometime between the 7th and 4th centuries BC.
The original capital may have been at the
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
-Korea border, but was later moved to what is today
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
, North Korea. In 108 BC, the Chinese
Han DynastyThe Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the peasant rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
defeated
Wiman JoseonWiman Joseon was the part of the Gojoseon period of Korean history. It began with Wiman's seizure of the throne from Gojoseon's King Jun and ended with the death of King Ugeo who was a grandson of Wiman.-Founding:...
and installed four commanderies in the area of Liaoning and the northern Korean peninsula. By 75 BC, three of those commanderies had fallen, but the
Lelang CommanderyLelang was one of the Chinese commanderies which was kept in the Korean Peninsula over 400 years until Goguryeo conquered it in 313 A.D.-History:...
remained as a center of cultural and economic exchange with successive Chinese dynasties until 313, when it fell to
GoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
.
Proto-Three Kingdoms
The Proto-Three Kingdoms period, sometimes called the Several States Period, is the earlier part of what is commonly called the
Three Kingdoms PeriodThe Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium CE...
, following the fall of
GojoseonGojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom, considered the first proper nation of the Korean people. According to the Samguk Yusa and other Korean medieval-era records, Gojoseon is said to have been founded in 2333 BC by the legendary Dangun, who is said to be the Posterity of Heaven...
but before
GoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
,
BaekjeBaekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....
, and
SillaSilla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and the longest sustained dynasty in Asian history. Although it was founded by King Park Hyeokgeose, who is also known to be the originator of the Korean family name Park , the dynasty was to see the Kyungju Kim clan hold rule for most of its...
fully developed into kingdoms.
This time period saw numerous states spring up from the former territories of Gojoseon. Buyeo arose in today's
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
and southern
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
, from about the 2nd century BC to 494. Its remnants were absorbed by
GoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
in 494, and both Goguryeo and
BaekjeBaekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....
, two of the
Three Kingdoms of KoreaThe Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium CE...
, considered themselves its successor.
OkjeoOkjeo was a small tribal state which arose in the northern Korean peninsula from perhaps 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE.Dong-okjeo occupied roughly the area of the Hamgyŏng provinces of North Korea, and Buk-okjeo occupied the Duman River region...
and
DongyeDongye was a state which occupied portions of the northeastern Korean peninsula from roughly 150 BCE to around 400 CE. It bordered Goguryeo and Okjeo to the north, Jinhan to the south, and China's Lelang Commandery to the west...
of northern Korea were eventually absorbed into the growing
GoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
.
Located in the southern part of the
Korean PeninsulaThe Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan on the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two...
,
SamhanSamhan refers to the ancient confederacies of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan in central and southern Korean peninsula, which were eventually absorbed into two of the Three Kingdoms of Korea...
refers to the three confederacies of
MahanMahan was a loose confederacy of statelets that existed from around the 100BCE-300CE in the southern Korean peninsula in the Chungcheong Province. Arising out of the confluence of Gojoseon migration and the Jin federation, Mahan was one of the Samhan , along with...
,
JinhanJinhan was a loose confederacy of chiefdoms that existed from around the 1st century BC to the 4th century CE in the southern Korean peninsula, to the east of the Nakdong River valley, Gyeongsang Province. Jinhan was one of the Samhan , along with Byeonhan and Mahan...
, and
ByeonhanByeonhan, also known as Byeonjin, was a loose confederacy of chiefdoms that existed from around the beginning of the Common Era to the 4th century in the southern Korean peninsula...
. Mahan was the largest and consisted of 54 states. Byeonhan and Jinhan both consisted of twelve states, bringing a total of 78 states within the Samhan. These three confederacies eventually developed into
BaekjeBaekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....
,
SillaSilla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and the longest sustained dynasty in Asian history. Although it was founded by King Park Hyeokgeose, who is also known to be the originator of the Korean family name Park , the dynasty was to see the Kyungju Kim clan hold rule for most of its...
, and
GayaGaya was a confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period. The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is 42 - 532 CE...
.
Three Kingdoms
The
Three Kingdoms of KoreaThe Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium CE...
(
GoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
,
SillaSilla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and the longest sustained dynasty in Asian history. Although it was founded by King Park Hyeokgeose, who is also known to be the originator of the Korean family name Park , the dynasty was to see the Kyungju Kim clan hold rule for most of its...
, and
BaekjeBaekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....
) dominated the peninsula and parts of Manchuria during the early
Common EraCommon Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used world-wide for numbering the year part of the date...
. They competed with each other both economically and militarily.
GoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
united Buyeo,
OkjeoOkjeo was a small tribal state which arose in the northern Korean peninsula from perhaps 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE.Dong-okjeo occupied roughly the area of the Hamgyŏng provinces of North Korea, and Buk-okjeo occupied the Duman River region...
,
DongyeDongye was a state which occupied portions of the northeastern Korean peninsula from roughly 150 BCE to around 400 CE. It bordered Goguryeo and Okjeo to the north, Jinhan to the south, and China's Lelang Commandery to the west...
and other states in the former Gojoseon territory, in addition to destroying the last Chinese commandery. Goguryeo was the most dominant power; it reached its zenith in the fifth century, when reign of the
Gwanggaeto the GreatGwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo was the nineteenth monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. His full posthumous name roughly means "Very Greatest King, Broad Expander of Territory, buried in Gukgangsang.", sometimes abbreviated to Hotaewang or Taewang...
and his son,
JangsuKing Jangsu of Goguryeo was the 20th monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He was born in 394, the eldest son of King Gwanggaeto the Great. He became crown prince in 408, and upon his father's death in 413, became king at the age of 19.He reigned over the peak of...
expanded territory into almost all of Manchuria and part of inner Mongolia, and took the
SeoulSeoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest city of South Korea. With a population of over 10 million, it is one of the world's largest cities. The Seoul National Capital Area, which includes the major port city of Incheon and most of Gyeonggi-do, has 24.5 million...
region from Baekje. Gwanggaeto and Jangsu subdued Baekje and Silla during their times. After the 7th Century, Goguryeo was constantly at war with the
SuiThe Sui Dynasty followed by the Tang Dynasty and preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. It ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes....
and
TangThe Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
dynasties of China.
Founded around modern day
SeoulSeoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest city of South Korea. With a population of over 10 million, it is one of the world's largest cities. The Seoul National Capital Area, which includes the major port city of Incheon and most of Gyeonggi-do, has 24.5 million...
, the southwestern kingdom
BaekjeBaekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....
expanded far beyond
PyongyangPyongyang is the capital of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.The city was split from the South P'yŏngan province in 1946...
during the peak of its powers in the 4th century. It had absorbed all of the Mahan states and subjugated most of the western Korean peninsula (including the modern provinces of Gyeonggi,
ChungcheongChungcheong was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Chungcheong was located in the southwest of Korea...
, and
JeollaJeolla was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Jeolla was located in the southwest of Korea. The provincial capital was Jeonju.-History:...
, as well as part of
HwanghaeHwanghae was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty, and one of the thirteen provinces of Korea during the Japanese Colonial Period. Hwanghae was located in the northwest of Korea. The provincial capital was Haeju....
and
GangwonGangwon-do is a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. Before the division of Korea in 1945, Gangwon and its North Korean neighbour Kangwŏn formed a single province.-History:...
) to a centralised government. Baekje acquired Chinese culture and technology through contacts with the
Southern DynastiesThe Southern dynasties 南朝 comprise the Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang Dynasty and Chen Dynasty, whose capital were largely all at Jiankang , and Emperor Yuan of Liang, as well as the later Western Liang emperors The Southern dynasties 南朝 (nanchao in pinyin: nán cháo) comprise the Liu Song,...
during the expansion of its territory. Historic evidence suggests that Japanese culture, art, and language was strongly influenced by the kingdom of Baekje and Korea itself. Archeological findings have further confirmed many of these hypotheses but extensive investigation is often restricted by the Japanese government and is usually conducted by government-appointed groups.
Although later records claim that
SillaSilla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and the longest sustained dynasty in Asian history. Although it was founded by King Park Hyeokgeose, who is also known to be the originator of the Korean family name Park , the dynasty was to see the Kyungju Kim clan hold rule for most of its...
, in the southeast, was the oldest of the three kingdoms, it is now believed to have been the last kingdom to develop. By the 2nd century, Silla existed as a large state, occupying and influencing nearby city states. Silla began to gain power when it annexed the
Gaya confederacyGaya was a confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period. The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is 42 - 532 CE...
in 562 CE. The Gaya confederacy was located between Baekje and Silla. The three kingdoms of Korea often warred with each other and Silla often faced pressure from Baekje and Goguryeo but at various times Silla also allied with Baekje and Goguryeo in order to gain dominance over the peninsula.
In 660, King
Muyeol of SillaKing Taejong Muyeol , was the 29th monarch of the southern Korean kingdom of Silla and ruled from 654 to 661. He is credited for leading the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea...
ordered his armies to attack
BaekjeBaekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....
. General Kim Yu-shin(Gim Yu-sin), aided by
TangThe Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
forces, conquered Baekje. In 661, Silla and Tang moved on
GoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
but were repelled. King
MunmuMunmu of Silla was the thirtieth king of the Korean kingdom of Silla. He is usually considered to have been the first ruler of the Unified Silla period. Munmu was the son of King Muyeol and Munmyeong, who was the elder sister of Kim Yu-shin...
, son of Muyeol and nephew of General Kim launched another campaign in 667 and Goguryeo fell in the following year.
North South States Period
In the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries, Silla's power gradually extended across the Korean Peninsula. Silla first annexed the adjacent
Gaya confederacyGaya was a confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period. The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is 42 - 532 CE...
. By the 660s, Silla formed an alliance with the Tang Dynasty of China to conquer Baekje and later Goguryeo. After repelling Chinese forces, Silla partially unified the Peninsula, beginning a period often called
Unified SillaUnified Silla or Later Silla is the name often applied to the kingdom of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, when it conquered Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668, unifying the southern portion of the Korean peninsula...
.
In the north, former Goguryeo General Dae Joyeong led a group of Goguryeo refugees to the
Jilin' , is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west...
area in Manchuria and founded
BalhaeBalhae was an ancient Korean kingdom established after the fall of Goguryeo. After Goguryeo's capital and southern territories fell to Unified Silla, Dae Jo-young, a former Goguryeo general, whose father was Dae Jung-sang, established Jin , later called Balhae...
(698 CE - 926 CE) as the successor to Goguryeo. At its height, Balhae's territory extended from northern Manchuria down to the northern provinces of modern-day Korea. Balhae was destroyed by the
Khitanthumb|250px|Khitans [[Eagle hunting|using eagles to hunt]], painted during the Chinese [[Song Dynasty]].The Khitan people , or Khitai, Kidan, were a nomadic people, originally located at Mongolia and Manchuria from the 4th century...
s in 926.
Unified Silla fell apart in the late 9th century, giving way to the tumultuous Later Three Kingdoms period (892-935).
GoryeoThe Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a sovereign state established in 918 by King Taejo. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
unified the Later Three Kingdoms and absorbed Balhae refugees.
Goryeo
The country
GoryeoThe Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a sovereign state established in 918 by King Taejo. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
was founded in 918 and replaced Silla as the ruling dynasty of Korea. ("Goryeo" is a short form of "Goguryeo" and the source of the English name "Korea".) The dynasty lasted until 1392.
During this period laws were codified, and a civil service system was introduced.
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
flourished, and spread throughout the peninsula. The development of
celadonCeladon is a term for ceramics denoting both a type of glaze and a ware of a specific color, also called celadon. This type of ware was invented in ancient China, particularly in Zhejiang Province.-Etymology:...
industry flourished in 12th and 13th century. The publication of
Tripitaka KoreanaThe Tripitaka Koreana or Palman Daejanggyeong is a Korean collection of the Tripitaka , carved onto 81,340 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century...
onto 80,000 wooden blocks and the invention of the world's first movable-metal-type
printing pressA printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw-presses used to press...
in 13th century attest to Goryeo's cultural achievements.
Their dynasty was threatened by Mongol invasion from the 1230s into the 1270s, but the dynastic line continued to survive until 1392 since they negotiated a treaty with the Mongols that kept its sovereign power.
In 1350s,
King GongminKing Gongmin ruled Goryeo Dynasty Korea from 1351 until 1374.He was the second son of King Chungsuk. In addition to his various Korean names , he bore the Mongolian name Bayàn Temür .-Background:...
was free at last to reform a Goryeo government. Gongmin had various problems that needed to be dealt with, which included the removal of pro-Mongol aristocrats and military officials, the question of land holding, and quelling the growing animosity between the Buddhists and Confucian scholars.
Joseon Dynasty
In 1392, the general
Yi Seong-gyeTaejo of Joseon , born Yi Seong-gye, whose changed name is Yi Dan, was the founder and the first king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, and the main figure in overthrowing the Goryeo Dynasty...
established the
Joseon DynastyJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
(1392-1910) with a largely bloodless coup. He named it the
Joseon DynastyJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
in honor of the previous Joseon before (Gojoseon is the first Joseon. "Go", meaning "old", was added to distinguish between the two).
King TaejoTaejo of Joseon , born Yi Seong-gye, whose changed name is Yi Dan, was the founder and the first king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, and the main figure in overthrowing the Goryeo Dynasty...
moved the capital to Hanseong (formerly
HanyangHanyang was one of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands between the Han River and the Yangtze River, where the former falls into the latter...
; modern-day
SeoulSeoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest city of South Korea. With a population of over 10 million, it is one of the world's largest cities. The Seoul National Capital Area, which includes the major port city of Incheon and most of Gyeonggi-do, has 24.5 million...
) and built the
GyeongbokgungGyeongbokgung, also known as Gyeongbokgung Palace or Gyeongbok Palace, is a royal palace located in northern Seoul, South Korea. First constructed in 1394 and reconstructed in 1867, it was the main and largest palace of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty...
palace. In 1394 he adopted
ConfucianismConfucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . It is a complex system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought that has had tremendous influence on the culture and history of East Asia...
as the country's official religion, resulting in much loss of power and wealth by the Buddhists. The prevailing philosophy was
Neo-ConfucianismNeo-Confucianism / is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty. It formed the basis of Confucian orthodoxy in the Qing Dynasty of China. It was a philosophy that attempted to merge certain...
.
Joseon experienced advances in science and culture.
King Sejong the GreatSejong the Great was the Third king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He is best remembered for creating the Korean alphabet Hangul, despite strong opposition from the scholars educated in hanja...
(1418-1450) promulgated
hangulHangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language, as distinguished from the logographic Sino-Korean hanja system...
, the Korean alphabet. The period saw various other cultural and technological advances as well as the dominance of neo-Confucianism over the entire peninsula. Slaves,
nobi, are estimated to have accounted for about one third of the population of Joseon Korea.
Between 1592 and 1598, the Japanese invaded Korea.
Toyotomi Hideyoshiwas a daimyo in the Sengoku period who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the...
ordered the forces and tried to invade
the Asian continentAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
through Korea, but was eventually repelled by a
Righteous armyRighteous armies, sometimes called irregular armies or militias, have emerged repeatedly in Korean history, when the national armies have been unable to defend the country. The first righteous armies emerged during the Khitan invasions of Korea and the Mongol invasions of Korea...
, Admiral
Yi Sun-sinYi Sun-sin was a Korean naval commander noted for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Japanese invasions of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty...
and assistance from Ming China. This war also saw the rise of the career of Admiral
Yi Sun-sinYi Sun-sin was a Korean naval commander noted for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Japanese invasions of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty...
with the "
turtle shipThe Turtle ship, also known as Geobukseon or Kobukson, was a type of large warship belonging to the Panokseon class in Korea that was used intermittently by the Royal Korean Navy during the Joseon Dynasty from the early 15th century up until the 19th century.The first references to older, first...
". In the 1620s and 1630s Joseon suffered
invasions by the ManchuDuring the 17th century, there were two Manchu invasions of Korea:*First Manchu expedition to Korea, in 1627*Second Manchu expedition to Korea, in 1637...
.
After
invasions from ManchuriaThe second Manchu invasion of Korea occurred in 1636, when the Manchu Qing Empire brought Korea's Joseon dynasty into submission. It followed the first Manchu invasion of Korea of 1627.-Background:...
, Joseon experienced a nearly 200-year period of peace.
King YeongjoYeongjo was the twenty-first king of the Korean Joseon Dynasty. He was the second son of Sukjong, and succeeded his older brother Gyeongjong.-Reign:...
and
King JeongjoKing Jeongjo was the 22nd ruler of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He made various attempts to reform and improve the nation of Joseon. He was preceded by his grandfather King Yeongjo and succeeded by his son King Sunjo...
led a new renaissance of the Joseon dynasty.
However, during the last years of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea's isolationist policy earned it the name the "
Hermit KingdomHermit kingdom is a pejorative term applied to any country or society which willfully walls itself off from the rest of the world...
", primarily for protection against Western
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
before it was forced to open trade beginning an era leading into
Japanese colonial ruleKorea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Formally, Japanese rule ended on September 2, 1945 upon the Japanese defeat in World War II in 1945....
.
Korean Empire
Beginning in the 1870s, Japan began to force Korea out of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's sphere of the traditional influence into its own. As a result of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the Qing Dynasty had to give up such a position according to Article 1 of the
Treaty of ShimonosekiThe Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanrō hall on April 17, 1895 between the Empire of Japan and Qing Empire of China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War...
, which was concluded between Qing and Japan in 1895. The same year,
Empress MyeongseongEmpress Myeongseong , also known as Queen Min, was the first official wife of King Gojong, the twenty-sixth king of the Joseon dynasty of Korea...
was assassinated by Japanese agents.
In 1897, the Joseon dynasty proclaimed the
Korean EmpireThe Greater Korean Empire was a former empire of Korea that succeeded the Joseon Dynasty that had ruled the nation for 500 years.In 1897, Emperor Gojong proclaimed the new entity at Gyeongungung Palace and oversaw the partially successful modernization of the military, economy, real property laws,...
(1897-1910), and King Gojong became Emperor Gojong. This brief period saw the partially successful modernisation of the military, economy, real property laws, education system, and various industries, influenced by the political encroachment into Korea of Russia, Japan, France, and the United States.
In 1904, the
Russo-Japanese WarThe Russo-Japanese War or the Manchurian Campaign in some English sources, was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
pushed the Russians out of the fight for Korea. In
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
on 1909,
An Jung-geunAhn Jung-geun or An Jung-geun was a Korean independence activist, nationalist, and pan-Asianist....
assassinated the former
Resident-General of KoreaThe post of Governor-General of Korea served as the chief administrator of the Japanese government in Korea while it was held as the Japanese colony of Chōsen from 1910 to 1945...
,
Itō HirobumiPrince was a Japanese statesman, Resident-General of Korea, four time Prime Minister of Japan and genrō. Itō was assassinated by An Jung-geun, a Korean nationalist who was against the Annexation of Korea by the Japanese Empire....
for his role in trying to force Korea into occupation.
Japanese occupation
In 1910, an already militarily occupied Korea was a forced party to the
Japan-Korea Annexation TreatyThe Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty was signed on August 22, 1910 by the representatives of the Korean and Japanese Imperial Governments, and was proclaimed to the public on August 29, officially starting the period of Japanese rule in Korea...
. The treaty was signed by
Lee Wan-YongLee Wan-Yong was a Pro-Japanese minister of Korea, who signed the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty, which placed Korea under Japanese rule in 1910....
, who was given the General Power of Attorney by the Emperor. However, the Emperor is said to have not actually ratified the treaty according to Yi Tae-jin. There is a long dispute whether this treaty was legal or illegal.
Korean resistance to the brutal Japanese occupation was manifested in the nonviolent
March 1st MovementThe March First Movement, or Samil Movement, was one of the earliest displays of Korean independence movements during the Japanese rule of Korea. The name refers to an event that occurred on 1 March 1919, hence the movement's name, literally meaning "Three-One Movement" in Korean. It is also...
of 1919, where 7,000 demonstrators were killed by Japanese police and military. The
Korean liberation movementThe Korean independence movement grew out of the Japanese colonial rule of Korea from 1910-1945.-Background:During the nearly five centuries of the Joseon dynasty, Korea kept its independence through careful diplomacy with China...
also spread to neighbouring
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
and
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
.
Over five million Koreans were conscripted for labour beginning in 1939, and tens of thousands of men were forced into Japan's military. Approximately 200,000 girls and women, mostly from China and Korea, were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military. In 1993, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yohei Konois a Japanese politician and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from November 2003 to August 2009 following the LDP's loss of majority in the 2009 election...
acknowledged the terrible injustices faced by these euphemistically named "
comfort womenComfort women is a euphemism for women working in military brothels, especially those women who were forced into prostitution as a form of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II....
".
During the Japanese Colonial rule, the Korean language was suppressed in an effort to eradicate Korean national identity. Koreans were forced to take Japanese surnames, known as
Sōshi-kaimeiSōshi-kaimei was a policy created by Jiro Minami, Governor-General of Korea under the Empire of Japan, implemented upon Japanese subjects from Korea . As defined by Ordinance No...
. Traditional Korean culture suffered heavy losses, as numerous Korean cultural artifacts were destroyed or taken to Japan. To this day, valuable Korean artifacts can often be found in Japanese museums or among private collections. One investigation by the South Korean government identified 75,311 cultural assets that were taken from Korea, 34,369 in Japan and 17,803 in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. However, experts estimate that over 100,000 artifacts actually remain in Japan. Japanese officials considered returning Korean cultural properties, but to date this has not occurred. Korea and Japan still dispute the ownership of
Liancourt RocksThe Liancourt Rocks, also known as Dokdo or Tokto in Korean or in Japanese, are a group of small islets in the Sea of Japan . Sovereignty over the islets is disputed between Japan and South Korea...
, a small island located east of the Korean peninsula.
There was a significant level of emigration to the overseas territories of the
Empire of JapanThe Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the...
during the Japanese colonial period, including
KoreaKorea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Formally, Japanese rule ended on September 2, 1945 upon the Japanese defeat in World War II in 1945....
. By the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, there were over 850,000 Japanese settlers in Korea. After World War II, most of these overseas Japanese repatriated to Japan.
Korean War
With the surrender of
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 1945 the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
developed plans for a trusteeship administration, the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
administering the peninsula north of the
38th parallelThe 38th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 38 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. The 38th parallel north has been especially important in the recent history of Korea.-Geography:...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
administering the south. The
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
resulted in the 1948 establishment of two separate governments,
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
and
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
.
In June 1950 North Korea invaded the South, using Soviet tanks and weaponry. During the
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
(1950-1953) millions of civilians died and the three years of fighting throughout the nation effectively destroyed most cities. Around 125,000 POWs were captured and held by the Americans and South Koreans on Geojedo (an island in the south). The war ended in a ceasefire agreement at approximately the
Military Demarcation LineThe Military Demarcation Line, sometimes referred to as the Armistice Line, is the border between North Korea and South Korea. It was established as the ceasefire line at the end of Korean War hostilities in 1953...
.
Division of Korea
The aftermath of World War II left Korea partitioned along the 38th parallel, with the north under Soviet occupation and the south under the occupation of other allied countries. Consequently, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a Soviet-style socialist regime, was established in the north while the Republic of Korea, a Western-style republic, was established in the south. The Korean War broke out when Soviet-backed North Korea invaded South Korea, though neither side gained much territory as a result. The Korean peninsula remains divided, the Korean Demilitarised Zone being the
de facto border between the two states.
The
North Korean famineThe North Korean famine began in 1995 and peaked in 1997 in North Korea. According to a report by North Korea's Public Security Ministry, the North estimates its losses at about 2.5 million to 3 million from 1995 to March 1998.-Beginning of the Famine:...
began in 1995 and peaked in 1997. According to a report by North Korea's Public Security Ministry, the North estimates its losses at about 2.5 million to 3 million from 1995 to March 1998.
Geography
Korea is located on the
Korean PeninsulaThe Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan on the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two...
in North-East Asia. To the northwest, the Amnok River (
Yalu RiverThe Yalu River or the Amnok River is a river on the border between China and North Korea. The Chinese name comes from a Manchu word meaning "the boundary between two countries"...
) separates Korea from China and to the northeast, the Duman River (
Tumen RiverThe Tumen or Tuman River is a 521 km-long river that serves as part of the boundary between China, North Korea, and Russia, rising in Mount Baekdu and flowing into the Sea of Japan ....
) separates Korea from China and Russia. The
Yellow SeaThe Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
is to the west, the
East China SeaThe East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km². In China, the sea is called the East Sea....
is to the south, and the
East SeaThe Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bordered by Japan, South Korea, North Korea and Russia. It is referred to in North Korea as the Korea East Sea and in South Korea as the East Sea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure...
is to the east of Korea. Notable islands include Jeju Island(Jejudo), Ulleung Island(Ulleungdo), and Dokdo Island.
The southern and western parts of the peninsula have well-developed plains, while the eastern and northern parts are mountainous. The highest mountain in Korea is Mount Paektu or Paektusan (2744 m), through which runs the border with China. The southern extension of Paektusan is a highland called Gaema Heights. This highland was mainly raised during the
CenozoicThe Cenozoic Era The Cenozoic (also Cænozoic or Cainozoic) Era The Cenozoic (also Cænozoic or Cainozoic) Era (meaning "new life" (Greek (kainos), "new", and (zoe), "life"), is the most recent of the three classic geological eras and covers the period from 65.5 million years ago to the...
orogeny and partly covered by volcanic matter. To the south of Gaema Gowon, successive high mountains are located along the eastern coast of the peninsula. This mountain range is named
BaekdudaeganThe Baekdudaegan is a mountain range and watershed-crest-line which runs through most of the length of the Korean Peninsula, from Baekdu Mountain in the north to Jirisan in the south. It is important in traditional Korean thought, a key aspect of Pungsujiri philosophy and practices...
. Some significant mountains include
Mount SobaekSobaeksan is a mountain of the Sobaek Mountains, in South Korea. It lies between Danyang County in the province of Chungcheongbuk-do and the city of Yeongju in the province of Gyeongsangbuk-do. It has an elevation of ....
or Sobaeksan (1,439 m), Mount Kumgang or Kumgangsan (1,638 m),
Mount SeorakSeoraksan is the highest mountain in the Taebaek mountain range in the Gangwon province in eastern South Korea. It is located in a national park near the city of Sokcho. After the Hallasan volcano on Jeju Island and Jirisan in the south, Seoraksan is the third highest mountain in South Korea. The...
or Seoraksan(1,708 m),
Mount TaebaekTaebaeksan is a South Korean mountain that stretches from the the city of Taebaek and Yeongwol County, Gangwon-do and Bonghwa County, Gyeongsangbuk-do. It has an elevation of ....
or Taebaeksan (1,567 m), and Mount Jiri or Jirisan(1,915 m). There are several lower, secondary mountain series whose direction is almost perpendicular to that of Baekdudaegan. They are developed along the tectonic line of Mesozoic orogeny and their directions are basically northwest.
Unlike most ancient mountains on the mainland, many important islands in Korea were formed by volcanic activity in the Cenozoic orogeny. Jeju Island, situated off the southern coast, is a large volcanic island whose main mountain Mount Halla or Hallasan (1950 m) is the highest in South Korea. Ulleung Island is a volcanic island in the East Sea, whose composition is more felsic than Jeju-do. The volcanic islands tend to be younger, the more westward.
Because the mountainous region is mostly on the eastern part of the peninsula, the main
riversThe Korean peninsula is mainly mountainous along its east coast, so most of its river water flows west, emptying into the Yellow Sea. Some of these rivers flow through lakes en route to the coast, but these are all artificial reservoirs, as there are no natural lakes on the Korean mainland...
tend to flow westwards. Two exceptions are the southward-flowing
Nakdong RiverThe Nakdong River is the longest river in South Korea, and passes through major cities such as Daegu and Busan.-Geography:...
(Nakdonggang) and
Seomjin RiverThe Seomjin River is a river in South Korea. It drains southeastern Jeollabuk-do as well as eastern Jeollanam-do and western Gyeongsangnam-do provinces, and flows into the Korea Strait. The Seomjin rises from Palgongsan and flows for 212.3 kilometers before reaching its final destination in...
(Seomjingang). Important rivers running westward include the Amnok River (
YaluThe name Yalu can mean:* The Yalu River which runs along the border between China and North Korea.* Yalo in Palestine, depopulated during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. In Biblical times it was called Aijalon....
), the
Chongchon RiverThe Ch'ŏngch'ŏn River is a river of North Korea having its source in the Rangrim Mountains of Chagang Province and emptying into the Yellow Sea at Sinanju. The river flows past Myohyang-san and through the city of Anju, South P'yŏngan Province...
(Chongchongang), the
Taedong RiverThe Taedong River is a large river in North Korea. It rises in the Rangrim Mountains of the country's north. It then flows southwest into Korea Bay at Nampo. In between, it runs through the capital of North Korea, P'yongyang. Along the river are landmarks such as the Juche Tower and Kim Il-sung...
(Taedonggang), the Han River(Hangang), the
Geum RiverThe Geum-gang River is located in South Korea. It is a major river that originates in Jangsu-eub, North Jeolla Province. It flows northward through North Jeolla and North Chungcheong Provinces and then changes direction in the vicinity of Greater Daejeon and flows southwest through South...
(Geumgang), and the
Yeongsan RiverThe Yeongsan River is a river in south-western South Korea. It has a length of 115.5km, and covers an area of 3,371 km2. Yeongsan River starts from the Yongchubong Peak located in Yong-myeon, Damyang County, South Jeolla Province...
(Yeongsangang). These rivers have vast flood plains and provide an ideal environment for wet-rice cultivation.
The southern and southwestern coastlines of Korea form a well-developed
riaA ria is a landform, often referred to as a drowned river valley. Ria's are almost always estuaries. Rias form where sea levels rise relative to the land either as a result of eustatic sea level change , or isostatic sea level change . When this happens valleys which were previously at sea level...
coastline, known as
Dadohae-jin in Korean. Its convoluted coastline provides mild seas, and the resulting calm environment allows for safe navigation, fishing, and seaweed farming. In addition to the complex coastline, the western coast of the Korean Peninsula has an extremely high tidal amplitude (at
IncheonIncheon, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City, is South Korea's third largest metropolis, after Seoul and Busan. As the largest seaport on the west coast and home to the country's largest airport, Incheon International Airport, Incheon is South Korea's most important transport hub...
, around the middle of the western coast. It can get as high as 9 m). Vast tidal flats have been developing on the south and west coastlines
Demographics
The combined population of the Koreans is about 73 million (North Korea: 23 million, South Korea: 50 million). Korea is chiefly populated by a highly homogeneous ethnic group, the Koreans, who speak the
Korean languageKorean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers. It was formerly written using Hanja, borrowed Chinese characters pronounced in the Korean...
. The number of foreigners living in Korea has also steadily increased since the late 20th century, particularly in South Korea, where more than 1 million foreigners currently reside. It is estimated that only 26,700 of the old
Chinese communityThere has been a recognisable community of Chinese people in Korea since the 1880s. Most early migrants came from Shandong province on the east coast of China; many of them and their descendants have emigrated...
now remain in South Korea. However, in recent years, immigration from mainland China has increased; 624,994 persons of
ChineseThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
nationality have immigrated to South Korea, including 443,566 of
ethnic KoreanThe population of Koreans in China include millions of descendants of Korean immigrants with citizenship of the People's Republic of China, as well as smaller groups of South and North Korean expatriates, with a total of roughly 2.3 million people ....
descent. Small communities of ethnic Chinese and
JapaneseJapanese people in North Korea consist mainly of four groups: prisoners-of-war in the Soviet Union, Japanese accompanying repatriating Zainichi Korean spouses, defectors, and kidnapping victims...
are also found in North Korea.
Language
KoreanKorean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers. It was formerly written using Hanja, borrowed Chinese characters pronounced in the Korean...
is the official language of both North and South Korea, and (along with Mandarin) of Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture in Manchuria area of China. Worldwide, there are up to 80 million speakers of the Korean language. South Korea has around 50 million speakers while North Korea around 23 million. Other large groups of Korean speakers are found in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(around 0.9 million speakers),
ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
(around 1.8 million speakers), the former
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
(around 350,000),
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(around 700,000),
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(100,000),
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
(70,000) and
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
(150,000). It is estimated that there are around 700,000 people scattered across the world who are able to speak Korean because of job requirements (for example, salespersons or businessmen with Korean contacts), marriages to Koreans or out of pure interest in the language.
The genealogical classification of Korean is debated. Some linguists place it in the
AltaicAltaic is a language family that is generally held by its proponents to include the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Korean, and Japonic language families . These languages are spoken in a wide arc stretching from northeast Asia through Central Asia to Anatolia and eastern Europe...
language family; others consider it to be a
language isolateA language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
. Korean is
agglutinativeAn agglutinative language is a language that uses agglutination extensively: most words are formed by joining morphemes together. This term was introduced by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1836 to classify languages from a morphological point of view...
in its morphology and
SOVIn linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence appear or usually appear in that order...
in its
syntaxIn linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing sentences in natural languages...
. Like
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
and
VietnameseVietnamese , formerly known under French colonization as Annamese , is the national and official language of Vietnam...
, Korean has borrowed much vocabulary from the genetically unrelated
ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
or created vocabulary on Chinese models.
Modern Korean is written almost exclusively in the
hangulHangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language, as distinguished from the logographic Sino-Korean hanja system...
script, which was invented in the 15th century. While hangul may appear logographic, it is actually a phonemic alphabet organised into
syllabicA syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
blocks. Each block consists of at least two of the 24 hangul letters
(jamo): at least one each of the 14
consonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx...
s and 10
vowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s. Historically, the alphabet had several additional letters (see obsolete jamo). For a phonological description of the letters, see Korean phonology.
HanjaHanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
(Chinese characters) and
Latin alphabetThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...
s are sometimes included within hangul texts, particularly in South Korea.
Culture and arts
In ancient Chinese texts, Korea is referred to as "Rivers and Mountains Embroidered on Silk" and "Eastern Nation of Decorum" . During the 7th and 8th centuries, the
silk roadThe Silk Road is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe...
connected Korea to Arabia. In 845, Arab traders wrote, "Beyond China is a land where gold abounds and which is named
SillaSilla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and the longest sustained dynasty in Asian history. Although it was founded by King Park Hyeokgeose, who is also known to be the originator of the Korean family name Park , the dynasty was to see the Kyungju Kim clan hold rule for most of its...
. The Muslims who have gone there have been charmed by the country and tend to settle there and abandon all idea of leaving."
Korean festivities often showcase vibrant colors, which have been attributed to Mongolian influences: bright red, yellow, and green often mark traditional Korean motifs. These bright colors are sometimes seen in the traditional dress known as
hanbokHanbok or Chosŏn-ot is the traditional Korean dress. It is often characterized by vibrant colors and simple lines without pockets. Although the term literally means "Korean clothing", hanbok today often refers specifically to hanbok of Joseon Dynasty and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear...
.
One peculiarity of Korean culture is its
age reckoning systemEast Asian age reckoning is a concept and practice that originated in China and is used in East Asian cultures. Several East Asian cultures, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolia, Taiwanese and Vietnamese, share this traditional way of counting a person's age, in which a person's age is...
. Individuals are regarded as one year old when they are born, and their age increments on
New Year's DayKorean New Year, commonly known as Seollal , is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar. It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Day. The Korean also celebrate solar New Year's Day on January 1 each year,...
rather than on the anniversary of their birthday. Thus, one born on December the 31st would be aged two on the day after they were born. Accordingly, a Korean person's stated age will be one or two years more than their age expressed in the Western tradition.
Literature
Korean literature written before the end of the
Joseon DynastyJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
is called "Classical" or "Traditional." Literature, written in Chinese characters (
hanjaHanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
), was established at the same time as the Chinese script arrived on the peninsula. Korean scholars were writing poetry in the classical Korean style as early as the 2nd century BC, reflecting Korean thoughts and experiences of that time. Classical Korean literature has its roots in traditional folk beliefs and folk tales of the peninsula, strongly influenced by
ConfucianismConfucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . It is a complex system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought that has had tremendous influence on the culture and history of East Asia...
,
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
and
TaoismDaoism refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts that have influenced East Asia for over two millennia and the West for over two centuries. The word 道, Tao , means "path" or "way", although in Chinese folk religion and philosophy it has taken on more...
.
Modern literature is often linked with the development of
hangulHangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language, as distinguished from the logographic Sino-Korean hanja system...
, which helped spread literacy from the aristocracy to the common people and women. Hangul, however, only reached a dominant position in Korean literature in the second half of the 19th century, resulting in a major growth in Korean literature.
Sinsoseol, for instance, are novels written in hangul.
The
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
led to the development of literature centered around the wounds and chaos of
warWar is a reciprocated, armed conflict, between two or more non-congruous entities, aimed at reorganising a subjectively designed, geo-politically desired result...
. Much of the post-war literature in South Korea deals with the daily lives of ordinary people, and their struggles with national pain. The collapse of the traditional Korean value system is another common theme of the time.
Religion
Confucian tradition has dominated Korean thought, along with contributions by
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
,
TaoismDaoism refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts that have influenced East Asia for over two millennia and the West for over two centuries. The word 道, Tao , means "path" or "way", although in Chinese folk religion and philosophy it has taken on more...
, and
Korean ShamanismKorean shamanism encompasses a variety of indigenous beliefs and practices that have been influenced by Buddhism and Taoism. In contemporary Korean, shamanism is known as muism and a shaman is known as a mudang...
. Since the middle of the 20th century, however,
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
has competed with Buddhism in South Korea, while religious practice has been suppressed in North Korea. Throughout Korean history and culture, regardless of separation; the influence of traditional beliefs of Korean Shamanism, Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism have remained an underlying religion of the Korean people as well as a vital aspect of their culture; all these traditions have coexisted peacefully for hundreds of years up to today despite strong Westernisation from
christianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
missionary conversions in the South or the pressure from
CommunismCommunism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human...
's atheist
governmentThe North Korean Government is the executive branch of the state, according to the constitution. In practice, the highest decisions are made by the National Defence Commission of North Korea which is led by its Chairman Kim Jong-il. The government is confirmed by the Supreme People's Assembly . The...
in the North.
According to 2005 statistics compiled by the South Korean government, about 46% of citizens profess to follow no particular religion.
ChristiansThe practice of Christianity in Korea has a relatively short history but, after a slow start, it has seen significant growth and high numbers of believers...
account for 29.2% of the population (of which are Protestants 18.3% and Catholics 10.9%) and
BuddhistsKorean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what it sees as inconsistencies in Mahayana Buddhism. Early Korean monks believed that the traditions they received from foreign countries were internally inconsistent. To address this, they developed a new...
22.8%.
Koreans valued scholarship and rewarded education and study of Chinese classic texts; Yangban boys were highly educated in hanja. In Silla, the bone rank system defined a person's social status, and a similar system persisted through the end of the Joseon Dynasty. In addition, the gwageo civil service examination provided paths of upward mobility.
Islam in South Korea is comprised of about 45,000 in addition to some 100,000 foreign workers from Muslim countries.
Cuisine
Korean cuisine is probably best known for
kimchiKimchi , also spelled gimchi, kimchee, or kim chee, is any one of numerous traditional Korean pickled dishes made of vegetables with varied seasonings. Its most common manifestation is the spicy baechu variety. Kimchi is the most common banchan, or side dish...
, which uses a distinctive
fermentationFermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. A more restricted definition of fermentation is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...
process of preserving vegetables, most commonly cabbage.
GochujangGochujang is a savory and pungent fermented Korean condiment. Traditionally, it has been naturally fermented over years in large earthen pots outdoors, more often on an elevated stone platform, called jangdokdae in the backyard.-History:...
is also commonly used, often as pepper (chilli) powder, earning the cuisine a reputation for being spicy.
BulgogiBulgogi is a Korean dish that usually consists of marinated barbecued beef, although chicken or pork may also be used. -Overview:Bulgogi is made from thin slices of prime rib, sirloin or other prime cuts of beef...
(roasted marinated meat, usually beef),
galbiGalbi or kalbi generally refers to a variety of gui or grilled dishes in Korean cuisine that is made with marinated beef short ribs in a ganjang-based sauce . In the Korean language, galbi literally means "rib" and can often indicate uncooked ribs...
(marinated grilled short ribs), and
samgyeopsalSamgyeopsal is a popular Korean dish. Commonly served as an evening meal, it consists of thick, fatty slices of pork belly meat . The meat is not marinated or seasoned, and cooked on a grill at the diners' table...
(pork belly) are popular meat entrees. Meals are usually accompanied by a soup or stew, such as
galbitangGalbitang is a variety of guk, or Korean soup, made primarily from beef short ribs along with stewing beef, daikon, onions, and other ingredients. The short ribs, or "galbi" also refers to grilled short ribs in Korean barbecue while the suffix tang is another name for guk...
(stewed ribs) and
doenjang jjigaeDoenjang jjigae is a variety of jjigae or stew-like Korean traditional dish, made with doenjang and available ingredients such as vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, or dubu . It is regarded as one of the representative dishes of commoners' food in Korea.-External links:* at JoongAng Daily...
(fermented bean paste stew). The center of the table is filled with a shared collection of sidedishes called
banchanBanchan refers to small dishes of food served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. This word is used both in the singular and plural. The most famous banchan is kimchi....
. It is also usually accompanied by
SojuSoju is a distilled beverage native to Korea.Most brands of modern soju are made in South Korea. Though traditionally made from rice, most major brands supplement or even replace the rice with other starches such as potato, wheat, barley, sweet potato, or tapioca...
, a popular Korean alcoholic drink made from rice.
Other popular dishes include
bibimbapBibimbap is a popular Korean dish. The word literally means "mixed meal." Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul and gochujang . A raw or fried egg and sliced meat are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating...
which literally means "mixed rice" (rice mixed with meat, vegetables, and pepper paste) and
naengmyeonNaengmyeon , literally "cold noodles," is a Korean dish. Originally a wintertime delicacy in the northern part of Korea which is now North Korea, it has become extremely popular throughout Korea during the summer...
(cold noodles).
Also, an instant noodle snack called ramyeon is popular. Koreans also enjoy food from
pojangmachas (street vendors), where one can buy fish cake,
TteokbokkiTteokbokki, also known as Topokki, is a popular Korean snack food which is commonly purchased from street vendors or Pojangmacha. Originally it was called tteok jjim , and was a broiled dish of sliced rice cake, meat, eggs, and seasoning. Tteok jjim an early variant of modern tteokbokki, was once...
(rice cake and fish cake with a spicy gochujang sauce), and fried foods including squid, sweet potato, peppers, potato, lettuce.
SundaeSundae is a Korean dish made generally by boiling or steaming cow or pig's intestines that are stuffed with various ingredients. It is a kind of blood sausage and believed to have been eaten for a long time...
, a sausage made of bean curd and green-bean sprouts stuffed in pig intestine, is widely eaten.
Education
The modern Korean school system consists of 6 years in elementary school, 3 years in middle school, and 3 years in high school. Students are supposed to go to elementary and middle school, and do not have to pay for the education, except for a small fee called "School Operation Support Fee" that differs from school to school. (The teachers are paid from taxes) The
Programme for International Student AssessmentThe Programme for International Student Assessment is a triennial world-wide test of 15-year-old school children's scholastic performance, the implementation of which is coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ....
, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks South Korea's science education as the 3rd best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.
Korea also ranks 2nd on Maths and literature and 1st in problem solving. Although South Korean students often rank high on international comparative tests, the education system is sometimes criticised for its emphasis on passive learning and memorisation. The Korean education system is much more strict and structured than most western societies and Korean students rarely have free time to spend enjoying themselves as they are under a lot of pressure to perform and gain entrance to a university.. Also high cost and dependence on non-school private institution (Hagwon) is criticised as one of the major social problem. Once students enter university, however, the situation is markedly reversed.
Science and technology
One of the best known artifacts of Korea's history of science and technology is
CheomseongdaeCheomseongdae is an astronomical observatory in Gyeongju, South Korea. Cheomseongdae means star-gazing tower in Korean. Cheomseongdae is the oldest surviving observatories in East Asia, and one of the oldest scientific installations on Earth. It dates to the 7th century to the time of kingdom of...
(첨성대, ), a 9.4-metre high observatory built in 634. It is considered to be one of the world's oldest surviving astronomical observatories.
The world's first metal mechanical movable type printing was developed in Korea in 1234 by
Choe Yun-uiChoe Yun-ui was a Korean civil minister during the Goryeo Dynasty. Choe Yun-ui compiled the Sangjeong yemun with another 16 scholars. They collected all courtesies from ancient to present and published 50 copies....
during the Goryeo Dynasty, modeled after widespread Chinese clay (
Bi ShengBì Shēng was the inventor of the first known movable type printing press technology. Bi Sheng's press was made of Chinese porcelain and was invented between 1041 and 1048 in China.-Movable type printing:...
in 1041), several hundred years before Johann Gutenberg developed his
metal letterset typeA printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw-presses used to press...
(Cumings 1997: 65). Though the block printing was used much earlier, metal movable type printing press marked a significant development in printing allowing the same tools to be used for more diverse printings. The
JikjiJikji is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document, whose full title can be translated "The Monk Baegun's Anthology of the Great Priests' Teachings on Identification of the Buddha’s Spirit by the Practice of Seon." Printed during the Goryeo Dynasty in 1377, it is the world's oldest...
is the world's earliest remaining movable metal printed book, printed in Korea in 1377.
The world's earliest known surviving example of woodblock printing is the Mugujeonggwang Great Dharani Sutra. It is believed to have been printed in Korea in 750-751 AD which, if correct, would make it older than the
Diamond SutraThe Buddhist text known around the world as the Diamond Sutra is a short Mahayana sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom genre, which teaches the practice of the avoidance of abiding in extremes of mental attachment...
. Goryeo silk was highly regarded by
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, and Korean
potteryPottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. Major types of pottery include earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. The places where such wares are made are called potteries. Pottery is one of the oldest human technologies and art-forms, and remains a major industry today...
made with blue-green
celadonCeladon is a term for ceramics denoting both a type of glaze and a ware of a specific color, also called celadon. This type of ware was invented in ancient China, particularly in Zhejiang Province.-Etymology:...
was of the highest quality and sought after by even Arabian merchants. Goryeo had a bustling economy with a capital that was frequented by merchants from all over the known world.
During the
JoseonJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
period the Geobukseon (
Turtle ShipThe Turtle ship, also known as Geobukseon or Kobukson, was a type of large warship belonging to the Panokseon class in Korea that was used intermittently by the Royal Korean Navy during the Joseon Dynasty from the early 15th century up until the 19th century.The first references to older, first...
) were invented, which were covered by a wooden deck and iron with thorns, as well as other weapons such as the Bigyeokjincheolloe (비격진천뢰, ) and the
hwachaHwacha or Hwach'a was an anti-personnel gunpowder weapon developed and used in Korea, inspired by Chinese fire arrows and the cylindrical and box shaped launch platforms that fired them. Hwacha were first developed in the 1400s by Korean scientists. It is a two-wheeled cart carrying a launch pad...
. It is also considered to be the world first ship that is partly made of iron.
The Korean alphabet
hangulHangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language, as distinguished from the logographic Sino-Korean hanja system...
was also invented during this time by Sejong the Great.
See also
- Famous Korean people
- Inter-Korean Summit
Inter-Korean Summits are meetings between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea. There have been two major meetings in the last decade, the first in 2000 and the second in 2007. The importance of these summits lies in the lack of formal communication between North and South Korea, which...
- Korean name
A Korean name consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both North Korea and South Korea. In the Korean language, 'ireum' or 'seong-myeong' usually refers to the family name and given name together. A long history of the use of family names has caused...
- Koreans
- List of rulers of Korea
- National treasures of North Korea
Designated national treasures of North Korea are sites believed to have significant historical or artistic value.-No. 1-50:Designated national treasures of North Korea are sites believed to have significant historical or artistic value.-No. 1-50:...
- National treasures of South Korea
The National Treasures of Korea are a numbered set of tangible treasures, artifacts, sites, and buildings which are recognized by South Korea as having exceptional artistic, cultural and historical value...
- North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
- South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
Further reading
- Chun, Tuk Chu. "Korea in the Pacific Community". Social Education 52 (March 1988), 182. EJ 368 177.
- Cumings, Bruce
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and specializes in modern Korean history and contemporary international relations in East Asia.-Biography:In his youth, Cumings was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea for...
. The Two Koreas. New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1984.
- Focus On Asian Studies. Special Issue: "Korea: A Teacher's Guide". No. 1, Fall 1986.
- Gi-Wook Shin/Michael Robinson (Ed.). Colonial modernity in Korea, Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.]: Harvard University, Asia Center; Distributed by Harvard Univ. Press 1999. ISBN 0-674-14255-1.
- Joe, W.J. & Choe, H.A. Traditional Korea: A Cultural History, Seoul: Hollym, 1997.
- Joungwon, A.K. Divided Korea: The Politics of Development, Harvard University Press, 1975.
- Lee Ki-baik. A New History of Korea. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1984.
- Lee Sang-sup. "The Arts and Literature of Korea". The Social Studies 79 (July–August 1988): 153–60. EJ 376 894.
- Tae-Jin, Y. "The Illegality of the Forced Treaties Leading to Japan's Annexation of the Great Han Empire", In the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Vol. 36, No. 4, 1996.
- Dennis Hart, From Tradition to Consumption: Construction of a Capitalist Culture in South Korea. Seoul: Jimoondang Pub., 2003.
- The Gloucestershire Regiment and The Battle of the Imjin River, Korean War
- Organisation For Economic Co-operation and Development. (2009). Briefing note for OECD Health Data 2009: How Does Korea Compare. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/10/38979986.pdf