Korean language, language spoken by more than 75 million people, of whom 48 million live in South Korea and 24 million in North Korea.There are more than 2 million speakers in China, approximately 1 million in the United States, and about 500,000 in Japan.Korean is the official language of both South Korea (Republic of Korea) and North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). North Korea’s economic woes let up a bit due to improved relations with South Korea, which adopted a “sunshine policy” of unconditional aid towards its northern neighbor in the early 2000s. Formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, it was founded in 1948 when the United States and the Soviet Union divided control of the peninsula after World War II. … After the Korean War, Kim Il Sung shaped his country according to the nationalist ideology of “Juche” (self-reliance). Final Four (College Basketball) Football. History and Development. Topics include late Choson reforms, changing gender norms, national identity, colonial state and society, territorial division, and democratization. Known for their dynamically choreographed dance routines and beautiful stars, K-pop groups have obtained serious celebrity staus. 38th parallel kept on bearing tensions ignited by both North and South Korea for many years which finally made North Korea to start war against South in which the Soviet Union completely supported North Korea. Fashioning himself as a modern version of his legendary grandfather, Kim Jong Un took steps to consolidate power, ordering the execution of his own uncle and other political and military rivals. Large Korean conglomerates and global brands such as LG, Samsung, and Hyundai began to dominate the economy. (8) Offered by Yonsei University. Westward Expansion. With Japan’s defeat in World War II, U.S. troops landed in the southern part of the peninsula, while Soviet forces ...read more, For nearly seven decades, the Kim family dynasty has warned the North Korean people that the United States is a murderous superpower bent upon their annihilation—and their only chance of survival is readiness for an American attack. The annexation was finally lifted in 1945 after Japan lost WWII. In 2013, a third nuclear test resulted in trade and travel sanctions from the UN Security Council, as well as a formal protest from North Korea’s only major ally and main trading partner, China. The year 1592 saw Japan invade Korea, which is the reason why there is still animosity between the two countries today. During this period, Korea was invaded by China and the Mongols. No conclusive winner emerged. The Korean History DB offers the full text of major Korean history materials published or hold by the National Institute of Korean History. Over the course of the 1990s, widespread flooding, poor agricultural policies and economic mismanagement led to a period of extended famine, with hundreds of thousands of people dying of starvation and many more crippled by malnutrition. Temples and palaces, such as the Gyeongbok Palace, and traditional dresses like the formal hanbok, showcase ancient traditions which you can see at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. TheKorean… Fifth Grade Library - U.S. History Research Topics. Many questions remain about the bloody conflict that consumed the Korean Peninsula from 1950 to 1953. This event was followed by the Joseon period (1392 to 1910), when the capital of the country was moved to Seoul in 1394 and the current hangul Korean alphabet was introduced in 1443. In 1994, Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack and was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il. But relations between the two Koreas, and between North Korea and the West, soon deteriorated, due to North Korea’s aggressive efforts to become a nuclear power. Pueblo during a spy mission in international waters cost the life of one American sailor and began a grueling 11-month imprisonment for the other 82 Americans aboard. For later developments, see North Korea: History; and South Korea: History. Its border with North Korea is at a ceasefire line, which was established at the end of the Korean War in 1953 and corresponds roughly to the 38th parallel. The country’s population would remain almost entirely Korean, except for a small number of Chinese transplants. However, they also built bridges, railways, and roads. South Korea is the country making up the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea is an East Asian nation of some 51 million people located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula, which borders the East Sea (Sea of Japan) and the Yellow Sea. After the war, South Korea was successively ruled by military leaders and democracy did not really take hold until the late 1980’s. By 1910, Korea was again forced under Japanese rule, becoming an annex of Japan to serve primarily as an outsourced agricultural and production center. In recent years, leader Kim Jong Un and his aggressive nuclear program have posed a growing threat to international stability. The following pages contain informative but concise summaries of key Chinese Revolution topics. … Korean History; South Korean History; North Korean Nuclear Threat; Korean Reunification; South Korean Foreign Relations; North Korean Foreign Relations; Kim Jong Il; Kim Dae Jung; Korean War; Communism in Asia; China, Early Communist Period; China, Communist Post-Mao Period; U.S. Foreign Policy; Chinese Foreign Policy Thanks to investment in mining, steel production and other heavy industries, North Korea’s civilian and military economy initially outpaced its southern rival. The state assumed tight control over the economy, collectivized agricultural land and effectively asserted ownership over all private property. Three years later, Kim’s government announced it had carried out its first underground nuclear test. Even today, Korea is one of the most Christian countries in Asia, with roughly 30 percent of the population subscribing to the religion. What are North and South Korea famous for? In 1919 many Koreans took part in peaceful demonstrations forindependence. HSTAS 482 Modern Korean History (5) I&S Hajin Jun Traces complex social, cultural, and political developments that transformed Korea during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Japanese responded by arresting and executing thousands ofpeople. Afterwards they made some small reforms. (7) What has North and South Korea given to the world? The Korean culture is vibrant in color and steeped in history. The United States and Soviet Union divided control over the peninsula after World War II, and in ...read more, North and South Korea have been divided for more than 70 years, ever since the Korean Peninsula became an unexpected casualty of the escalating Cold War between two rival superpowers: the Soviet Union and the United States. Ph.D Candidate in HEAL/Japan and Korea Gene Kim is a Ph.D. student in History and East Asian Languages. The Korean War was both a civil and an international war. III The Opening of Korea to the Modern World and Attempts at Enlightenment. 2013 YouTube Music Awards Girls' Generation is awarded with the 'Video of the Year' award for their music video for 'I Got A Boy.' The US did succeed in checking Communist expansion; however, it did so at great cost in money and lives. All pages have been written by Alpha History authors. Korea, history of the Korean peninsula from prehistoric times to the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War (1950–53). The agreement left the borders of North and South Korea essentially unchanged, with a heavily guarded demilitarized zone about 2.5 miles wide running roughly along the 38th parallel. The on-set of the Cold War further divided the two Koreas and in 1950, the north invaded the south, signaling the start of the Korean War. 900 CE) 5. These events have shaped the modern Korea of today, which is now home to some of the leading consumer products and car makers in the world. In 1950, with the backing of the Soviet Union and China, North Korean forces invaded South Korea, setting off the Korean War. During this time, many Koreans were forced to learn Japanese and take on Japanese names. The prevailing philosophy throughout the Joseon dynasty was Neo-Confucianism, which was epitomized by the seonbi class, scholars who passed up positions of wealth and power to lead lives of study and integrity. Learn more about the subject of history, which is broadly defined as the study of past events. This policy of paranoia without end has driven ...read more, President Bill Clinton took the podium on October 18, 1994, with aspeech that reads like a sigh of relief—the announcement of a landmark nuclear agreement between the United States and North Korea. The emergence of a robust black market to meet such shortages would force the government to take measures to liberalize the state-run economy. Archeological evidence indicates that people came to Korea from Siberia, via Manchuria during the late Stone Age. This is an elementary-level Korean language course, consisting of 5 lessons with 4 units, and covers 4 skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. By 2003, North Korea had withdrawn from the NPT, expelled international weapons inspectors and resumed nuclear research at a facility in Yongbyon. Russian troops landed in the north of the Korean peninsula and American troops in the south, and the country was divided in two along the 38th parallel, which today still remains the Demilitarized Zone. Baseball. Gradually, competing groups and kingdoms on the peninsula merged into a common national identity. Brett Favre. In 1910, Japan formally annexed the Korean Peninsula, which it had occupied five years earlier following the Russo-Japanese War. Upon Japan’s defeat in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union divided the peninsula into two zones of influence along the the 38th parallel, or 38 degrees north latitude. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Withdrawing by 1598, the 19th century brought the arrival of the Europeans, primarily for trade, but they also brought Christianity with them. Settled, literate societies on the Korean peninsula appear in Chinese records as early as the fourth century BCE. It is surrounded by the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea and is around 38,502 square miles (99,720 sq km). North Korea is a highly secretive communist state that remains isolated from much of the rest of the world. Boston Red Sox. Korea has had a tumultuous history, from warlords to Japanese invasions, the Korean War, and the Cold War, which ultimately led to the division of the Korean Peninsula. TrueFlix ebook; Freedom Flix ebook 1600~1910) 17. Such actions prompted even harsher sanctions by the UN Security Council and an aggressive response from U.S. President Donald Trump, leaving the global community fearing the possibility of nuclear war. Over the years, these people banded together to form kingdoms, and Korean history, similar to the Chinese, is broken down into the rule of these kingdoms. BBC News. Nov 3, 2013. From Prehistoric Times to Unified Silla (500,000 BCE~ca. Users can add Gale eBooks to a customized collection and cross-search to pinpoint relevant content for virtually any curriculum. (5) What images of North and South Korea do you have that are sad? 1600) 12. Over the next 35 years of colonial rule, the country modernized and industrialized significantly, but many Koreans suffered brutal repression at the hands of Japan’s military regime. Sports. Though Kim Jong Il had pledged to abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signed in 1995, in the early 2000s reports began to surface of underground nuclear facilities and ongoing research into the production of highly enriched uranium. This war ended in a stalemate in 1953, with the border reverting again to the 38th parallel. (6) What do you think about the fact that North and South Korean families cannot write to, telephone or see each other? This early history is well-showcased at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. With Soviet backing, Kim built his military into one of the world’s strongest, even as many ordinary civilians grew poorer. History of South Korea After two thousand years as an independent kingdom (or kingdoms), but with strong ties to China, Korea was annexed by the Japanese in 1910. Or use a markedly different topic by writing a Martin Luther King essay. The Korean War took a heavy toll—up to a total of 5 million dead, wounded, or missing, and half of … II Political Development and Cultural Efflorescence During the Middle Age. The new leader instituted a new policy of “Songun Chong’chi,” or military first, establishing the Korean People’s Army as the leading political and economic force in the nation. (4) What do you know about North and South Korean history? In the northern industrial center of Pyongyang, the Soviets installed the dynamic young communist guerrilla Kim Il Sung, who became the first premier of the DPRK. After a period of conflict among the “Three Kingdoms”—Koguryo in the north, Paekche in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast—Silla defeated its rivals and unified most of the Korean peninsula in 668 CE. ...read more, The January 1968 capture of the U.S.S. Korea has had a tumultuous history, from warlords to Japanese invasions, the Korean War, and the Cold War, which ultimately led to the division of the Korean Peninsula. Basketball. This key historical figure still … Kim’s government also continued to work on its nuclear arsenal, further damaging his nation’s relations with the West. “This agreement is good for the United States, good for our allies, and good for ...read more, Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital city, is a vast symbol of the supposed might of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—filled with monolithic buildings, huge boulevards and symbols of the dictatorship’s power. A Unified Korea For centuries before the division, the ...read more, The division of Korea is a legacy of the Cold War. The Kingdom of Heaven Introduction to China Korea, Asia for Educators. Evan Osnos, “The Risk of Nuclear War With North Korea.” The New Yorker, September 18, 2017. https://www.history.com/topics/korea/north-korea-history. During World War II, Japan sent many Korean men to the front as soldiers or forced them to work in wartime factories, while thousands of young Korean women became “comfort women,” providing sexual services to Japanese soldiers. These events have shaped the modern Korea of today, which is now home to some of the leading consumer products and car makers in … Formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, it was founded in 1948 when the United States and the Soviet Union divided control of the peninsula after World War II. But during the mid 1990s, it was filled with something else: ...read more, The Korean war began on June 25, 1950, when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. After three years of bitter fighting and more than 2.5 million military and civilian casualties, both sides signed an armistice in the Korean War in July 1953. Korean television series have also become well known around the world, which are dubbed into various languages and broadcast around the globe. Whether soap opera or historical drama, these stories showcase life in Korea. The two Korean states failed to resolve the issue. After Kim Jong Il died after a heart attack in December 2011, the job of supreme leader went to the second youngest of his seven children, then-27-year-old Kim Jong Un. Prehistoric Culture. The Korean peninsula contains numerous traces of prehistoric art and artifacts dating back to Paleolithic culture (before 10,000 BCE View Korean Art History Research Papers on Academia.edu for free. The United States of America mainly got involved in the War as a way of stamping its superpower authority overseas. Related topics at Questia. North Korea.The World Factbook, CIA. Later Chosǒn (ca. View Korean History Research Papers on Academia.edu for free. The urban population grew rapidlyalthough Korea remained predominantly agricultural. In 1392, the general Yi Seong-gye, later known as Taejo, established the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897), named in honor of the ancient kingdom Gojoseon, and based on idealistic Confucianism-based ideology. The Japanese turned Korea into a colony to supplyJapan with food. History. Japan controlled Korea as a colony until 1945, when they surrendered to the Allied forces at the end of World War II. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! By clicking "Sign Up" or "Sign In with Facebook" I acknowledge and, 3 Ways to Get Wet and Wild in Myrtle Beach, 14 Landmarks That Should Be Considered World Wonders, These Are the Most Peaceful Countries on the Planet, Deserts in Bloom: 6 Spots for Springtime Wildflower Watching, Yoho National Park Is the Most Incredible Place You've Never Heard Of. Columbia University. All Rights Reserved. Instead, Korea returned to the "status quo ante bellum" (the way things were before the war) and North and South Korea remained divided. We examine the turbulent history between the two countries in a timeline. The Korean War which lasted from1950 to 1953 has been considered to be the first proxy war in which the outstanding superpowers fought by extension and indirectly, intertwining a third party in their conflict. 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