4. From colony to competing states

As the Second World War came to an end, most Koreans hoped that their nation would be an independent and prosperous state. ‘From colony to competing states’ shows that, instead, events took an unexpected turn. Korea became both free of Japanese colonial rule and simultaneously partitioned into two occupation zones by the United States and the Soviet Union. From these zones, two separate states were created: the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; two societies with different leaderships, political systems, and geopolitical orientations. When North Korea attempted to reunify the country in 1950, foreign powers again intervened resulting in the Korean War, a costly conflict that left the peninsula still divided.

2. A Confucian society

For five centuries from 1392 to the arrival of modern imperialism in the late 1800s Korea underwent a continual process of cultural change and integration under the Chosǒn state and its Yi dynasty. ‘A Confucian society’ explains how Confucian-based cultural norms pervaded every social class, giving a greater uniformity and unity to Korean society. The state’s territorial boundaries stabilized to where they are today, its population became ethnically homogeneous, and its culture became profoundly Confucian. The process by which the inhabitants of the peninsula developed into a single people with a shared culture and identity, one clearly recognizable today as ‘Korean’, had begun long before. Under Chosǒn it was largely completed.

6. Globalizing south, inward north

‘Globalizing south, inward north’ shows that from the 1980s the two Koreas grew further apart, economically, politically, and culturally. Few states moved faster from poverty to ‘developed’ status than South Korea, none developed a more totalitarian, isolated society than North Korea. South Korea’s economy expanded impressively well into the 2000s, becoming a wealthy consumer society, while North Korea went through economic stagnation and decline. Both started with authoritarian political systems; however, the South evolved into an open, democratic society while the North remained authoritarian and closed. Most Koreans continued to see themselves as part of one nation united by common ethnicity and ancestry, and regarded the political division as unnatural and unacceptable. Is reunification possible?

5. Competing states, diverging societies

By 1953 almost all Koreans had accepted that they belonged to a single nation united by blood, culture, history, and destiny. However, the end of the Korean War left them divided into two states. ‘Competing states, diverging societies’ explains that each state shared the same goal of creating a prosperous, modern, unified Korean nation-state that would be politically autonomous and internationally respected. The leadership of each saw the division as temporary and themselves and the state they governed as the true representative of the aspirations of the Korean people, and the legitimate successor to the pre-colonial state. While sharing many of the same goals they followed very different paths to reach them and became ever more divergent societies.

1. Creating a peninsular kingdom

‘Creating a peninsular kingdom’ describes the early Korean societies and tribal peoples that gradually coalesced into states. Much of Korea’s pre-modern history was shaped by its interaction with China. Following the decline of the Chinese Empire by the 4th century ce, three indigenous states—Koguryǒ, Paekche, and Silla—emerged that dominated Korea from the 4th to the 7th century, fighting each other for supremacy. Wang Kǒn ended up the victor, putting together a reunified state under Koryǒ. His dynasty ruled Korea for more than four and a half centuries. The following Mongol period is then described, which contributed to a Korean cultural and ethnic identity and made the society more cosmopolitan.

Introduction

The Introduction explains that the aim of this VSI is to introduce Korea’s history by focusing on several historical questions: what does it mean to be Korean? How did the various peoples of the Korean peninsula become a single nation? How did this nation evolve, in a single lifetime, into today’s sharply contrasting societies? And how does Korea fit into the larger narrative of world history? The geographical setting of the Korean peninsula is also described. Although it is small and mountainous, Korea has been able to support large populations. Today fifty million people live in South Korea and twenty-five million in North Korea.

3. From kingdom to colony

‘From kingdom to colony’ explains that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Korea became exposed to the new Western-dominated world of modern imperialism. The political and social order was seriously challenged, and the very existence of the state was threatened. Koreans responded by carrying out reforms and rethinking their ideas about their society and its place in the world. Despite their efforts at meeting the challenges it faced, their country fell under Japanese rule. With their limited connections to the world outside East Asia, Koreans were unprepared for the intrusion of modern imperialism, but they adjusted to the technological, institutional, and intellectual challenges of modernization, and an intense, passionate nationalism emerged.