KoreaKoreaSouth KoreaSouth Korea North KoreaNorth Korea

HankukHankuk ChosunChosun

한국한국 조선조선韓國韓國 朝鮮朝鮮

The land of the morning calmThe land of the morning calm

Geopolitical LocationGeopolitical Location

• Appendage to China• “Dagger pointed at the heart of Japan”

Manchuria

GeographyGeographyOverall Shape?• What do you see?Size:• Roughly equal to UtahPopulation: in ‘06• South Korea: 48,846,823 • North Korea: 23,113,019Climate: • Temperate: • Cold winters• Hot, wet summersTopography:• Mountainous

Divided NationDivided Nation• Japanese Occupation 1910• Divided in 1945

– Carrot used by US to lure USSR into the Pacific phase of WWII

– 38th Parallel– North: Soviet realm… ergo Communist– South: US realm … ergo Capitalist

• Korean War: 1950-53– Enemies– Divided Families– No mail, no trade, no visits, no phone calls

Ethnic HomogeneityEthnic Homogeneity

“Racially pure,” Unique Race

East Asian or Mongoloid racial group

• Strong sense of racial identity

• Self-identification as distinct from other Asian nations

Korean LanguageKorean Language한국어 조선말 한국어 조선말

Altaic Language Group

Structurally identical to Japanese

60% of vocabulary borrowed from Chinese

Distinct from both

Not a tonal language

Regional dialects – Just like U.S.

Korean LanguageKorean Language한국어 조선말 한국어 조선말

Early Literacy: Chinese

Early Writing: Chinese Characters

1400s Hangul – commissioned by King Sejong

• Phonetic system

• “Simple enough for women & servants”

Writing SystemWriting System

Mixed Writing system• Chinese root words written in Chinese

characters – 900 characters to pass middle school– 1800 characters to pass high school

• Korean Native words written in Hangul• Typical until 1945

– North Korea dropped Chinese about 1950– Hangul only newspapers in South Korea first

published in 1988

National Creation Myth:National Creation Myth: Tangun 2333 BC Tangun 2333 BC• Hwan-ung (god figure)• Tiger and Bear want to be

human• Live in cave 100 days eating

mugwort and garlic

• Bear endures and becomes a woman• She prays for a husband• Hwan-ung takes her as wife and they bear a

son, Tangun who governs over the people of Korea

See http://www.lifeinkorea.com/information/tangun.cfm for a simple but solid version of this story on the web.

Native Religious TraditionsNative Religious Traditions

• Animistic religious beliefs

• Shamanism

• Mudang: – Korean Shaman– Always Female

• Kut:– Korean exorcism– Ecstatic dance

Native Spiritual / Native Spiritual / Cultural ConceptsCultural Concepts

• Han– Collective burden of historic pain– Centuries of oppression– Eons of suffering

– Creates a sorrow, sense of ‘blues’ that is unique to Koreans and pervades their art, music and culture

Native Native Spiritual Spiritual

ConceptsConcepts

• Nature of the Human Soul

– Similar to China – spirit resides in the environment of its life/death.

– Burial practices similar to China

Native Spiritual ConceptsNative Spiritual Concepts

Ancestor Veneration:

• Chesa

• Enhanced & formalized by Confucianism

• Major part of civil responsibility in later Korean history

Borrowed Religious ConceptsBorrowed Religious Concepts

• Daoism– Focus on nature– Fengshui

• Confucianism• Buddhism

• Christianity – arrives late

Daoist ideas:Daoist ideas:Symbolism of the Symbolism of the South Korean FlagSouth Korean Flag

• Center is the Korean version of the Yin-Yang symbol

• The four trigrams are:• ☰; geon ( 건 ; 乾 ) = heaven 天• ☷; gon ( 곤 ; 坤 ) = earth 地• ☲; ri ( 리 ; 離 ) = sun 日• ☵; gam ( 감 ; 坎 ) = moon 月

Fengshui Fengshui (Chinese)(Chinese)

Pungsu Pungsu (Korean)(Korean)

• Geomancy

• Wind and Water

• Used in:

• Interior decorating

• Architecture

• City planning, etc.

• 5 Frog Brothers Folk tale…

ConfucianismConfucianism

• Borrowed from China

• Dominant Governing Ideology

in later dynasties

• Major impact on Korean Culture– Hierarchy– Ritualism and formality– Male dominance

BuddhismBuddhism• Borrowed from

China– About 50 CE– Becomes

important about 500 CE

• Adopted by early dynasties • Political dominance early on• Coexists with Confucianism, Daoism and native

traditions -- usually

ChristianityChristianity

• Catholics enter 1774• Protestants enter 1884

• Both become politically and socially very important– Protestants 1900 to the present– Catholics briefly about 1800 and again since 1970

(much more to come in later history discussion)

Myongdong Cathedral: Seoul