Korea - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
168
Korea - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781857336702 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Kuperard |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2012 |
| Series: | Culture Smart! , #45 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 168 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Korea
By James Hoare
Bravo Ltd
Copyright © 2016 James HoareAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-85733-670-2
CHAPTER 1
LAND & PEOPLE
The Korean peninsula has been occupied by two independent states since 1948: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, known as North Korea) in the northern part, and the Republic of Korea (ROK, known as South Korea) in the south. The peninsula curves out from the landmass of Northeast Asia, separating the Yellow Sea between China and the peninsula from what the Koreans call the East Sea. The latter title is disputed by Japan, which calls this stretch of water the Sea of Japan. To the north, there is a long land border with China, and a short one with Russia. The border is ill-defined in places, and Korean and Chinese claims overlap. Between the two Koreas, the 38th parallel originally formed the boundary as set by Soviet and US occupation forces in 1945. Now there is a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), established by the July 27, 1953, Korean Armistice that marked the end of the Korean War (1950–53). This zone, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, stretches some 151 miles (243km) on land and another 37 miles (59.5 km) through the Han River estuary, right across the peninsula. Despite the area's official title, both sides have brought weapons into their respective sectors from the very start of the armistice, and the DMZ is, ironically, now one of the most fortified regions in the world. For years it was virtually impassable, although recent years have seen some movement across it. One positive side effect of its existence is that much wildlife finds a peaceful sanctuary there, despite the occasional loss to a landmine or weapons tripwire. Some 1,600 plant and animal species have been identified as living in the DMZ, including the rare white crane.
GEOGRAPHY
The peninsula is rugged, with Mount Paektu, in North Korea on the Sino-Korean border, reaching 9,003 feet (2,744 m), while the highest mountain on the South Korean mainland is Mount Chiri in the Sobaek range, at 6,250 feet (1,905 m). Mount Halla on Cheju Island, the highest mountain in South Korea, is 6,365 feet (1,937 m). The whole peninsula is divided by a series of mountain ranges. It is spectacularly beautiful in places, with jagged peaks and fast-flowing streams. This beauty has long been reflected in Korean painting.
The total area of the peninsula is about 85,328 square miles (220,998 sq. km), or roughly the size of mainland Britain. The mountain ranges leave relatively little land for cultivation. Farming and habitation are confined to about 16–20 percent of the total land area. As both Koreas have industrialized since the 1950s, so the amount of land available has steadily shrunk. The heaviest population concentrations have always been on the western side of the peninsula, which also has the best farmland.
There are about 3,500 islands, though some of these are disappearing as both Koreas have compensated for their lack of land by reclaiming it from the sea, a process that originally began in the Japanese colonial period (1910–45). Seoul's new airport at Inch'on, opened in 2000, is built on a mixture of islands and reclaimed land. The east coast has steep cliffs and few islands, and the waters are deep. Far out to sea is Ullung-do, a popular tourist destination, famous for squid fishing. Even further to the east is a small crop of rocks known as Tok- to in Korean, and Takeshima in Japanese, whose ownership is disputed between both Koreas and Japan. (Even more obscurely, they appear on many Western maps as the Liancourt rocks, named after a nineteenth-century French survey vessel.) Tok-to is currently occupied by a detachment of South Korean police. The dispute flares up from time to time as one side or the other engages in a provoctive action or issues an inflammatory statement, then fades back in to obscurity for a bit.
On the western side, the sea is shallow, with numerous islands and high tidal variations. This produces good fishing, which has also led to clashes between vessels from the two Koreas and from China. Off the southern coast, drowned valleys have produced many islands, creating another area of spectacular natural beauty, with a number of national parks. Further off is the island of Cheju, South Korea's only island province. Its subtropical climate and subtly different traditions have made it a popular vacation spot since the 1950s. Before Koreans had the opportunity to go overseas on such occasions, it was the main honeymoon destination.
Little remains of the original deciduous forests that once covered the peninsula, now replaced by cultivated land or secondary forest. Rice paddy is the most widespread form of cultivation, even in the northern part of the peninsula, which is not well suited to it. Other grains include wheat and barley, and potatoes are now widely grown in North Korea. In the South, the use of plastic sheeting has greatly increased the supply of winter vegetables. There is some use of it in the North, partly encouraged by foreign aid workers, but it is expensive, and it is much less used than in the South. The southern island of Cheju's subtropical climate led to the development of a citrus fruit industry in the 1970s.
CLIMATE
The climate is varied; semitropical in Cheju, where oranges will grow, but in the rest of the peninsula varying from subzero winter temperatures to summer monsoons. Occasionally, winters can be particularly hard. In the north of the peninsula in January 2001, for example, temperatures briefly plunged below -58°F (-50°C), the coldest they had been for fifty years. December 2011 also saw another very cold spell. Usually, winters are more moderate, though there are regular spells of below-zero temperatures between November and March. Visitors to South Korea will find that buildings are well heated in winter, so getting the right balance of clothing is not always easy. In North Korea, however, while individual hotel rooms will be warm, few public buildings, even hotels, can supply adequate heating in winter, so it is necessary to bundle up well.
A BRIEF HISTORY
The Three Kingdoms
Koreans trace their historical origins back to the Neolithic age (c. 5000–1000 BCE), when the mythical founder of the Korean state, the half-human, half-divine Tan'gun, is supposed to have flourished. (Tan'gun is regarded as the ancestor of all Koreans, and in the 1990s, in one of the ongoing rounds in the competition for legitimacy between the two Koreas, the North Koreans claimed to have discovered his tomb near the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.) The reality is that it was only much later, well after the beginning of the Christian era, that the first recognizable states emerged on the peninsula. These are known as the Three Kingdoms, of Koguryo, Paekche, and Shilla. All were heavily influenced by developments both political and cultural in China. For a time, the Chinese empire had a number of commanderies, or military colonies, on what is now Korean territory. The greatest of these was Lelang or Lolang (Nangnang in Korean), established around 108 BCE and overthrown by Koguryo in 313 CE.
Unified Korea
In 668 CE, Shilla succeeded in uniting most of the peninsula, thus helping to create a sense of identity among the peoples on the Korean peninsula that was separate and distinct from that of the Chinese to the north. Shilla's capital was at Kyongju, in the southeast of the peninsula, where there are still splendid archaeological remains to testify to its cultural richness. It was also during this period that Buddhism, also introduced from China, truly flourished in the peninsula. At the same time, the Koreans were absorbing Confucian teachings from China. Shilla was succeeded by Koryo (918–1392), from which, through China, the West learned the name "Korea." Under the Koryo dynasty, whose capital was at Kaesong, now in North Korea, Buddhism become the religion of the court and the aristocracy. Also during this period, Korea made many advances in military science, especially in the use of rockets and other explosives, and also began the development of printing. Raids by Chinese bandits and Japanese pirates in the late fourteenth century increased the importance of the military, which for a time dominated government. But following disputes over how to react to dynastic changes in China that saw the overthrow of the Mongol dynasty by the Ming, one general, Yi Song Gye, staged a coup d'état, and proclaimed himself king of a new Chosun dynasty in 1392.
The Chosun, or Yi, dynasty ruled Korea until 1910. The capital was moved from Kaesong to Hanyang (modern Seoul), which became, and remained, the economic, social, and political center of the country until the division of the 1940s. It then became the capital of South Korea but remained formally the capital of the North also until 1972. Under the Yi, Buddhism fell from favor, to be replaced by Confucianism, also imported from China. This new philosophy, with its strong emphasis on social order and education, came to dominate most aspects of Korean life, and its influence can still be traced today. Buddhism never vanished entirely from the scene. In theory, the monks were banished from the cities into remote mountain areas. Even today, most of South Korea's major Buddhist temples are to be found in hills and remote valleys, though the expansion of the cities has brought others back into urban areas. Many kings, even those who persecuted Buddhists, turned to the religion in old age, and it was always strong among the women of the court. Among ordinary people too, Buddhism, with its pantheons of those willing to assist mere mortals, proved more alluring in times of personal distress or general troubles than the more austere doctrines of the Confucians.
Foreign Pressure
Unrest in Korea's neighbors, China and Japan, brought problems for Korea. In the late sixteenth century, under the warlord Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1536–98), the Japanese sought to use the peninsula as a path to conquer China, a move that turned into the long drawn-out Imjin wars. The conflicts, from 1592 to 1593 and again from 1597 to 1598, led to Chinese intervention, which saved Korea. The wars also produced Korea's greatest hero, Admiral Yi Sun-shin, but the fighting left Korea devastated. Large numbers of Koreans were killed or captured. Skilled craftsmen, especially potters, were carted off to Japan, where they helped revitalize the Japanese ceramic industry. Many monasteries and palaces were destroyed at this time, and remained in ruins for several hundred years. Korea suffered again as the Manchu seized control of China and its dependencies in the 1630s and 1640s, and demanded subservience to their rule. The Koreans acquiesced, but this, too, left its scars.
It was hardly surprising, therefore, that Korea tended to turn in upon itself from the seventeenth century onward, although this should not be exaggerated. Formal contacts were maintained with both China and Japan, with exchanges of diplomatic missions. It was through such missions to China that new intellectual trends flowed in, including Roman Catholicism, which would provoke bitter persecutions in the nineteenth century. In general, the Koreans sought to be left alone. The scholar-officials, versed in Neo-Confucianism, formally despised trade and those who demanded it. The country was thus poorly placed to resist the Western and Japanese pressure that began to build up from the 1860s onward. Two wars, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, were fought over the issue of which country should control Korea. Japan won both. Other powers showed little interest in the peninsula after 1905, when Japan proclaimed a British India-style protectorate over Korea. This was followed by outright annexation in 1910.
Japanese Colonial Rule
There followed thirty-five years of harsh colonial rule until the end of the Second World War brought liberation in 1945. All development in the Korean peninsula from 1910 until 1945 was subordinate to the needs of Japan, a trend that grew worse as the Japanese Empire moved onto an all-out war footing after 1937. The Second World War also led to an intensification of the Japanese campaign to assimilate Koreans into the Japanese Empire. Teaching of the Korean language was forbidden, and Koreans were compelled to take Japanese names.
The Koreans did not endure these developments without opposition. "Righteous armies" opposed the protectorate. On March 1, 1919, Koreans, inspired by President Wilson's rhetoric and hopeful of Western support in the aftermath of the First World War, rose up in a nationwide protest against Japanese rule. The Japanese quelled this uprising with much ferocity. Further protests against the Japanese would occur sporadically, right up to the eve of the Second World War. Koreans in China and elsewhere organized governments-in-exile, marked perhaps more by factionalism than agreement, while in the north of the country and in China, Communist-inspired guerrilla groups fought against the Japanese from the late 1920s onward. A massive Japanese military campaign starting in 1939 drove most of these groups into the Soviet Union or deeper into Chinese territory, from which they would emerge in 1945.
Korea Divided
Korean hopes for the restoration of a unified independent state were not realized. The peninsula was divided into Soviet and American zones, originally solely for the purpose of taking the Japanese surrender. But the wartime allies could not agree on the future of Korea, and the breakdown in their negotiations led eventually to the emergence of two separate states in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Neither wanted the continuation of the division, and there was much jockeying for position along the 38th parallel, the formal dividing line between the two states. In June 1950, North Korea launched an all-out attack in an attempt at unification by force. It nearly succeeded, but was stopped by United Nations intervention. In the end, after much suffering and great losses, the Korean War only succeeded in perpetuating the division, which still exists today.
THE KOREAN WAR
The Korean War began with a massive North Korean attack along the 38th parallel on the morning of Sunday, June 25, 1950. South Korean forces, many of them on leave, were not prepared for this, and quickly fell back. Seoul, the capital, fell within three days, and the South Korean government retreated first to Taejon, then to Taegu, and finally to Pusan.
The North Korean forces swept all before them. Although, in the absence of the Soviet Union from the Security Council, the United States quickly rallied United Nations support for the Republic of Korea, this took time to arrive. Some American units were brought in from Japan, but they were lightly armed and proved no match for the North Korean tanks. By August, however, the situation had improved. The North Korean lines were heavily extended, and the line along the Naktong River — the Pusan perimeter — held.
This allowed time for the arrival of more UN forces; the first British troops arrived at the end of August 1950, for example, although British warships had already seen action by then. At the same time, the UN Supreme Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, the head of the Allied occupation forces in Japan, had decided on an ambitious plan for an amphibious landing at Inch'on, the port of Seoul. This began on September 8, 1950, and at the same time, UN forces began to break out of the Pusan perimeter.
MacArthur's forces met little resistance once they had stormed ashore at Inch'on. By then, the North Korean forces were tired and very extended. While there was some fierce fighting as the UN forces moved up the peninsula, the North Korean victories of June and August were now reversed. UN forces soon reached the Han River near Seoul, and then the 38th parallel. They did not stop but pressed on into North Korea. By late October, the South Korean forces had reached the Yalu River, on the border with China, and UN forces were pressing hard behind them.
The Chinese had been warning since the crossing of the parallel that they would be prepared to intervene. MacArthur discounted such warnings, but the Chinese began infiltrating forces into Korea. On October 26, 1950, the Chinese struck. Before long, UN forces were in headlong retreat. Some units fought a rearguard action but many just "bugged out," jettisoning supplies and equipment as they fled from the Chinese "hordes." (One story has it that at a UN forces press conference, where the briefing officer had repeatedly talked about the Chinese "hordes," one journalist asked how many made up a normal horde. The term then disappeared from official briefings.)
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Korea by James Hoare. Copyright © 2016 James Hoare. Excerpted by permission of Bravo Ltd.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Cover,Title Page,
Copyright,
About the Author,
Acknowledgements,
Map of Korea,
Introduction,
Key Facts,
Chapter 1: LAND AND PEOPLE,
Chapter 2: VALUES AND ATTITUDES,
Chapter 3: BELIEFS, CUSTOMS, AND TABOOS,
Chapter 4: THE KOREANS AT HOME,
Chapter 5: FOOD AND DRINK,
Chapter 6: TIME OUT,
Chapter 7: TRAVELING,
Chapter 8: BUSINESS BRIEFING,
Chapter 9: COMMUNICATING,
Further Reading,