Korea

A peninsula and former country of eastern Asia between the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. Site of an ancient civilization dating to the 12th century B.C., the peninsula was united as a kingdom in the 7th century A.D. and despite a Mongol invasion (13th century) remained unified until the Japanese occupation of 1910 to 1945. After World War II the Soviet- and U.S.-occupied territories formed separate republics, and a North Korean invasion of the south led to the Korean War (1950-1953). The peninsula is now divided between North Korea and South Korea.

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The sophisticated traditional dances of Korea are distinguished from most other Asian dance forms by their predominantly triple, rather than duple, rhythms. They have taken their religious themes and imagery from Shamanism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. They have also been influenced by the displays given by keesaengs, cultivated courtesans like Japanese geishas who specialized in exquisite, delicately nostalgic dance and poetry. In 1976 the Chang Mu Dance Company was founded in Seoul (S. Korea) performing traditionally based work by Korean choreographers. It now numbers around 80 dancers and tours widely in Asia and Russia. The Universal Ballet Company was founded in 1984, also in Seoul, in an attempt to marry elements from traditional dance with Western ballet. It became more Westernized after the appointment of Roy Tobias as artistic director in 1988 and has performed many of the standard classics as well as works by Tobias, Dollar, Fokine, and Balanchine. Bruce Steivel became director in 1995, creating his own versions of popular classics such as Cinderella and he was succeeded by Vinogradov in 1998. The company has toured to Europe and Japan and made its US debut in 1999. Modern dance activity has emanated largely from the Graham-based dance department at Ewha University, directed by Yook Wan-soon, and several companies have been founded by her pupils, including Kim Wha-suk and Kim Bock-hee.

The history of Buddhism in Korea can conveniently be divided into six periods.

The Three Kingdoms Period (c.1-668)

Buddhism was introduced into the Korean peninsula at a time when the local tribes were first consolidating into three large kingdoms (Koguryŏ, Paekche, and Silla), and when Chinese religion, writing, calendrics, and so forth were making inroads into Korean culture. Official histories give the date of Buddhism's introduction as 372 ce, when a Chinese monk arrived in Koguryŏ as an emissary of the Chinese court bringing scriptures and images. Buddhism reached Silla by the 5th century ce, but the fact that the local élites already knew something of its teachings leads scholars to believe that it had already penetrated the peninsula through more informal channels prior to its official reception.

The Unified Silla Period (668-918)

Silla, originally the smallest and most isolated of the three kingdoms, came to prominence in the 6th century. During this time, Buddhism became the official religion of the court under King Pŏphung (r. 514-39), who used it as part of an ideological campaign to justify the newly established institution of kingship. This factor, plus the absorption of the more fully sinicized populations of Paekche and Koguryŏ, led to increased ties with China, and delegations of young men went there to study Buddhism. The Unified Silla period also marked one of the high points of Korean Buddhist art. The early part of this period, extending to the year 780, was marked by a peace and stability that enabled intellectuals to travel, practise, and explore Buddhist doctrines. During this time, scholar-monks such as Wŏnhyo (617-86), Ŭisang (625-702), and Wŏnch'uk (631-96) travelled to China and worked with eminent masters and translators, returning to Korea to share their accomplishments and learning. Through their efforts, Korean Buddhism absorbed scholastic forms of Buddhist thought such as Hua-yen (Korean, Hwaŏm), consciousness-only (Sanskrit, vijñapti-mātra; Chin., Wei-shih; Kor., Yusik), and tathāgata-garbha thought, and also took in more popular forms, most notably Pure Land (Korean, Chŏngt'o). Wŏnhyo in particular contributed to the systematization of scholastic Buddhism into an overarching structure called ‘t'ong pulgyo’ or ‘unified Buddhism’, and disseminated Pure Land practice widely among the commoners after his return to lay life. During this period in China, the Ch'an, or meditation, school began its ascent to prominence, and its methods and teachings began filtering into Korea during the 7th century. However, it was during the period of instability and upheaval at the end of the Silla period beginning about 780 that the Ch'an school, known in Korea as Sŏn, came into its own. During this period many students of Hwaŏm and other intellectual schools began travelling to China to study Sŏn meditation, and they established the so-called ‘nine mountains’ (Korean, kusan), or nine prominent monastic centres of Sŏn recognized by the government. These institutions, along with the five officially sanctioned schools of doctrinal study, gave Korean Buddhism its designation as the ‘five schools and nine mountains’ (ojong kusan), or ‘five doctrinal and two meditation schools’ (ogyo yangjong).

The Koryŏ Period (918-1392)

Buddhism continued to dominate national religious life during the early Koryŏ period. T'aejo, the dynasty's founder, even left instructions to his heirs stating that the success of the nation depended upon the vitality of Buddhism. With government backing, the monasteries acquired extensive tracts of agricultural land, engaged in banking, and even retained private militias to protect their interests. Such extensive material resources allowed the publication of the entire known Buddhist canon between 1210 and 1231. When the woodblocks from this first printing were destroyed by Mongol invasions in 1232, a new set of blocks was ordered, which were completed between 1236 and 1251. Some 81,000 of these blocks remain stored at the Haein-sa on Mt. Kaya in southern Korea, and represent a cultural and religious legacy unique in the world. Buddhism's political and economic power led many people into the ranks of the clergy for very worldly reasons, leading to increasing corruption. In addition, the schools of doctrinal study and meditation had difficulty defining their unity, and often quarrelled loudly and publicly. This situation called forth efforts at reform and definition, led in the early Koryŏ by Ŭich'ŏn (1055-1101) and later by Chinul (1158-1210). The former, a prince of the royal court, remained too hostile to Sŏn to have much success, but the latter, through both scholarship and meditative attainment, did bring some degree of unity to the scene. He drew upon the Chinese master Tsung-mi's (780-841) pioneering work to effect his synthesis, and promulgated the latter's formula ‘sudden enlightenment followed by gradual practice’ as the norm. He also spread the method of kōan practice among Sŏn adherents. Later figures such as T'aego Pou (1301-82) built upon Chinul's work and, after travelling in China, brought the Lin-chi school of Ch'an (Korean, Imje) into Korea. However, despite the efforts of these figures, Buddhism in the latter part of the Koryŏ went into a decline as corruption and decadence worsened, and these prepared the scene for Buddhism's formal suppression under the Yi dynasty.

The Ch'osŏn Period (1392-1910)

The fall of Koryŏ in 1392 and its replacement by the heavily pro-Confucian Yi dynasty spelt the end of Korean Buddhism's golden age and the beginning of a period of persecution and declining influence that lasted 518 years. As each ruler ascended the throne, stronger and stronger anti-Buddhist measures went into effect. These included a halt to new temple construction; restrictions on ordinations; the actual closing of monasteries in urban areas and their gradual restriction to isolated mountain sites; and a proscription on travel by monks and nuns, which eventuated in their being forbidden from entering cities altogether. On the intellectual and institutional front, the panoply of doctrinal and meditative schools in existence at the end of the Koryŏ was reduced to only two: doctrine and Sŏn. By the end of the period, only the latter remained.

The Japanese Annexation (1910-45)

In August 1910, the Japanese government officially annexed Korea and made it part of a wider sphere of colonial influence outside of the constitutional protections it offered its own citizens. Ironically perhaps, this development helped bring to an end Buddhism's long exile from the mainstream of Korean life. Since the Japanese saw Buddhism as a point of contact with Korean culture, they demanded, and received, the lifting of many of the restrictions imposed on the clergy during the long Ch'osŏn period. Monks and nuns could freely travel and enter cities once again, and new temples could be constructed closer to population centres. At the same time, however, the Japanese exerted pressure on Korean monks and nuns to abandon their distinct ways of life and practice in order to adopt Japanese Buddhist practices, and to give up their institutional independence in order to submit themselves to Japanese Buddhist schools and lineages. The most contentious issues concerned clerical marriage and the addition of wine and meat to the diet, trends that had marked Japanese Buddhist life for some time. Some monks (though no nuns) adopted the new style, while others resisted, thus setting the stage for the conflicts that ensued when the Japanese withdrew in 1945.

1945-Present

In 1945 the country was divided in two at the 38th parallel and in 1948 the communist Democratic People's Republic of North Korea was declared in the north and the pro-USA Republic of Korea was founded in the south. Since that time Buddhism has been completely suppressed in the north. In the south, with the restoration of native rule in 1945, an intense conflict broke out between monks who had taken wives and abandoned many of the normal monastic precepts, and those who had not. These latter insisted upon the full restoration of celibacy and the strict enforcement of traditional Korean rules, and they further insisted that the former group be ejected from monastic properties, which would then be turned over to their control. The latter group, consolidated under the now-dominant Chogye Order, eventually won out after several court battles, legislative victories, and open hostilities. Thus, after a painful transition period, married monks left the monasteries, and monastic life returned to pre-Japanese practices. Since then, the Chogye Order has overseen the revival and revitalization of Korean Buddhism. Some bitterness broke out in the late 1980s and early 1990s between Buddhists and Christians (the latter group having grown dramatically over the last century), leading to the burning of some Buddhist temples, but overall, Buddhism has once again taken its place as an integral part of Korean society.

Since Korea was occupied by Japan during the period 1910 to 1945, it has looked to that country for its models of psychiatric thought, which, from that time, have been largely organically based descriptions. The earliest known Korean analyst was Sung Hee Kim, who trained under Kosawa Heisaku in Japan from 1940-45. He returned to Korea to become professor of psychiatry at Chonham University Medical School but did not initiate a local training program. This came later, after the Korean War, which brought American psychiatrists to Korea who taught depth psychology. That, together with the return of a few of the many Korean doctors who had gone to the United States to study psychiatry, led to the introduction of psychoanalysis as a formal system of thought.

However, prevailing systems of thought had already given rise to a set of cultural practices which have their own preventative and curative effects on individuals in times of distress (Chang and Kim, 1973). These included Shamanism and its concomitant belief that man's misfortune results from an improper relation to the spirit world. A qualified mediator or mutang performs the ritual of the goot through which relations are harmonized. Prior suffers become qualified as shamans through their close rapport with spirits and their children are said to inherit these abilities. There is also a long tradition of folk medicine, consisting of herbal remedies, acupuncture, and moxa, all introduced from China and still prevalent today.

In seeking help, Korean patients are like those in other Asian countries in seeking multiple treatments for a single complaint, and they tend to somatize psychological problems (see Psychoanalysis and China, this volume). In attempting to develop a culturally relevant approach to psychotherapy the pioneering analysts devoted a good deal of their time to studying traditional cultural practices (religions, myths, folk dramas, and literature) from the viewpoint of orthodox theory.

One outcome of this endeavour was a revision of Freud's conception of the Oedipus complex, such that its resolution involves sublimation of incestuous wishes to hyoa, the Korean term for filial piety. This is based upon a reciprocity between generations such that respect accorded by the children is balanced bythe understanding and responsibility of the parents (Kim, 1978). Another project has made use of the prevalence of Taoist beliefs about illness being due to an excess of exertion in thought or action. This has led some neo-Freudian analysts to develop a "Taoistic psychotherapy" which emphasizes an acceptance rather than a refusal of one's inner conflicts, and transcends them by training the mind towards a more positive outlook (Kim, 1996).

Not until the 1970s did Korean clinicians seek formal ties with the International Psychoanalytic Association. Cho Doo-Young, trained at Cornell and New York, organized the Korean Psychoanalytic Study Group which has since developed into the Korean Psychoanalytic Study Group. It is orthodox Freudian in orientation and has about 50 members. Two other organizations, the Korean Academy of Psychotherapy (neo-Freudian and Taoist with about 80 members) and the Korean Association of Jungian Psychology (with 30 members), are actively pursuing a culturally relevant psychoanalytic practice.

Since the 1980s, orthodox psychoanalytic interests in Korea have diminished, in line with other parts of the world, in the wake of a rising interest in biologically based explanations of psychological disturbance. A lack of Korean training has meant that those interested in being trained have had to go abroad, where the differences in language and cultural understanding have traditionally (in the West) been viewed as resistance but which might become the wellspring for future developments in cultural psychoanalytic theory (Fisher, 1996).

Bibliography

Chang, S.C. and Kim. K.I. (1973). Psychiatry in South Korea. American Journal of Psychiatry 130, 6. 667-669.

Fisher, Charles P. (1996). Panel Report: Psychoanalysis in the Pacific Rim. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 77, 373-377.

Kim, K.I. (1978). The Oedipus complex in our changing society; with special reference to Korea. Neuropsychiatry (Seoul) 7 (1), 97-103.

——. (1996). Traditional therapeutic issues in psychiatric practice in Korea. Paper read in a Transcultural Psychiatry symposium of the Xth World Congress of Psychiatry, August 23.

—GEOFFREY H. BLOWERS

Owing to the popularity of Korean barbecue (kalbi and pulgogi) outside Korea, Korean cuisine is often thought of as meat-based when compared with other Asian cuisines. However, in essence it has for centuries depended largely on vegetables and, to a lesser degree, on seafood. In fact, the consumption of animal products (beef, pork, chicken, eggs, milk, and dairy products) in Korea increased more than twenty times in the last three decades of the twentieth century, mainly due to economic affluence.

Chinese, Japanese, and Western (particularly American and Italian) influences are becoming increasingly visible, especially outside the home. Yogurt and Western-style sweets have become the staples of Korean children, and American fast-food chains (McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut), particularly popular among the youth, are successively enlarging their share of the Korean restaurant market. Koreans of older generations prefer Chinese restaurants, which have been popular for several decades, to the more recent Japanese and Italian establishments. Chinese food is often cooked at home as well.

Yet, despite all these foreign influences, the daily fare of most Koreans, outside or inside the home, still consists of rice, soup, and side dishes—a meal structure that has barely changed for centuries.

The Korean Meal

There are few differences among the food Koreans consume at each meal. Supper is usually more elaborate than breakfast and lunch, but generally speaking, every meal is centered on plain boiled rice (pap), soup (bouillon-like kuk or a more hearty t'ang), and pickled vegetables (kimchi). Side dishes (panch'an) extend this core, and their number depends on the occasion. Three to five side dishes are the norm in contemporary households.

Stews (tchigae, tchim, chŏn'gol) and soused or sautéed greens (namul, pokkŭm) constitute the majority of side dishes, complemented by grilled dishes (kui or sanjŏk) made of seafood, beef, pork, or chicken. Stews tend to acquire the position of a semi-main dish, as does pulgogi, turning into a center of the meal accompanied by a bowl of rice, smaller panch'an, and dipping sauces. Big-bowl dishes such as fried rice (pokkŭmbap), beef soup with rice (sŏlŏngt'ang), and mixed rice (pibimbap) are served in a similar fashion, with small portions of greens and pickles on the side.

Rice boiled or steamed with beans, other grains, or vegetables may be served instead of plain boiled rice. A variety of wheat and buckwheat noodles (kuksu) also frequently appear on the Korean table. Noodles are usually served in soupy liquids, while stuffed dumplings (mandu) can be either steamed, panfried, or simmered in soups (manduguk). Noodles and dumplings are popular lunch dishes. Flavored rice porridges (chuk) are less commonplace than rice, noodles, and dumplings, but still retain a notable place in Korean cuisine.

Chili pepper, sesame (seed and oil), garlic, and spring onions, along with soy sauce (kanjang), soybean paste (toenjang), and red bean paste (koch'ujang) constitute what might be called a Korean "flavoring principle." The combination of all or a selection of these ingredients gives Korean dishes their characteristic taste. Ginger, semi-sweet rice wine (ch'ŏngju), and honey or sugar are the other crucial components of the Korean flavor.

Kimchi

Pickled vegetables, generally referred to by the name of kimchi, are the most basic, indispensable element of every Korean meal. Neither a feast nor a most meager fare would be complete without it. For centuries kimchi was the sole side dish to accompany the staple of Korea's poor, whether it was barley, millet, or, for the fortunate few, rice. It was also a fundamental meal component in affluent households. Three kinds of kimchi were always served, regardless of how many side dishes were to appear on the table. To a contemporary Korean, rice and kimchi are the defining elements of a minimal acceptable meal. Yet, it is kimchi, not rice, that is regarded as the symbol of Korean culture.

There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi. Every region, village, and even family used to cherish its own special recipe, applying slightly different preparation methods and using slightly different ingredients. Napa cabbage (Brassica chinensis or Brassica pekinensis) made into paech'u kimchi is the most common type, followed by radishes (Raphanus sativus) made into kkaktugi kimchi. Basically, vegetables are placed for several hours in brine, washed with fresh water, and drained. Then, flavorings such as ginger, chili pepper, spring onions, garlic, and raw or fermented seafood are added, and the mixture is packed into pickling crocks and allowed to age.

Since the 1960s, when factory-made kimchi appeared on the market for the first time, the number of urban families who continue to make their own kimchi has gradually diminished. With the rising consumption of meat and seafood, and the popularization of Western-style food, the quantity of kimchi consumed by Koreans has declined as well. An average Korean consumes approximately forty pounds of kimchi on a yearly basis.

Yet, kimchi is still considered to be the most important element of the Korean meal and quintessentially Korean by Koreans and foreigners alike. Despite this cultural symbolism, kimchi has evolved relatively recently to the form we know today. The so-called "white kimchi"(paek kimchi), which is still popular in the early twenty-first century, resembles most closely the original version.

The addition of chili pepper came about in the mid-eighteenth century and gave kimchi its characteristic red color and pungent taste. Fermented seafood (chŏtkal), which has been included in the pickling from the late nineteenth century onward, not only enriched the taste of kimchi, but also increased its regional diversity. While at the end of the seventeenth century only eleven types of kimchi were classified, the regional variety of chŏtkal (some regions use shellfish, others anchovies or other kinds of fish) contributed to the development of several hundred varieties of kimchi. The type of vegetables that are pickled also changed. Gourd melon, cucumber, and eggplant have been used since ancient times; today napa cabbage and radish are the most common varieties.

The Table Setting

With a few exceptions, all components of the meal are on the table at one time. A set of a spoon and metal chop-sticks is used while eating. Rice, soup, and other liquids are eaten with the former, side dishes with the latter. Soup and rice are served in individual bowls, but side dishes are often shared by more than one diner. Nowadays, bowls are usually made of stoneware, steel, or plastic, but for special occasions white porcelain tableware is used. In the past, the upper classes dined from brass bowls in the winter and porcelain ones during the hot summer months. A silver set of chopsticks and a spoon was considered most elegant. Less affluent sections of the population generally dined from earthenware, using wooden chopsticks and spoons. According to Korean etiquette, it is considered inelegant to lift bowls from the table. They stay on the table during the entire meal, unlike in the rest of East Asia, where it is customary to lift bowls up to the mouth while eating.

The majority of restaurants in Korea have two dining areas: one with Western-style tables and chairs, and one with an elevated floor where customers seated on cushions dine at low tables. Similarly, most Korean households use Western-style tables with chairs on a daily basis (the table is usually placed in the kitchen), but share meals at a low table with short legs, seated on cushions laid on the floor, when guests are entertained.

The most traditional dining setting is a small table designed for one or two persons. In upper-class households, there was no common dining room and such tables were laid in the kitchen and carried out to different parts of the house, where family members dined, divided according to age, gender, and position. Such dining arrangements reflected the hierarchical ideology of premodern Korea. The shared dining table with short legs became popular in the early decades of the twentieth century and by the 1960s spread all over the country, widely replacing the ubiquitous individual table. This transition was followed by the diffusion of Western-style table and chairs in the 1980s. Yet, even today, traditional tables designed for one are still used in some restaurants, student apartments, and average Korean households.

Food and Drink for Special Occasions

From the fifteenth century onward, Confucianism began to replace Buddhism as the strongest cultural influence in Korea. Various festivals and their celebration in Korea are closely related either to Buddhism or to Confucianism. These events are always marked by special food, with noodles, red beans, and many kinds of rice cakes playing a prominent role in festive meals and snacks. Because Korean meals traditionally did not include desserts, festivals were among the few occasions when sweet snacks were served, except in upper-class families, where sweet afternoon snacks were regularly prepared.

Throughout the ages, each festival food has acquired a symbolic meaning or a function that justifies its use at a specific occasion. Noodles, for example, are appropriate for birthdays because they symbolize long life. Red-bean porridge (p'atchuk) with sweet rice balls (kyŏngdan) eaten on the day of the winter solstice is said to prevent colds and drive away ghosts. Colorful rice cake (mujigae ttŏk) is prepared for a child's first birthday in the hope that the child will enjoy a wide range of accomplishments.

Certain occasions are inseparable from the food that is served during their celebration. The Harvest Moon Festival (Ch'usŏk), for example, is unimaginable without pine needle–scented rice cakes (songp'yŏn), and lunar New Year's Day celebrations (Sŏllal) would not be complete without rice cake soup (ttŏkkuk). "How many bowls of rice cake soup have you eaten?" is a polite way of asking about someone's age, as if failing to eat a bowl of rice cake soup would deprive a person from a complete New Year's experience.

Garnishing (komyŏng) is taken very seriously in traditional Korean cooking and becomes especially pronounced in festival food. Three-color garnish is made with egg yolk (yellow), egg white (white), and Korean watercress (green). Five-color garnish includes these with the addition of chili pepper threads (red) and stone-ear mushrooms (black).

Drinks are another medium used to celebrate special occasions. Porich'a, scorched-rice tea made by boiling water over the rice that sticks to the bottom of the cooking pot, used to be the most important daily beverage in Korea. Today, along with water, it remains an important drink to accompany meals. For celebrations, most Koreans drink either soju or beer. Soju is a kind of distilled liquor made of grain or sweet potatoes, with an alcohol content of up to 45 percent. Although it is often claimed to have been introduced to Korea in the thirteenth century through trade with the Mongols and Chinese, it is not clear whether the contemporary version has any connection with its ancestor apart from the name. Beer was introduced by the Japanese in the late nineteenth century and began to be produced on a large scale in the early 1930s.

A large variety of homemade wines (which are strictly speaking ales) flavored with ginseng, pine needles, chrysanthemum, cherry, plum, or apricot blossoms, herbs, and fruits were popular before the turn of the twentieth century. The ban on homemade wines during the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945) had a devastating effect on this part of the Korean tradition. The use of rice for wine making continued to be prohibited after the liberation, due to the shortage of rice. The ban on rice wine was lifted in 1971, and various efforts have been undertaken since to revive local wine making in Korea. In 1985, for example, the government designated many traditional wines as cultural assets. Makkŏlli, a milky rice wine with an alcohol content of 6 to 8 percent, also known under the name "farmer's wine" (nongju), is one of the most popular alcoholic drinks in contemporary Korea.

Alcohol is never drunk in Korea without elaborate snacking. Practically all side dishes can be served for this purpose and are called anju at such occasions. Anju can be small like French hors d'oeuvres or Spanish tapas but are not always small. Stews and large savory pancakes (chŏn), including vegetables, meat, and seafood, are typical snacks to accompany drinking.

The Historical Overview

The foundation of Korean cuisine was formed between the seventh and thirteenth centuries, with important modifications taking place in the eighteen and nineteenth centuries. As was the case with other aspects of Korean culture, Korean cuisine developed under the strong influence of its powerful neighbor—China. As in adjoining regions of East Asia, rice and fermented soybean products (soy sauce, soybean paste, and soybean curd) occupy a prominent place in the diet of the Korean people. The "rice–soup–side dishes" structure of the meal and the use of chopsticks to consume it are other indicators of the impact that Chinese civilization exerted on Korean food-ways. The emphasis on five elements in Korean cuisine, for example, five flavors (salty, sweet, sour, hot, and bitter) and five colors of garnish, has Chinese origins as well. It should be emphasized, however, that despite this heritage, Korean cuisine has developed into a distinctive entity of its own, with more differences from Chinese cuisine than similarities to it.

The technology of rice cultivation was brought to the northern parts of the Korean peninsula from China, probably late in the second millennium B.C.E., but rice became a staple of the Korean diet only in the Silla period (668–935 C.E.). In fact, before the second half of the twentieth century, rice was not a staple for everyone, but was rather a symbol of wealth. The old phrase "white rice with meat soup," for example, connotes the good life, while tacitly acknowledging that not everyone could afford either rice or meat. Millet, barley, and buckwheat accompanied by kimchi and vegetable soup were the daily fare of the majority of the Korean population.

Vegetarian Buddhist influences in Korea did not, apart from the clergy, have much impact on food habits. Beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and various types of game were regularly consumed by the Korean upper classes. Still, before the economic growth of the 1970s, the eating of meat was a luxury for the common people in Korea. Farmers, who formed the majority of the Korean population, rarely ate meat except for three days in summer when dog stew was served and a special day in winter when sparrow, wild boar, or wild rabbit was prepared. In both cases, the eating of meat was intended to strengthen physical resistance to extreme weather conditions (Walraven, 2002).

The techniques for making wine and chang (a semi-liquid predecessor of soy sauce and soybean paste) were also introduced from China, and by the seventh century were already highly advanced. This was also the time when fermented seafood (chŏtkal) developed, along with vegetables preserved in salt. The latter eventually evolved into kimchi pickles.

Chili pepper was brought to Korea at the end of the sixteenth century, most probably via Japan. It became widely cultivated a century later and by the twentieth century was an integral part of Korean cuisine. As well as being an indispensable component in kimchi making, chili pepper contributes to the flavoring of the majority of Korean dishes through chili pepper powder (koch'u karu) and red bean paste (koch'ujang). Both are not only used extensively in the kitchen but often appear on the table as a relish.

It should be mentioned that the extensive use of chili pepper, and consequently the pungent taste of Korean cooking, was not originally characteristic of all Korea, but rather a feature of the Kyŏngsang province occupying the southeastern part of the peninsula. The diet of the southwestern provinces and the territory covering contemporary North Korea used to feature less spicy dishes than was the case in Kyŏngsang. Urbanization and the development of modern transport and communication networks led to the gradual decline of regional differences in the Korean diet. These differences, however, have by no means completely disappeared. Ch'ŏrwŏn, for example, is famous for makkŏlli wine, Ch'unch'ŏn for its chicken barbecue (talkkalbi), and Hamhung province for its cold noodles (naengmyŏn). The cooking of the southwestern provinces tends to be generally less spicy than the rest of the country. Chŏlla province, in particular, tenaciously retains its culinary distinctiveness.

Along with a gradual decline in regional differences and the democratization of the Korean foodways, the twentieth century marked the time of the modernization of production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food in Korea. This started during the Japanese occupation and continued in South Korea after the Korean War (1950–1953).

The Japanese introduced modern farming techniques and Western-style food processing. The railway system and the highway network erected by the colonizer led to the centralization of markets and modernization of retailing. Japanese and Korean physicians created the foundation of Korean dietetics, and affluent Korean women got acquainted with the Western science of nutrition through Western-inspired Japanese home economics education.

After the Korean War, South Korea continued to modernize under the strong influence of the United States. American dietary influences have become particularly visible since the 1980s but have not been widely welcome. While foreign products are desirable for the status and novelty they impart, the Korean people generally disapprove of the country's growing reliance on food imports (Pemberton, 2002; Bak, 1997). The increasing consumption of meat, for example, led to a rise in the number of livestock in Korea, making this mountainous country with almost no pasture largely dependent on imported feedstuffs. This and similar issues play an important role in the dietary consciousness of the Korean population today.

Bibliography

Bak, Sangmee. "McDonald's in Seoul: Food Choices, Identity, and Nationalism." In Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia, edited by James L. Watson. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997.

Chu, Young-ha. "Origin and Change in Kimch'i Culture." Korea Journal (Summer 1995): 18–29.

Kim, Joungwon, ed. Korean Cultural Heritage. Vol. 4, Traditional Lifestyles. Seoul: Korea Foundation, 1994.

Kim, Kwang-ok. "Contested Terrain of Imagination: Chinese Food in Korea." In Changing Chinese Foodways in Asia, edited by David Y. H. Wu and Tan Chee-beng. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2001.

Pemberton, Robert W. "Wild-gathered Foods as Countercurrents to Dietary Globalisation in South Korea." In Asian Food: The Global and the Local, edited by Katarzyna Cwiertka with Boudewijn Walraven. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001.

Walraven, Boudewijn C. A. "Bardot Soup and Confucians' Meat: Food and Korean Identity in Global Context." In Asian Food: The Global and the Local, edited by Katarzyna Cwiertka with Boudewijn Walraven. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001.

—Katarzyna J. Cwiertka

Historic region consisting of North Korea and South Korea; peninsula off northeastern China separating the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan, two arms of the Pacific Ocean.

• Korea was under Japanese rule in the early twentieth century. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the thirty-eighth parallel of north latitude into two zones, with troops of the Soviet Union in the north and troops of the United States in the south. By 1948, two separate governments had emerged, the communist Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north and the noncommunist Republic of Korea in the south. American and Soviet troops were withdrawn by 1949. The Korean War (1950-1953) began when North Korean forces invaded South Korea. Forces of the United Nations under General Douglas MacArthur aided South Korea, whereas Chinese forces aided North Korea.

Recipes

Geographic Setting and Environment

The Korean Peninsula is a large finger of land that extends south from the northeastern border of China into the ocean parallel to Japan. It is surrounded by the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and the East China Sea. Until World War II (1939–1945), Korea was a single country. After World War II, Korea was divided in half to form the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (known as North Korea) with a communist form of government, and the Republic of Korea (known as South Korea) with a democratic form of government.

Both North Korea and South Korea have problems with air and water pollution, and both governments have passed laws to control pollution. Higher elevations are found in North Korea, while South Korea has fertile plains suitable for agriculture in its southern region. The climate supports agriculture, and South Korea grows enough rice to support its population. The main rivers, the Han and the Kum, help to provide adequate water supply for the agricultural lands.

History and Food

Since the country was divided into North Korea and South Korea, the government of North Korea has not welcomed outsiders. Because of this, information about its food and the cooking style of its people is not readily available. Most of the descriptions and recipes included here come from South Korea, although the same foods are probably enjoyed by North Koreans and people of Korean descent living anywhere in the world.

The seas surrounding the Korean peninsula—the Yellow and East China seas, and the Sea of Japan—provide not only many types of seafood, like tuna, king crab and squid, but moisture for the fertile soil needed to grow rice and grains.

For centuries, the Koreans have eaten the products of the land and sea. They began growing grains thousands of years ago, and rice cultivation was introduced to some parts of the country around 2000 b.c. During this time they also grew millet (a type of grass grown for its edible seed), soybeans, red beans, and other grains. They cured and pickled fish, were skilled in making wine and bean paste, and often used honey and oil in cooking.

Chinese and Japanese invasions during the fourteenth through twentieth centuries gave rise to a culinary influence on Korea that remains today. Like the Chinese and Japanese, Koreans eat rice with almost every meal and use chopsticks. Eating with chopsticks means the food is usually cut up into little pieces that are easy to pick up. Food cut this size cooks fast, which cuts down on the use of fuel.

Unlike China and Japan, however, Korea was never a tea-drinking nation. Historically, China and Japan had to boil their water for it to be fit to drink. Korea's water was pure, which led them to discover other beverages, such as ginseng and ginger drinks (made from herbs of the same name), wines, and spirits. Soo Chunkwa (ginger drink) is often served on joyous occasions during the winter, and especially at New Year's.

See Soo Chunkwa (Ginger Drink) recipe.

Foods of the Koreans

Korea shares many similarities with other Asian cuisines such as the importance of rice and vegetables and cooking methods such as stir-frying, steaming, and braising (food first browned in oil, then cooked slowly in a liquid). As is true of the rest of Asia, Koreans eat far less meat than people in the Western world. Red meat is scarce and very expensive, so it is usually saved for special occasions. Chicken or seafood is more commonly eaten.

Korean food is often very spicy. Red pepper paste, green onion, soy sauce, bean paste, garlic, and ginger are just some of the many seasonings Koreans use to flavor their dishes. The food is served with a bland grain such as rice to cool the heat of the spices.

The Korean way of preparing and eating their dishes makes for healthy eating. Generally speaking, Koreans are thin people. Being overweight is considered a sign of wealth and dignity and seen particularly among the rich, and high officials.

A meal served for a group of people often includes several large dishes and as many as twenty side dishes. Unlike other Asian cuisines, Korean cuisine includes many uncooked vegetables served in the form of salads and pickles. Traditional Korean meals include soup, served hot or cold depending on the season, like kamja guk (kahm-jah gook; potato soup), and hin pap (heen pop; white rice).

See Kamja Guk (Potato Soup) recipe.

See Kimchi recipe.

See Hin Pap (White Rice) recipe.

Food for Religious and Holiday Celebrations

Traditional Korean holidays have developed under the influence of the seasons, rural agricultural life, and the religions of Buddhism and Confucianism. As of the twenty-first century, traditional holidays still held significant meaning in the daily lives of the Korean people.

See Toasted Sesame Seeds recipe.

See Chap Ch'ae (Mixed Vegetables with Cellophane Noodles) recipe.

See Mandu (Korean Dumplings) recipe.

Mealtime Customs

There is little difference in what Koreans eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Breakfast, the biggest meal of the day, may include a cold soup, such as oi naeng guk (oh-ee nayng good; cucumber soup), steamed peppers, and saeng son jon (fish patties). Pulgogi (pool-goh-gee; grilled beef) is one of Korea's best-known meat dishes.

See Pulgogi (Korean Beef) recipe.

See Ch'o Kanjang (Vinegar Soy Sauce) recipe.

See Shigumch'i Namul (Korean Spinach) recipe.

Politics, Economics, and Nutrition

Almost all Koreans receive adequate nutrition in their diets, with the World Bank reporting that less than 1 percent of the population is malnourished and nearly all have access to adequate sanitation and safe drinking water. Korean farmers grow enough rice to meet the country's needs, and fruit growers produce abundant crops of apples, pears, persimmons, and melons. The main vegetable crops are white radish, known as mu, and cabbage. Both are used in kimchi, the national dish.

Further Study

Books

Cho, Joong Ok. Homestyle Korean Cooking in Pictures. Tokyo: Japan Publications; New York: Kodansha International/USA through Harper & Row [distributor], 1981.

Duvall, Jill. Chef Ki is Serving Dinner! Danbury, CT: Children's Press, 1997.

Hyun, Judy. The Korean Cookbook. Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym International Corp., 1983.

Loewen, Nancy. Food in Korea. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Publications, 1991.

Marks, Copeland. The Korean Kitchen: Classic Recipes from the Land of the Morning Calm. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1993.

No, Chin-hwa. Traditional Korean Cooking: Snacks & Basic Side Dishes. Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym International Corp., 1985.

Okwha Chung and Judy Monroe. Cooking the Korean Way. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1988.

Web Sites

KidSight. [Online] Available http://203.241.132.91/forkid/food/food_1.html (accessed March 14, 2001).

Korea Insights. [Online] Available http://korea.insights.co.kr/food/index.html (accessed March 14, 2001).

Life in Korea. [Online] Available http://www.lifeinkorea.com (accessed March 14, 2001).

Working Holiday Association. [Online] Available http://www.workingholiday.com/english/index.html (accessed March 14, 2001).

This article is about the civilization of Korea as a whole. For other uses, see Korea (disambiguation).

Korea
Largest conurbation (population)		Seoul
Official languages		Korean
Area
-	Total	223,170 km2 (84th if reunified) 85,020 sq mi
-	Water (%)	2.8
Population
-	2007 estimate	72,285,392 (17th if reunified)
-	Density	328.48/km2  850.7/sq mi
Currency		Won (₩) (N/S)
Time zone		KST (UTC+9)

Korea (Korean: 한국 or 조선) is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait.

Korea was united until 1948; at that time it was split into South Korea and North Korea. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a capitalist, democratic and developed country, with memberships in the United Nations, WTO, OECD and G-20 major economies. North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a single-party communist country founded by Kim Il-sung and currently led by his son Kim-Jong-il.

Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest the origins of the Korean people were in Altaic language-speaking migrants from south-central Siberia,^[1] who populated ancient Korea in successive waves from the Neolithic age to the Bronze Age.^[2] The adoption of the Chinese writing system ("Hanja" in Korean) in the 2nd century BCE, and Buddhism in the 4th century CE, had profound effects on the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Korea later passed on a modified version of these cultural advances to Japan.^[3][4][5][6]

Since the Goryeo Dynasty, Korea was ruled by a single government and maintained political and cultural independence until the 20th century, despite the Mongol invasions of the Goryeo Dynasty in the 13th century and Japanese invasions of the Joseon Dynasty in the 16th century. In 1377, Korea produced the Jikji, the world's oldest existing document printed with movable metal type.^[7] In the 15th century, the turtle ships were deployed, and King Sejong the Great promulgated the Korean alphabet Hangul.

During the latter part of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea's isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname the "Hermit Kingdom". By the late 19th century, the country became the object of the colonial designs of Japan and Europe. In 1910, Korea was forcibly annexed by Japan and remained occupied until the end of World War II in August 1945.

In 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed on the surrender 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 Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their inability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. The two Cold War rivals then established governments sympathetic to their own ideologies, leading to Korea's current division into two political entities: North Korea and South Korea.

Contents 1 Name 2 History 2.1 Prehistory and Gojoseon 2.2 Proto-Three Kingdoms 2.3 Three Kingdoms 2.4 North South States Period 2.5 Goryeo 2.6 Joseon Dynasty 2.7 Korean Empire 2.8 Japanese occupation 2.9 Korean War 2.10 Division of Korea 3 Geography 4 Demographics 4.1 Language 5 Culture and arts 5.1 Literature 5.2 Religion 5.3 Cuisine 6 Education 7 Science and technology 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

Name

Main article: Names of Korea

See also: Korean romanisation

"Korea" derives from the Goryeo period of Korean history, which in turn referred to the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo. Merchants of the Middle 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 languages, while a C is preferred in Romance languages.

In the Korean language, 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 Dynasty and the earlier Gojoseon. "The Land of the Morning Calm" is an English language nickname loosely derived from the hanja characters for Joseon.

History

Main article: History of Korea

See also: Prehistoric Korea, History of North Korea, and History of South Korea

History of Korea
Prehistory  Jeulmun period  Mumun period Gojoseon 2333–108 BC  Jin state Proto-Three Kingdoms: 108–57 BC  Buyeo, Okjeo, Dongye  Samhan: Ma, Byeon, Jin Three Kingdoms: 57 BC – 668 AD  Goguryeo 37 BC – 668 AD  Baekje 18 BC – 660 AD  Silla 57 BC – 935 AD  Gaya 42–562 North-South States: 698–935  Unified Silla 668–935  Balhae 698–926  Later Three Kingdoms 892–935   Later Goguryeo, Later Baekje, Silla Goryeo Dynasty 918–1392 Joseon Dynasty 1392–1897 Korean Empire 1897–1910 Japanese rule 1910–1945  Provisional Gov't 1919–1948 Division of Korea 1945–1948 North, South Korea 1948–present  Korean War 1950–1953
Timeline List of monarchs Linguistic history Science and technology history Art history Military history Naval history
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Prehistory and Gojoseon

Main articles: Prehistoric Korea and Gojoseon

Korean Academy of Social Sciences discovered ancient human fossils originating from about 100,000 BCE 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 BCE.^[8] The best preserved Korean pottery goes back to the paleolithic times around 10,000 BCE, and the Neolithic period begins around 6000 BCE.

Gojoseon's founding legend describes Dangun, a descendent of heaven, as establishing the kingdom in 2333 BCE.^[9] 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 BCE.

The original capital may have been at the Manchuria-Korea border, but was later moved to what is today Pyongyang, North Korea. In 108 BCE, the Chinese Han Dynasty defeated Wiman Joseon and installed four commanderies in the area of Liaoning and the northern Korean peninsula. By 75 BCE, three of those commanderies had fallen, but the Lelang Commandery remained as a center of cultural and economic exchange with successive Chinese dynasties until 313, when it fell to Goguryeo.

Proto-Three Kingdoms

Main article: Proto-Three Kingdoms of Korea

The Proto-Three Kingdoms period, sometimes called the Several States Period, is the earlier part of what is commonly called the Three Kingdoms Period, following the fall of Gojoseon but before Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla fully developed into kingdoms.

This time period saw numerous states spring up from the former territories of Gojoseon. Buyeo arose in today's North Korea and southern Manchuria, from about the 2nd century BCE to 494. Its remnants were absorbed by Goguryeo in 494, and both Goguryeo and Baekje, two of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, considered themselves its successor. Okjeo and Dongye of northern Korea were eventually absorbed into the growing Goguryeo.

Located in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, Samhan refers to the three confederacies of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan. 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 Baekje, Silla, and Gaya.

Three Kingdoms

Main article: Three Kingdoms of Korea

Anapji(Anap Pond) in Gyeongju Historic Areas.

The Three Kingdoms of Korea (Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje) dominated the peninsula and parts of Manchuria during the early Common Era. They competed with each other both economically and militarily.

Goguryeo united Buyeo, Okjeo, Dongye and other states in the former Gojoseon territory.^[10] Goguryeo was the most dominant power; it reached its zenith in the fifth century, when reign of the Gwanggaeto the Great and his son, Jangsu expanded territory into almost all of Manchuria and part of inner Mongolia, and took the Seoul region from Baekje. Gwanggaeto and Jangsu subdued Baekje and Silla during their times. After the 7th Century, Goguryeo was constantly at war with the Sui and Tang dynasties of China.

Founded around modern day Seoul, the southwestern kingdom Baekje expanded far beyond Pyongyang 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, Chungcheong, and Jeolla, as well as part of Hwanghae and Gangwon) to a centralised government. Baekje acquired Chinese culture and technology through contacts with the Southern Dynasties 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.^{[citation needed]}

Although later records claim that Silla, 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 confederacy 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 Silla ordered his armies to attack Baekje. General Kim Yu-shin(Gim Yu-sin), 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 launched another campaign in 667 and Goguryeo fell in the following year.

North South States Period

Main articles: North South States Period, Unified Silla, and Balhae

In the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries, Silla's power gradually extended across the Korean Peninsula. Silla first annexed the adjacent Gaya confederacy. 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 Silla.

In the north, former Goguryeo General Dae Joyeong led a group of Goguryeo refugees to the Jilin area in Manchuria and founded 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 Khitans in 926.

Unified Silla fell apart in the late 9th century, giving way to the tumultuous Later Three Kingdoms period (892-935). Goryeo unified the Later Three Kingdoms and absorbed Balhae refugees.

Goryeo

Main article: Goryeo

File:Korea — Seoul — National Museum — Incense Burner 0252-06a.jpg

Celadon incense burner. National Treasures of South Korea.

The country Goryeo 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. Buddhism flourished, and spread throughout the peninsula. The development of celadon industry flourished in 12th and 13th century. The publication of Tripitaka Koreana onto 80,000 wooden blocks and the invention of the world's first movable-metal-type printing 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 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.

Joseon Dynasty

Main article: Joseon Dynasty

The Gyeongbokgung Palace

In 1392, the general Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) with a largely bloodless coup. He named it the Joseon Dynasty in honor of the previous Joseon before (Gojoseon is the first Joseon. "Go", meaning "old", was added to distinguish between the two).

King Taejo moved the capital to Hanseong (formerly Hanyang; modern-day Seoul) and built the Gyeongbokgung palace. In 1394 he adopted Confucianism as the country's official religion, resulting in much loss of power and wealth by the Buddhists. The prevailing philosophy was Neo-Confucianism.

Joseon experienced advances in science and culture. King Sejong the Great (1418-1450) promulgated hangul, 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.^[11]

Between 1592 and 1598, the Japanese invaded Korea. Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the forces and tried to invade the Asian continent through Korea, but was eventually repelled by a Righteous army, Admiral Yi Sun-sin and assistance from Ming China. This war also saw the rise of the career of Admiral Yi Sun-sin with the "turtle ship". In the 1620s and 1630s Joseon suffered invasions by the Manchu.

After invasions from Manchuria, Joseon experienced a nearly 200-year period of peace. King Yeongjo and King Jeongjo 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 Kingdom", primarily for protection against Western imperialism before it was forced to open trade beginning an era leading into Japanese colonial rule.

Korean Empire

Main articles: Korean Empire and Korea under Japanese rule

The earliest surviving depiction of the Korean / South Korean flag was printed in a US Navy book Flags of Maritime Nations in July 1889.

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 Shimonoseki, which was concluded between Qing and Japan in 1895. The same year, Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by Japanese agents.^[12]

In 1897, the Joseon dynasty proclaimed the Korean Empire (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 War pushed the Russians out of the fight for Korea. In Manchuria on 1909, An Jung-geun assassinated the former Resident-General of Korea, Itō Hirobumi for his role in trying to force Korea into occupation.

Japanese occupation

Go Fishing, Georges Ferdinand Bigot, Tobae, February 1887. It shows Korea as a fish which China, Russia, and Japan are all trying to catch.

Main article: Korea under Japanese rule

See also: Japanese war crimes

In 1910, an already militarily occupied Korea was a forced party to the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty. The treaty was signed by Lee Wan-Yong, 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.^[13] There is a long dispute whether this treaty was legal or illegal due to its signing under duress, threat of force and bribes.

Korean resistance to the brutal Japanese occupation^[14][15][16] was manifested in the nonviolent March 1st Movement of 1919, where 7,000 demonstrators were killed by Japanese police and military.^[17] The Korean liberation movement also spread to neighbouring Manchuria and Siberia.

Over five million Koreans were conscripted for labour beginning in 1939,^[18] and tens of thousands of men were forced into Japan's military.^[19] Approximately 200,000 girls and women,^[20] mostly from China and Korea, were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military.^[21] In 1993, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono acknowledged the terrible injustices faced by these euphemistically named "comfort women".^[22][23]

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-kaimei.^[24] Traditional Korean culture suffered heavy losses, as numerous Korean cultural artifacts were destroyed^[25] or taken to Japan.^[26] To this day, valuable Korean artifacts can often be found in Japanese museums or among private collections.^[27] 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 States. However, experts estimate that over 100,000 artifacts actually remain in Japan.^[26][28] Japanese officials considered returning Korean cultural properties, but to date^[26] this has not occurred.^[28] Korea and Japan still dispute the ownership of Liancourt Rocks, a small island located east of the Korean peninsula.^[29]

There was a significant level of emigration to the overseas territories of the Empire of Japan during the Japanese colonial period, including Korea.^[30] By the end of World War II, there were over 850,000 Japanese settlers in Korea.^[31] After World War II, most of these overseas Japanese repatriated to Japan.

Korean War

Main article: Korean War

Urban combat in Seoul, 1950, as US Marines fight North Koreans holding the city.

With the surrender of Japan in 1945 the United Nations developed plans for a trusteeship administration, the Soviet Union administering the peninsula north of the 38th parallel and the United States administering the south. The politics of the Cold War resulted in the 1948 establishment of two separate governments, North Korea and South Korea.

In June 1950 North Korea invaded the South, using Soviet tanks and weaponry. During the Korean War (1950-1953) millions of civilians died and the three years of fighting throughout the nation effectively destroyed most cities.^[32] Around 125,000 POWs were captured and held by the Americans and South Koreans on Geojedo (an island in the south).^[33] The war ended in a ceasefire agreement at approximately the Military Demarcation Line.

Division of Korea

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Main articles: Division of Korea and Korean reunification

South Korea is one of Four Asian Tigers and described as the Miracle on the Han.

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.^[34] 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 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.^[35]

Geography

Main article: Korean Peninsula

See also: Geography of North Korea, Geography of South Korea, and Provinces of Korea

A view of Mount Seorak.

Korea is located on the Korean Peninsula in North-East Asia. To the northwest, the Amnok River (Yalu River) separates Korea from China and to the northeast, the Duman River (Tumen River) separates Korea from China and Russia. The Yellow Sea is to the west, the East China Sea is to the south, and the Sea of Japan (East Sea) is to the east of Korea.^[36] Notable islands include Jeju Island (Jejudo), Ulleung Island (Ulleungdo), and Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo).

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 Cenozoic 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 Baekdudaegan. Some significant mountains include Mount Sobaek or Sobaeksan (1,439 m), Mount Kumgang or Kumgangsan (1,638 m), Mount Seorak or Seoraksan(1,708 m), Mount Taebaek 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.

Daedongyeojido, a map of Korea

Jeju Island seashore.

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 Sea of Japan (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 rivers tend to flow westwards. Two exceptions are the southward-flowing Nakdong River(Nakdonggang) and Seomjin River(Seomjingang). Important rivers running westward include the Amnok River (Yalu), the Chongchon River(Chongchongang), the Taedong River(Taedonggang), the Han River(Hangang), the Geum River(Geumgang), and the Yeongsan River(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 ria 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 Incheon, 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

Main articles: Koreans, Demographics of South Korea, and Demographics of North Korea

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 language.^[37] 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.^[38] It is estimated that only 26,700 of the old Chinese community now remain in South Korea.^[39] However, in recent years, immigration from mainland China has increased; 624,994 persons of Chinese nationality have immigrated to South Korea, including 443,566 of ethnic Korean descent.^[40] Small communities of ethnic Chinese and Japanese are also found in North Korea.^[41]

Language

Main articles: Korean language and Hangul

Hunmin jeong-eum, afterwards called Hangul.

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 States (around 0.9 million speakers), China (around 1.8 million speakers), the former Soviet Union (around 350,000), Japan (around 700,000), Canada (100,000), Malaysia (70,000) and Australia (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.^{[citation needed]}

The genealogical classification of Korean is debated. Some linguists place it in the Altaic language family; others consider it to be a language isolate. Korean is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax. Like Japanese and Vietnamese, Korean has borrowed much vocabulary from the genetically unrelated Chinese or created vocabulary on Chinese models.

Modern Korean is written almost exclusively in the hangul script, which was invented in the 15th century. While hangul may appear logographic, it is actually a phonemic alphabet organised into syllabic blocks. Each block consists of at least two of the 24 hangul letters (jamo): at least one each of the 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Historically, the alphabet had several additional letters (see obsolete jamo). For a phonological description of the letters, see Korean phonology. Hanja (Chinese characters) and Latin alphabets are sometimes included within hangul texts, particularly in South Korea.

Culture and arts

Main article: Culture of Korea

See also: Korean art, Korean pottery, Korean martial arts, Korean dance, Korean bow, and Korean architecture

Korean Buddhist architecture

Traditional Korean dance (Jinju geommu)

In ancient Chinese texts, Korea is referred to as "Rivers and Mountains Embroidered on Silk" (금수강산, 錦繡江山) and "Eastern Nation of Decorum" (동방예의지국, 東方禮儀之國).^[42] During the 7th and 8th centuries, the silk road connected Korea to Arabia. In 845, Arab traders wrote, "Beyond China is a land where gold abounds and which is named Silla. The Muslims who have gone there have been charmed by the country and tend to settle there and abandon all idea of leaving.^[43] "

Korean festivities often showcase vibrant colors, which have been attributed to Mongolian influences: bright red, yellow, and green often mark traditional Korean motifs.^[44] These bright colors are sometimes seen in the traditional dress known as hanbok.

One peculiarity of Korean culture is its age reckoning system. Individuals are regarded as one year old when they are born, and their age increments on New Year's Day 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

Main article: Korean literature

Korean literature written before the end of the Joseon Dynasty is called "Classical" or "Traditional." Literature, written in Chinese characters (hanja), 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 Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

Modern literature is often linked with the development of hangul, 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 War led to the development of literature centered around the wounds and chaos of war. 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

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

Main articles: Religion in Korea, Religion in South Korea, and Religion in North Korea

See also: Korean shamanism, Korean Confucianism, Korean Buddhism, Taoism in Korea, Christianity in Korea, and Islam in Korea

Confucian tradition has dominated Korean thought, along with contributions by Buddhism, Taoism, and Korean Shamanism. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, Christianity 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 christian missionary conversions in the South^[45][46][47] or the pressure from Communism's atheist government in the North.^[48][49]

According to 2005 statistics compiled by the South Korean government, about 46% of citizens profess to follow no particular religion. Christians account for 29.2% of the population (of which are Protestants 18.3% and Catholics 10.9%) and Buddhists 22.8%.^[50]

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.^[51]

Cuisine

Main article: Korean cuisine

See also: Korean tea ceremony and Korean royal court cuisine

Bibimbap

Korean cuisine is probably best known for kimchi, which uses a distinctive fermentation process of preserving vegetables, most commonly cabbage. Gochujang is also commonly used, often as pepper (chilli) powder, earning the cuisine a reputation for being spicy.

Bulgogi (roasted marinated meat, usually beef), galbi (marinated grilled short ribs), and samgyeopsal (pork belly) are popular meat entrees. Meals are usually accompanied by a soup or stew, such as galbitang (stewed ribs) and doenjang jjigae (fermented bean paste stew). The center of the table is filled with a shared collection of sidedishes called banchan. It is also usually accompanied by Soju, a popular Korean alcoholic drink made from rice.

Other popular dishes include bibimbap which literally means "mixed rice" (rice mixed with meat, vegetables, and pepper paste) and naengmyeon (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, Tteokbokki (rice cake and fish cake with a spicy gochujang sauce), and fried foods including squid, sweet potato, peppers, potato, lettuce. Sundae, a sausage made of bean curd and green-bean sprouts stuffed in pig intestine, is widely eaten.

Education

Main articles: Education in North Korea and Education in South Korea

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2009)

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 Assessment, 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.^[52]

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. Also high cost and dependence on non-school private institution (Hakwon[학원]) is criticised as one of the major social problem. Once students enter university, however, the situation is markedly reversed.

Science and technology

Main article: Science and technology in Korea

Jikji, Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, 1377. Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.

One of the best known artifacts of Korea's history of science and technology is Cheomseongdae (첨성대, 瞻星臺), a 9.4-meter high observatory built in 634. It is considered to be one of the world's oldest surviving astronomical observatories.

The world's earliest known surviving example of woodblock printing is the Mugujeonggwang Great Dharani Sutra.^[53] It is believed to have been printed in Korea in 750-751 AD which, if correct, would make it older than the Diamond Sutra. Goryeo silk was highly regarded by Westerners although not as prized as Chinese silk, and Korean pottery made with blue-green celadon 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 Joseon period the Geobukseon (Turtle Ship) were invented, which were covered by a wooden deck and iron with thorns,^[54][55][56] as well as other weapons such as the Bigyeokjincheolloe (비격진천뢰, 飛擊震天雷) and the hwacha. It is also considered to be the world first ship that is partly made of iron.

The Korean alphabet hangul was also invented during this time by Sejong the Great.

See also

Korea portal

• Famous Korean people
• Inter-Korean Summit
• Korean name
• Koreans
• List of rulers of Korea
• National treasures of North Korea
• National treasures of South Korea
• North Korea
• South Korea

Notes

1. ^ The Rise of Civilization in East Asia: the Archaeology of China, Korea and Japan, pp. 165
2. ^ 뿌리 깊은 한국사, 샘이 깊은 이야기: 고조선, 삼국, pp. 44-45
3. ^ "Yayoi Period History Summary," BookRags.com; Jared Diamond, "Japanese Roots," Discover 19:6 (June 1998); Thayer Watkins, "The Genetic Origins of the Japanese"; "Shinto - History to 1900," Encyclopædia Britannica; "The Yayoi period (c. 250 BCE–c. 250 CE)," Encyclopædia Britannica.
4. ^ "Korean Buddhism Basis of Japanese Buddhism," Seoul Times, September 18, 2006; "Buddhist Art of Korea & Japan," Asia Society Museum; "Kanji," JapanGuide.com; "Pottery," MSN Encarta; "History of Japan," JapanVisitor.com. Archived 2009-10-31.
5. ^ Delmer M. Brown (ed.), ed (1993). The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge University Press. pp. 140–149. http://books.google.com/books?visbn=0521223520&id=x5mwgfPXK1kC&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159&vq=buddhism&dq=Paekche+hostage+japan&sig=dwsfsmf80GCVdVXe90a5s9Tkq34. ; George Sansom, A History of Japan to 1334, Stanford University Press, 1958. p. 47. ISBN 0-8047-0523-2
6. ^ "From Paekche to Origin of Yamato". Gias.snu.ac.kr. http://gias.snu.ac.kr/wthong/publication/paekche/eng/paekch_e.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
7. ^ World's oldest printed Doc^{[dead link]}
8. ^ Author:  Li Jie (2002-08-21). "Some Discoveries of Fossils and Relics of Prehistoric Civilizations From Around the World". Pureinsight. http://www.pureinsight.org/pi/index.php?news=1065. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
9. ^ "Go-Choson". Asianinfo.org. http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/history.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
10. ^ "Koguryo". Asianinfo.org. http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/history.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
11. ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica — Slavery". Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
12. ^ Murder of Empress Myeongseong
13. ^ "서울대이태진교수의동경대생들에게들려준한국사 : 메이지일본의한국침략사", Yi Tae-jin (2005) ISBN 89-7626-999-3
14. ^ 4. Korea, 1910-1945. 2001. The Encyclopedia of World History
15. ^ "Korea — MSN Encarta". Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5kwsOHE78. 
16. ^ Mar 10, 2005 (2005-03-10). "Asia Times Online :: Japan News and Japanese Business and Economy". Atimes.com. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GC10Dh01.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
17. ^ "March 1st Movement". Britannica.com. 1919-03-01. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9050797?query=march%20first%20movement&ct=. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
18. ^ "Statistics Of Japanese Genocide And Mass Murder". Hawaii.edu. http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP3.HTM. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
19. ^ 山脇 啓造 Yamawaki, Keizo. 近代日本と外国人労働者―1890年代後半と1920年代前半における中国人・朝鮮人労働者問題 Modern Japan and Foreign Laborers: Chinese and Korean Labourers in the late 1890s and early 1920s, 明石書店 Akashi-shoten, 1994, et al. ISBN 9784750305684
20. ^ Yoshimi Yoshiaki, Comfort Women. Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II. Translated by Suzanne O'Brien. Columbia University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-231-12032-X, originally published by 岩波書店, 1995. ISBN 978-4004303848
21. ^ CNN.com — Japanese comfort women ruling overturned - March 29, 2001
22. ^ "Comfort-Women.org". Comfort-Women.org. http://www.comfort-women.org/. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
23. ^ "Statement by the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono on the result of the study on the issue of "comfort women"". MOFA. 1993-08-04. http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/women/fund/state9308.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
24. ^ ""Koreans in Japan: Past and Present"". HAN. http://www.han.org/a/fukuoka96a.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
25. ^ "Gyeongbok Palace | Seoul City | South Korea". Lifeinkorea.com. http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/66. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
26. ^ ^{a b c} Kay Itoi; B. J. Lee (2007-10-17). "KOREA: A TUSSLE OVER TREASURES — Who rightfully owns Korean artifacts looted by Japan?". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/48765/output/print. Retrieved 2008-06-06. 
27. ^ Newsweek.com. Who rightfully owns Korean artifacts looted by Japan?
28. ^ ^{a b} http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=001&article_id=0001429084
29. ^ "日독도 영유권 교육강화 방침, 2005년에 이미 발표 :: 한국의 대표 진보언론 민중의소리". Vop.co.kr. http://www.vop.co.kr/A00000206601.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
30. ^ "Japanese Periodicals in Colonial Korea". Columbia.edu. http://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/BIB95/00korea_cohen.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
31. ^ "The Life Instability of Intermarried Japanese Women in Korea". Usc.edu. http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/CMTS/MonoPaper3-13.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
32. ^ Korean War (1950–53). Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
33. ^ (Cumings 1997: 298)
34. ^ "Division of Korea — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Korea. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
35. ^ "North Korea 'loses 3 million to famine'", CNN, February 17, 1999, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/281132.stm 
36. ^ Korean Map, The People's Korea, 1998.
37. ^ "Korea's ethnic nationalism is a source of both pride and prejudice, according to Gi-Wook Shin". Aparc.stanford.edu. http://aparc.stanford.edu/news/koreas_ethnic_nationalism_is_a_source_of_both_pride_and_prejudice_according_to_giwook_shin_20060802/. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
38. ^ Trying to teach South Korea about discrimination. Los Angeles Times. February 24, 2009.
39. ^ Kim, Hyung-jin (2006-08-29). "No 'real' Chinatown in S. Korea, the result of xenophobic attitudes". Yonhap News. http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/152641.html. Retrieved 2006-12-08. 
40. ^ "More Than 1 Million Foreigners Live in Korea". Chosun Ilbo. 2009-08-06. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/08/06/2009080600243.html. Retrieved 2009-08-16. 
41. ^ "CIA — The World Factbook — Korea, North". Cia.gov. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
42. ^ "대한민국의 국호". Naver Encyclopedia. http://100.naver.com/100.nhn?docid=714173. Retrieved 2007-08-14. 
43. ^ "The kingdom of Silla and the treasures of Nara (ancient Korea kingdom; Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan)". Ccbs.ntu.edu.tw. 1991-02-19. http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-EPT/hyghe.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
44. ^ "[Pacific Asia Museum]". [Pacific Asia Museum]. http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/calendar/kcostumes.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
45. ^ "About Korea — Religion". Korea.net. http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=U05. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
46. ^ "South Koreans". Every Culture. http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Japan-to-Mali/South-Koreans.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
47. ^ "Culture of SOUTH KOREA". Every Culture. http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/South-Korea.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
48. ^ "Culture of NORTH KOREA". Every Culture. http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/North-Korea.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
49. ^ "CIA The World Factbook — North Korea". Cia.gov. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html#People. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
50. ^ "International Religious Freedom Report 2008 - Korea, Republic of". State.gov. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108411.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
51. ^ "The Korea Times:Islam takes root and blooms". Islamawareness.net. 2002-11-22. http://www.islamawareness.net/Asia/KoreaSouth/ks_news002.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
52. ^ http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf
53. ^ "Cultural Heritage, the source for Koreans' Strength and Dream". Cha.go.kr. http://www.cha.go.kr/english/search_plaza/ECulresult_Db_View.jsp?VdkVgwKey=11,01260000,37. Retrieved 2009-11-03. 
54. ^ Hawley, Samuel: The Imjin War. Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China, The Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, Seoul 2005, ISBN 89-954424-2-5, p.195f.
55. ^ Turnbull, Stephen: Samurai Invasion. Japan’s Korean War 1592-98 (London, 2002), Cassell & Co ISBN 0-304-35948-3, p.244
56. ^ Roh, Young-koo: "Yi Sun-shin, an Admiral Who Became a Myth", The Review of Korean Studies, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2004), p.13

References

• Cumings, Bruce. Korea's Place in the Sun, Norton, 1997. ISBN 0-393-31681-5
• Kim, et al. Women of Korea: A History from Ancient Times to 1945, Ewha Womans University Press, 1976. ISBN 89-7300-116-7.
• Asian Info website
• Park's Associates
• sjtu.edu.cn
• umsl.edu
• diamond-dilemma.com
• Mitchell, Richard H (April 1997), "George Hicks. The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War", The American Historical Review 102 (2): 503, doi:10.2307/2170934  (Review of Hicks 1997).

Further reading

• Chun, Tuk Chu. "Korea in the Pacific Community". Social Education 52 (March 1988), 182. EJ 368 177.
• Cumings, Bruce. 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
• Briefing note for OECD Health Data 2009: How Does Korea Compare: Organisation For Economic Co-operation and Development. (2009).

External links

• Korea, an external wiki
• North Korea travel guide from Wikitravel
• South Korea travel guide from Wikitravel
• Korea at the Open Directory Project

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Coordinates: 38°19′N 127°14′E / 38.317°N 127.233°E / 38.317; 127.233

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - Korea

Français (French)
n. - Corée

Deutsch (German)
n. - Korea

Português (Portuguese)
n. - Coréia

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n. - Corea

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
韩国

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 韓國

한국어 (Korean)
한국, 대한 민국 (공식명은 the Republic of ~; (약) ROK)

idioms:

• North korea    북한
• South korea    남한, 대한민국 (공식명 Republic of Korea; 수도 Seoul)

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮קוריאה‬

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