A HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF SOUTH KOREA

Korean history can be divided into five separate periods: Old Chosun, the Three Kingdoms Period, Koryo Dynasty, Yi Dynasty, and the modern era. These periods span a total of 4,335 years. According to legend, the nation of Chosun (meaning “The Land of the Morning Calm”) was founded by a mythical figure known as Tangun. Tangun is said to have unified 3,000 tribes into a single nation and ruled for about 1,200 years before he retreated to a mountain. Chosun subsequently split into various tribes, and they were later united to form the Three Kingdoms consisting of Koguryo, Paekjai, and Shilla.

Shilla was able to unify the peninsula in AD 676 and Buddhism was adopted as the official religion. Confucianism was adopted in the sixth century, influencing the governmental and educational system. In 918, Wanggun founded the Koryo Dynasty, which lasted until 1392, when General Yi Song-gye founded his own dynasty. He established Confucianism as the guideline, not only for government, but also for the private life of the people. In the nineteenth century, Korea retreated into a stringent isolationism and became known as the “Hermit Kingdom.” As a staunch Confucian state, Korea resisted all attempts to modernize, until forcefully colonized by Japan in 1910.

With the liberation of Korea from Japan in 1945, Korea was arbitrarily divided along ideological lines by the Soviet Union and the USA. The Korean War erupted in 1950, in which more than three million people lost their lives and the border on the thirty-eighth parallel was eventually reestablished.