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Korean History

Korean History
by Jung Kang Yup

1. Korean History in general
We cannot know the date at which human beings first came to Korea. Korea is a very ancient land and its history goes back more than 4,000 years. Like other countries, Korea's early days are shrouded with clouds of mythological stories. According to the myth, in 2,333 B.C. T'angun established the first Korean kingdom. Korean history separates into some periods: the primitive society, Three Kingdoms:Paikche, Silla, and Koguryo, Late Silla, Koryo Dynasty, Chosun Dynasty, and Modern Korea. Instead of telling you the short Korean history according to the periods, I would like to tell some historical characteristics in Korean history.

2. The Korean peninsula bridging China and Japan
Korea's central geographical position is served as the bridge over which in early times higher civilization passed from China to Japan. Japan's history and culture are heavily indebted to Korea. Two new metal cultures were transmitted to Korea in the fourth century B.C. from China. The two cultures intermingled in Manchuria and they soon came to spread in Korea. Moreover, these cultural waves went on to cross the sea and penetrate into Japan. Economic and cultural interchange also took place with Japan, and Paikche in particular, in consequence of its confrontation with Silla, communicated frequently with Japan. Silla, moreover, even had contacts with Arab merchants and their culture.

Throughout history Korea has been a meeting place of influences not only from China and Japan but also from the northern areas. The clash of the cultural, political, and military forces from these larger areas have made Korea a strategic zone of contact in East Asian history. Thus, Korea was invaded many times by the above mentioned countries. About 400 years ago in Japan, Toyotomi Hideyosi brought to an end the internal disorders. He had been ambitious to invade through Korea the Ming empire. The Japanese army made its landing at Korea in 1592. Japan benefited from the kidnapping of skilled Korean potters who then became the instruments of great advance in the ceramic art. The numerous books and scholars seized by the Japanese in Korea also contributed to the development of learning in Japan, especially the study of Neo-Confucianism.

3. The relations with Foreign States
A recurring problem which faced Korean authorities and intellectuals was that of relations with other states. The relationship of the Three Kingdoms with China was mainly one of conflict. Contact with China took other forms as well, such as diplomatic alliances and cultural borrowing. Not long after the Silla unification, however Silla came to establish peaceful diplomatic relations with the Tang empire. The Korea authorities usually managed to achieve a relatively favorable position for their state after each invasion.

Throughout Korean history Korean leaders have repeatedly demonstrated a high degree of skill in their relations with other people, while many invasions have left a legacy of attitudes and values, and it is amply expressed in literature, which includes the concepts of courage, perseverance, and enduring loyalty. For example, there are Chosun dinasty's SIJO literature that express loyalty to the kings, and those that inculcate moral precepts. Along with those that sing of the valiant spirit of the warrior are SIJO that show the feelings of bitter grudge of those who suffered from the Japan and Manchu invasions.

4. The cultural transformer
The integration of foreign inputs into Korean society and culture in the form of religious and ethical systems, arts and letters, and technology can be seen as a continuous process throughout Korean history. Language is the very example of this. The Chinese writing system, introduced to Korea in much earlier times along with continental iron culture, had more widespread use during the Three Kingdoms period. The use of this foreign written language without modification, however, entailed many disadvantages, so that it was natural for Koreans to devise ways of adapting Chinese characters to meet their own needs. Specially, a method was developed of representing a Korean word either with a Chinese character having its sound or with one sharing its meaning, which later influenced the creation of Japanese writing system.

The Korean elite used the Chinese written language intensely over many centuries when they tried to write something, while the entire Koreans used the Korean spoken language. During the Chosun dynasty, Korean was widely written and began to replace written Chinese. Thus, the invention of the Korean alphabet, hangul, by Sejong the Great about 500 years ago, was undoubtedly the most significant achievement of Korean history.