South Korea Essay -- Essays Papers

South KoreaHistoryKoreas original name, Choson, Meant land of the morning calm. The countrys annals has been shaped by frequent invasions from its neighbors. Korean history is divided into three main periods the silla (668-935), Koryo (935-1392), and Yi (1392-1910) dynasties. The name Korea is derived from the middle dynasty of Koryo. Foreign influence-direct and indirect-occurred throughout these dynasties. All of Koreas foreign overlords-Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese instituted a closed-door policy in order to solidify their rule. This isolation earned Korea the name of the Hermit kingdom.In 1910, Japan annexed Korea and enforced ruthless control, outlawing Korean culture and language. Despite resistance, several generations grew up more familiar with Japanese than with Korean customs. At the Yalta Conference at the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union jointly launch temporary administrative trusteeship over Korea until democratic elections coul d be held. Japanese forces south of the thirty-eighth parallel surrendered to the United States and forces in the north surrendered to the U.S.S.R. The Soviets blocked attempts to implement nationwide elections, and the two sides became deadlocked. When authorities in the north ignored a United nations resolution for handled elections in 1948, a pro-Western government was established in the south (the republic of Korea). Later the Soviet Union established the Democratic Peopless republic of Korea in the north. In June 1949, U.S. troops withdrew. One year later, atomic number 7 Korean forces invaded South Korea. A United Nations-backed coalition of sixteen member nations sent assistance to South Korea. The resulting war lasted three years and ended in a stalemate. On July 27, 1953, an armistice agreement was signed and a military Armistice Commission with five members for each side was set up to supervise the implementation of the armistice. Since neither the United S tates nor South Korea ever signed the agreement (although they respect the terms as members of the United Nations), a state of war is formally still in effect. The Society and Its EnvironmentFew societies have changed as rapidly or as dramatically since the end of World War II as that of South Korea. When the war ended in 1945, the great majority of the people living in the southern ... ...d lineage continuity traditionally was, and to a great extent remains, a supremely important principle. This reflects Menciuss view that of all possible unfilial acts, to deprive ones parents of posterity is the worst. Historically, the Korean family has been patrilineal. The most important concern for the family group was producing a male heir to carry on the family line and to perform ancestor rituals in the household and at the family gravesite. The freshman son customarily assumed leadership of the family after his fathers death and inherited his fathers house and a greater member of land than his younger brothers. Traditionally, the purpose of marriage was to produce a male heir to carry on the family line and not to provide mutual knowledge and support for husband and wife. Marriages were arranged. A go-between or matchmaker, usually a middle-aged woman, carried on the negotiations between the two families involved who, because of a very harsh law of exogamy, sometimes did not know each other and often lived in different communities. The bride and groom met for the first time at the marriage ceremony, a practice that ended in the cities by the 1930s.