History of Korea

This article is about the history of Korea, through the division of Korea before the Korean War. See History of North Korea and History of South Korea for the post-war period. See also Names of Korea.

Amitabha and Eight Great Bodhisattvas, Goryeo scroll from the 1300s.

Inwangjesaekdo by Jeong Seon.

Prehistory

A replica of the Bangudae Petroglyphs at the Gyeongju National Museum.

Archeological evidence shows that hominins first inhabited the Korean Peninsula 700,000 years ago. Some North Koreans claim it may have been inhabited for 1,000,000 years. Tool-making artifacts from the Palaeolithic period (700,000 BC to 40,000 BC) have been found in present-day North Hamgyong, South P'yongan, Gyeonggi, and north and south Chungcheong Provinces. The people were cave dwellers and built homes, using fire for cooking food and warmth. They hunted, gathered and fished with stone tools.

The earliest known Korean pottery dates back to around 8000 BC or before, and evidence of Mesolithic Pit-Comb Ware culture or Yungimun Pottery (융기문토기) is found throughout the peninsula. An example of a Yungimun-era site is the Gosan-ni in Jeju-do. Jeulmun or Comb-pattern Pottery (즐문토기) is found after 7000 BC, and pottery with comb-patterns over the whole vessel is found concentrated at sites in West-central Korea between 3500-2000 BC, called the Jeulmun pottery period, when the Korean peninsula had numerous settlements. Its pottery was similar to those of the Russian Maritime Province, Mongolia, and the Amur and Sungari River basins of Manchuria.

Gojoseon

Main articles: Gojoseon, Dangun

According to the Samguk Yusa, Korea's first dynasty, Gojoseon (then called Joseon, 2333 BC - 2nd century BC), was founded by Dangun in southern Manchuria and northern Korean peninsula. . Recent studies indicate that people of Gojoseon belonged to the Tungusic family and were linguistically affiliated with the Altaic. By 2000 BC, a new pottery culture is evidenced, with painted designs, in Manchuria and northern Korea. Intensive agriculture and complex societies developed during the Mumun pottery period (c. 1500-300 BC).

Although not widely accepted in Korea, some later Chinese records indicate Gija, an uncle of the last King of Shang dynasty, migrated to Gojoseon around the 12th century BC. Many Korean scholars believe the stories of Gija Joseon were embellishments by Chinese historians added later when China and Gojoseon were at war. Some scholars consider Gija Joseon a separate entity coexisting with Gojoseon, possibly as a western fief of Gojoseon, based on the Samguk Yusa, Sima Qian's Shi Ji and the geography section of Hanshu.

Liaoning-style bronze knives from Korea held at the War Memorial (Seoul).

The Bronze Age is often held to have begun around 1500 – 1000 BC in Korea, though recent archaeological evidence suggests it might have started as far back as 2500 BC. Bronze daggers, mirrors, and weaponry have been found, as well as evidence of walled-town polities. Rice, red beans, soybeans and millet were cultivated, and rectangular pit-houses and increasingly larger dolmen burial sites are found throughout the peninsula. [2] Contemporaneous records suggest that Gojoseon transitioned from a feudal federation of walled cities into a centralised kingdom at least before the 4th centuries BC.

By the third century BC, iron culture was developing and the warring states of China pushed refugees eastward and south. Around this time, a state called Jin arose in the southern part of the Korean peninsula. Very little is known about Jin, but it established relations with Han China and exported artifacts to the Yayoi of Japan. A king of Gija Joseon is said to have fled to Jin after the coup by Wiman, and that it later evolved into the Samhan confederacies.

Decline and fall of Gojoseon

The course of the decline and Gojoseon's fall is under controversy, depending on how historians view the migration of Gija Joseon.

A school of historians claim Gija Joseon coexisted with Gojoseon of Dangun, and suggests that Gija Joseon was established the west of Gojoseon. Thus, Wudi conquested against Wiman Joseon in western part of Gojoseon formerly ruled by Gija and his descendants. Thus the commanderies of Han China was established on only small west parts of Gojoseon conquered by Wudi. As for the destruction of Gojoseon itself, it was disintegrated by 1st century BC as it gradually lost the control of its former rulers. Many smaller states sprang from the former territory of Gojoseon, and one of the small states was Buyeo, from which Goguryeo and Baekjae are established.

However, Gija is generally negated in Korean history because of its lack of contemporary evidence.[3]. It is thought that Gija was a Chinese fabrication Han dynasty unified China because the book name with Chu-shu chi-nien (竹書紀年) and Confucian Analects (論語), which firstly describe Gija, say nothing about going to Joseon. [4] According to these historians questioning the role of Gija in Korean history, in 109 BC, Wudi of China began a massive invasion against Gojoseon near the Liao River. Gojoseon fell after over a year of war, in 108 BC. China then established four commanderies only in the west part of Gojoseon, although three fell to Korean resistance by 75 BC.

Proto-Three Kingdoms of Korea

Main article: Proto-Three Kingdoms of Korea

The early part of the Three Kingdoms Period, before the states grew into dominant centralized kingdoms, is sometimes called the Proto-Three Kingdoms Period (2nd century BC - 3rd century).

After the end of Gojoseon, Jin in the southern part of the peninsula developed into three loose confederacies: Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan (collectively, the Samhan).

In the north, Goguryeo was founded around the modern border between China and Korea in the 2nd century BC, claiming to be the successor to a branch of Buyeo. Among the other various small states in former Gojoseon territory were Okjeo, Dongye, and the remnants of Buyeo, all of which were later conquered by Goguryeo. The last Chinese commandery, at Lelang, was destroyed by Goguryeo in 313.

Mahan was later absorbed into Baekje by 4th Century, Jinhan was absorbed into Silla, and Byeonhan was succeeded by Gaya, which was in turn fully annexed by Silla by 562.

Three Kingdoms Period

Main article: Three Kingdoms of Korea

The Three Kingdoms (3rd Century - 668) refer to Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, although the term is sometimes disputed as Buyeo and Gaya existed well into 5th and 6th century respectively.

Goguryeo (37 BC - 668 AD)

An example of a Goguryeo tomb mural.

Goguryeo was founded the earliest and was the largest of the three. Goguryeo was founded in 37 BC by Dongmyeongseongwang 동명성왕 (東明聖王). Dongmyeongsongwang's birth name was Jumong (주몽). He travelled from Manchuria south to escape his brother, Daeseo (대소 왕자), who sought to kill him. In northern Korea, Jumong unified all the warring states and unified it into Goguryeo. Jumong became a powerful leader, and after Manchuria fell to China, he reconquered its lands and led Goguryeo into a powerful nation.

Goguryeo reached its zenith in the fifth century, when Emperor Gwanggaeto the Great (광게토태왕) and his son, Jangsu expanded into almost all of Manchuria and part of Mongolia, and took the Seoul region from Baekje, making Goguryeo one of the great powers in East Asia. Gwanggaeto and Jangsu subdued Baekje and Silla during their reigns, bringing about a loose unification of Korea. Jangsu's grandson, Munjamyeong absorbed Buyeo by 494. The Goguryeo emperors ruled not only Koreans but also Chinese and other Tungusic tribes in Manchuria and North Korea. Goguryeo defeated a massive Chinese invasion in the Goguryeo-Sui War of 598-614, contributing to Sui's fall, and continued to repel the Tang dynasty, who attacked Goguryeo as revenge. . Goguryeo protected the entire Korean peninsula from invasion as a result.

However, numerous wars exhausted Goguryeo and it fell into a weak state. After internal power struggles, it was conquered by the allied Silla-Tang forces in 668.

Goguryeo was the first Korean kingdom to adopt Buddhism as the state religion in 372.

Baekje (18 BC - 660 AD)

Main article: Baekje

One of the two gold diadem ornaments worn by the Baekje King Muryeong of Baekje.

Baekje's legendary foundation by King Onjo in 18 AD, as stated in the Samguk Sagi followed those of its neighbors and rivals, Goguryeo and Silla. The southwestern kingdom's existence is first documented in Chinese records in 345. The Sanguo Zhi mentions a Mahan chiefdom also called Baekje. Despite the uncertainty of its origins, the third kingdom most certainly began as a city-state, member of the Mahan confederacy in the Han River basin (near present-day Seoul), but expanded into the southwest (Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces) of the peninsula and became a significant political and military power. In the process, Baekje came into fierce confrontation with Goguryeo and the Chinese commanderies in the vicinity of its territorial ambitions.

At its peak in the 4th century, it had absorbed all of the Mahan states and submitted most of the western Korean peninsula (including the moder provinces of Kyonggi, Chunchong, and Cholla, as well as part of Hwanghae and Kangwon) to a centralized government. Baekje acquired Chinese culture and technology through contacts with the Southern Dynasties during the expansion of its territory.

Baekje played a fundamental role in transmitting cultural developments, such as Chinese characters, Buddhism, iron-making, advanced pottery, and ceremonial burial into ancient Japan. Other aspects of culture were also transmitted when the Baekje court retreated to Japan after Baekje was conquered. Baekje was defeated by a coalition of Silla and Tang Dynasty forces in 660.

Silla (57 BC - 935 AD)

Silla crown at Gyeongju National Museum.

According to legend, he kingdom Silla began with the unification of six chiefdoms of the Jinhan confederacy by Bak Hyeokgeose in 57 BCE. Today, Silla's location is in the southeastern area of Korea. This also included the port city of Busan, and Silla later emerged as a sea power and was also responsible for destroying Japanese barbarian pirates, especially during the Unified Silla period.

Silla artifacts, including unique gold metalwork, show influence from the northern nomadic steppes, with less Chinese influence than are shown by Goguryeo and Baekje. Silla expanded rapidly by occupying the Han River basin in the early 6th century. It annexed the Gaya confederacy by 562 and at various times allied and warred with Baekje and Goguryeo. It also became the first East Asian state with a queen who ruled on her own right.

In 660, King Muyeol of Silla ordered his armies to attack Baekje. General Kim Yu-shin, aided by Tang forces, conquered Baekje. In 661, Silla and Tang moved on Goguryeo but were repelled. King Munmu, son of Muyeol and nephew of General Kim, ordered his uncle to launch another campaign in 667 and Goguryeo fell in the following year. Silla's rise of power led to the first unification of the Korean peninsula when Silla conquered Goguryeo and Baekje. This period is known as Unified Silla.

Unified Silla (668 AD-935 AD)

Main articles: Balhae, Unified Silla

File:Temple-at-gyeongju.jpg

Bulguksa Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Unified Silla lasted for 267 years until, under King Gyeongsun, it was replaced by Goryeo in 935. . Thus post-668 Silla kingdom is often referred to as Unified Silla, though the term North-South State in reference to Balhae is also in use.

Silla's rise to power

While Goguryeo was struggling to keep the Chinese out of Korea, Silla first annexed Gaya. Gaya was a small kingdom still part of the Three Kingdoms. However, it was small and was overpowered by its more powerful neighbor, Silla. By the 660s, Silla formed an alliance with the Tang Dynasty of China to conquer Baekje and later Goguryeo, the most powerful kingdom. The Baekje court retreated to Japan. After Tang China's help, Silla gave a large piece of northern Korea to China. This established the first unified state in Korea, often called Unified Silla.

After the war ended, the Tang Dynasty established territories in the former Goguryeo. They began to administer Baekje and began to establish communities there. The Tang Dynasty's intention of conquering Silla as well was made clear and Silla attacked the Chinese in Baekje and northern Korea in 671. . China then invaded Silla as a counter attack in 674 but with the leadership of Kim Yu-shin (김유신), a Silla general, destroyed the Chinese army in the north. The final Tang troops retreated back to China.

Silla drove the Tang forces out of the peninsula by 676 to achieve unification of most of the Three Kingdoms. Korea was now fully unified under Silla and for the next 200 years, Korea flourished and Korean culture and art advanced. An era of peace and stability followed, despite the increasing number of Japanese pirates.

Culture

This is a replica of the famous 80 meter tall pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple which was destroyed by the Mongols.

Unified Silla was a time when Korean arts flourished dramtically and Buddhism became a large part of Silla culture. Buddhist monastaries such as the Bulguksa are examples of advanced Korean architecture and Buddhist influence. State-sponsered art and architecture from this period include Hwangnyongsa Temple, Bunhwangsa Temple, and Seokguram Grotto, a World Heritage Site.

Hwarangdo

Meanwhile, Silla had established a strong military tradition centered around noble warriors called the Hwarang , or "flowered youth". The name may be translated as "Flower Knights" as well. Hwarangs were young men. Most of what we know about the Hwarang come from the Samguk Sagi (1145) and Samguk Yusa(ca. 1285).

The Hwarang followed 5 codes of conduct:

1. loyalty to the monarch

2. filial piety to parents

3. amicability among friends

4. no retreat in war

5. aversion to unnecessary killing or no unjust kills

At first, the Hwarang got together in social clubs and enjoyed archery or other sports. Afterwards, the Hwarang took on a more military aspect, serving as elite soldiers. The Hwarang excelled in archery, horseback riding, and swordsmanship. Many Silla generals were once Hwarangs, including Kim Yu-shin, one of the greatest Korean generals.

Silla's military tradition of training elite soldiers helped keep peace and stability in Korea, which helped Korea advance in culture and economy. They also participated in fighting Japanese pirates

Silla's Fall

Silla began to experience political troubles in 780 when kings began to be assassinated by resistance leaders. The resistance leaders nearly overthrew Silla several times, but failed. This however, severely weakened Silla and soon thereafter, descendents of the former Baekje founded Baekje again. In the north, leaders founded Goguryeo. Korea was now dissovled into its former state. .

Balhae (699 AD-926 AD)

Main articles: Balhae

A dragon head figure now at the National Museum of Korea.

Balhae was founded in the northern part of former lands of Goguryeo by Dae Joyeong 대조영, a former Goguryeo general. Balhae controlled the northernmost areas of the Korean Peninsula, much of Manchuria (though it didn't occupy Liaodong peninsula for much of history), and expanded into present-day Russian Maritime Province. Balhae styled itself as Goguryeo's successor state. It also adapted from the Tang Empire, for example in the layout of its capitals.

In a time of relative peace and stability in the region, Balhae culture flourished, especially during the long reign of the third Emperor, Dae Heummu (r. 737-793). Like Silla culture, the culture of Balhae was strongly influenced by Buddhism. However, Balhae was conquered by the barbarian Khitan in 926.

No historical records from Balhae have survived, and the Liao left no histories of Balhae. Goryeo (see below) absorbed some Balhae territory and received Balhae refugees, including the crown prince and the royal family, but compiled no known histories of Balhae either. The Samguk Sagi ("History of the Three Kingdoms"), for instance, includes passages on Balhae, but does not include a dynastic history of Balhae. The eighteenth century Joseon dynasty historian Yu Deukgong advocated the proper study of Balhae as part of Korean history, and coined the term "South-North Nations Period" to refer to this era.

Later Three Kingdoms Era (892 AD- 936 AD)

Main article: Later Three Kingdoms

The Later Three Kingdoms of Korea (892 - 936) consisted of Silla, Hubaekje ("Later Baekje"), and Taebong (also known as Hugoguryeo, "Later Goguryeo"). The latter two were viewed as heirs to the earlier Three Kingdoms of Korea.

The Later Three Kingdoms formed when Unified Silla, declined in power and was broken up into three kingdoms.

Later Goguryeo's rise to power

Taebong (Later Goguryeo) 후고구려, was originally led by Gung Ye, who founded Later Goguryeo. Interestingly, Gung Ye was a Buddhist monk. Although Gung Ye raised Later Goguryeo, he became unpopular with the Korean people.

Gung Ye was taken over by Wang Geon (왕건) (877-943) in 918, when he overthrew Gung Ye because of misdemeanors and malpractice, especially when he killed his wife and son.

Wang Geon was popular with his people, and he decided to unite the entire peninsula under one government. He attacked Later Baekje in 934 in a show of strength and received the surrender of Silla in the following year. In 936, Goryeo conquered Later Baekje.

Goryeo

Main article: Goryeo

The famous Gyeongcheonsa Pagoda from the Goryeo Dynasty.

Goryeo was founded in 918 and by 936, 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. Buddhism flourished, and spread throughout the peninsula. The development of celadon industry flourished in 12th and 13th century. The publication of Tripitaka Koreana, and world's first metal printing technology in 13th century, attests to Goryeo's cultural achievements.

In 1231 the Mongols began its campaigns against Korea and after 25 years of struggle, the royal family relented by signing a treaty with the Mongols. For the following 80 years Goryeo survived, but under the interference of the Mongols.

In the 1340s, the Mongol Empire declined rapidly due to internal struggles. King Gongmin 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.

Another problem was that Japanese pirates were no longer hit-and-run bandits, but organized military marauders raiding deep into the country. It was at that time that General Yi Seonggye distinguished himself by repelling the pirates in a series of successful engagements. The Goryeo dynasty would last until 1392, when Yi Seonggye, who had heavy support among aristocracy, would easily take power in a coup.

Joseon

Main article: Joseon Dynasty

Sejong the Great.

In 1392 a Korean general, Yi Seonggye, was sent to China to campaign against the Ming Dynasty, but instead he returned to overthrow the Goryeo king and establish a new dynasty. The Joseon Dynasty moved the capital to Hanseong (formerly Hanyang; modern-day Seoul) in 1394 and adopted Confucianism as the country's official religion, resulting in much loss of power and wealth by the Buddhists. During this period, the Hangul alphabet was invented by King Sejong in 1443.

Joseon (as Korea was called during the Joseon Dynasty) dealt with invasions by Japan from 1592 to 1598 (see Seven-Year War). Korea's most famous military figure, Admiral Yi Sun-sin was instrumental in defeating the Japanese. After the invasions by Japan, Korea had to deal with invasions from Manchuria in 1627(see the First Manchu invasion of Korea) and again in 1636(see the Second Manchu invasion of Korea), the Joseon dynasty finally recognized the legitamacy of the Qing Empire. On the other hand, Korea permitted the Japanese to trade at Busan and sent missions to the capital of Edo in Japan from time to time after the Japanese gave in to Korean demands for the return of more than 3000 of their scholars, artisans and craftsman who were kidnapped during the Seven-year War. Europeans were never permitted to trade at Korean ports until the 1880s.

Domestic politics was plagued by internal power struggles among Confucian bureaucrats. In spite of some efforts to introduce Western technology through the Jesuit missions at Beijing, the Korean free market economy remained insignificant due to weak currency circulation and more so societal discouragement.

19th century

File:Joseon throne hall.jpg

The throne hall at Gyeongbokgung Palace

During the 19th century, Korea tried to control the opening of the country to unlimited foreign trade and influence by closing the borders to all nations but China. In 1853 the USS South America, an American gunboat, visited Busan for 10 days and had amiable contact with local Korean officials there. Several Americans who were shipwrecked on Korea in 1855 and 1865 were also treated well and sent to China for repatriation. The Joseon court which ruled Korea, was well aware of the foreign invasions and treaties thereby within Qing China as well as the Opium Wars there, and reasonably followed a cautious policy of slow exchange with the west. In 1866 the General Sherman Incident put Korea and the United States on a collision course.

In 1871, the United States confronted Korea militarily, and retreated, in what the Koreans call the Sinmiyangyo and in America is called the 1871 US-Korea Campaign. By 1876, a rapidly modernizing Japan forced Korea to open its ports and successfully challenged the Qing Empire, which claimed external dominance over Korea, in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). In 1895, the Japanese murdered Empress Myeongseong, who resisted their exploitation by seeking Russian help, but the Russians were forced to retreat from Korea for a while. In 1897, Joseon was renamed Daehan Jeguk (Korean Empire), and King Gojong became Emperor Gojong. A period of Russian influence followed, until Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).

Korea could not effectively resist Japanese aggression and effectively became a protectorate of Japan on 25 July 1907, the 1905 Protectorate Treaty having been promulgated without Emperor Gojong's required seal.

Japanese Occupation

Main article: Korea under Japanese rule

In 1910 Japan effectively annexed Korea by the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty. While the legality of the treaty is still asserted by Japan, it is generally not accepted in Korea because it was not signed by the Emperor of Korea as required and violated international convention on external pressures regarding treaties. Korea continued to be controlled by Japan under a so-called Governor-General of Korea until Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces, on 15 August 1945, with de jure sovereignty deemed to have passed from Joseon Dynasty to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.

European-styled transport and communication networks were established across the nation. This facilitated Japanese exploitation, but modernization had little if any effect on the Korean people, but was mainly being used to serve Japanese trade needs, and their tight centralized controls. The Japanese removed the Joseon hierarchy, destroyed the Korean Palace, and revamped Korea's taxation system to evict tenant farmers, export Korean rice crops to Japan which provoked Korean famines; and brought in a punitive series of measures which included murdering those who refused to pay taxes in the provinces; forced slavery in roadworks, mines, and factories first in Korea, then enforced working slavery of Koreans in Japan and its occupied territories.

After the Korean Emperor Gojong had died in January 1919, with a rumor of poisoning, independence rallies against Japanese invaders took place nationwide on 1 March 1919 (the March 1st (Samil) Movement). This movement was suppressed by force and about 7,000 were killed by Japanese soldiers and police. An estimated 2 million people took part in peaceful, pro-liberation rallies. (The Japanese record claims less than half million.) Many Korean Christians, including an entire village of Jeamri, were crucified or burnt alive in churches as they fought for Korean independence. This movement was partly inspired by United States president Woodrow Wilson's speech of 1919, declaring support for right of self determination and an end to colonial rule for Europeans. No comment was made by Wilson on Korean independence, perhaps as a pro-Japan faction in the USA sought trade inroads into China through the Korean peninsula.

The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was established in Shanghai, China, in an aftermath of March 1st Movement, which coordinated the Liberation effort and resistance against Japanese control. Some of the achievements of the Provisional Government include the Battle of Chungsanri of 1920 and the ambush of Japanese Military Leadership in China in 1932. The Provisional Government is considered to be the de jure government of the Korean people between the period 1919 to 1948, and its legitimacy is enshrined in the preamble to the constitution of the South Korea.

Continued anti-Japanese uprisings, such as the nationwide uprising of students in November 1929, led to the strengthening of military rule in 1931. After the outbreaks of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and World War II Japan attempted to exterminate Korea as a nation. Worship at Japanese Shinto shrines was made compulsory. The school curriculum was radically modified to eliminate teaching in the Korean language and history within Korea. The continuance of Korean culture itself began to be illegal. Korean culture and economy suffered heavy losses. The Korean language was banned and Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names. 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 collectors. Newspapers were prohibited from publishing in Korean and the study of Korean history was banned at university with Korean textbooks burnt, destroyed, or made illegal.

Some Koreans left the Korean peninsula to Manchuria and Primorsky Krai. Koreans in Manchuria formed resistance groups known as Dongnipgun (Independence Army) which would travel in and out of the Korean-Chinese boundary, fighting guerrilla warfare with the Japanese forces. These guerilla armies would come together in 1940s as Korea Liberation Army.

During World War II, Koreans were forced to support the Japanese war effort. Tens of thousands of men were conscripted into Japan's military. Approximately 200,000 girls and women , mostly from Korea and China, were conscripted as sex slaves, euphemistically called "comfort women".

Anti-Japanese sentiment is still fairly strong in Korea, as a result of Japanese war crimes and continuing Korean-Japanese disputes.

On December 9, 1941 the provisional government declared war against Japan and Germany, and Korean Liberation Army fought alongside the Allied Forces in China and South Asia. The Liberation Army planned to enter Korea and play a part in the defeat of Japanese in Korea, alongside the American Office of Strategic Services, though the Japanese surrender terminated the departure of the leading units due only days away. On August 9 1945, Seven days after the sundering of the friendship Pact, Soviet tanks entered northern Korea from Siberia, meeting little to no resistance. Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces on 15 August 1945, ending 35 years of Japanese rule. US forces under General Hodge would not arrive to the southern part of Korea until September 8th. Later the year, Colonel Dean Rusk of Occupying Allied force in Tokyo proposed splitting Korea at the 38th parallel at an emergency US meeting to determine spheres of influence during this time, ignoring the authority of the provisional government.

Assessment of Japan's role in the Modernization of Korea

The Modernization in Korea (e.g. western style educational system, transportation networks etc.), which had been launched since the beginning of the 20th century by Koreans, continued during the Period of Japanese Rule (1910-1945). The further development of Korea by the Japanese served their exploitative needs, and were denied to Koreans other than participating in forced slave labour to build roads and buildings for Japanese needs. This is often used as a criticism of Japanese policies, as their opponents point out that Japanese commercial interests were always put first and that Korean economic development was prevented, or if made, often exploited. Modernization in Korea can be said definitely to have begun in the post-1945 period under the stewardship of America and its allies in a way that benefited Korea itself.

The division of Korea

Main article: Division of Korea

File:Soldiers Climbing Sea Wall in Inchon.jpg

Soldiers climbing a sea wall in Incheon

The unconditional surrender of Japan, the earlier collapse of Nazi Germany, combined with fundamental shifts in global politics and ideology, led to the division of Korea into two occupation zones effectively starting on September 8, 1945, with the United States administering the southern half of the peninsula and the Soviet Union taking over the area north of the 38th parallel. The Provisional Government was ignored, mainly due to American misconception that it was too communist-aligned. This division was meant to be temporary and was first intended to return a unified Korea back to its people until the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Republic of China could arrange a trusteeship administration.

At the Cairo Conference on 22 November 1943, it was agreed that Korea would be free "in due course as one unified country”; at a later meeting in Yalta in February 1945, it was agreed to establish a four-power trusteeship over Korea. In December 1945, a conference convened in Moscow to discuss the future of Korea. A 5-year trusteeship was discussed, and a joint Soviet-American commission was established. The commission met intermittently in Seoul but deadlocked over the issue of establishing a national government. In September 1947, with no solution in sight, the United States submitted the Korean question to the UN General Assembly.

Initial hopes for a unified, independent Korea quickly evaporated as the politics of the Cold War and opposition to the trusteeship plan from Korean anti-communists resulted in the 1948 establishment of two separate nations with diametrically opposed political, economic, and social systems. On December 12 1948, by its resolution 195 in the Third General Assembly, United Nation recognised Republic of Korea as the sole legal government of Korea. In June 1950 the Korean War broke out when North Korea breached the 38th parallel line to invade the South, ending any hope of a peaceful reunification for the time being.

See History of North Korea and History of South Korea for the post-war period.

References

• Byeon Tae-seop (변태섭) (1999). 韓國史通論 (Hanguksa tongnon) (Outline of Korean history), 4th ed. ISBN 89-445-9101-6.
• Yang, S.C. (1999). The North and South Korean political systems: A comparative analysis. (Rev. Ed.). Seoul: Hollym. ISBN 1-56591-105-9

See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• List of Korean Kings

External links

• The History of the Korean Martial Arts
• http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/history.htm#The%20Ko%20Choson
• http://www.rootsinfo.co.kr/history/king01.html -in Korean