Topic: Discuss the history of Korea and its impact on Korea’s culture, politics and business.

Korea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Korean civilization is one of the oldest ancient civilizations in world history, and Korea has the oldest history in East Asia.

* Gojoseon (National foundation in BC 2333 )

The first Korean kingdom Gojoseon was established on a flourishing bronze culture in BC 2333 by Dangun who was the legendary founder of Gojeseon and people believed he was the grandson of heaven (Edward 2005).
It was centered in the basins of Liao (China) and Northern part of the Korean Peninsula.

Politics and economy

In Korean history, Gojoseon was the first state to unify …show more content…

And also women were forced into prostitution as a form of sexual slavery by Japanese military. These women are now called comfort women and still big issue between South Korea and Japan (Mark 2005).

* Founding of Republic (Since 1945 ~ )

The Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, caused Korea to undertake divided rule: The USSR (Soviet) occupied Korea north of the 38th parallel, while the US occupied the southern part of Korea. In 1950, the North Korea invaded the South, starting Korean War. UN helped the South while China and Soviet Union sided with the North, resulting in a three year war (Curtis 2007).

Different paths followed by the two Koreans since separation

South Korea is one of the most successful post war economic and political development cases.

* 10th largest economy (member of OECD) * 12th largest trading country * 11th in global competitiveness (WEF 2007) * Fully democratized political system

North Korea

* Communist system * The world most isolated regime & economic backwardness * Dictatorship and human rights issues * Nuclear development & ‘military-first policy (Konstantin 2005)

* Important to remember

* The Korean War is not over * In Korea, history strongly influences the present as several contentious periods and it will not be forgotten. *