SOUTH KOREA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

After college, I was exploring what I would do. I ended up graduating with a non-teaching music degree, so I was limited on choices. But a bachelor’s degree is a bachelor’s degree, right? As a longtime student of Japanese, I naturally started looking at teaching English in Japan but couldn’t find a program right for me at the time. So, I also started looking at South Korea, which was also supposed to also pay well. I did find a school in Busan that I was interested in and almost applied to, but I didn’t have any money to get me there. And then life got in the way.

 

The term Korea comes from the name Goryeo, a shortened form of Goguryeo, referring to the 5^th century kingdom. When the Persians arrived, they pronounced it as Korea, and its spelling was generally accepted as Corea or Korea throughout much of the 19^th century. There are actually some who blame Japanese influence for the now-accepted spelling of Korea, claiming they did it so it’ll show up higher in alphabetical order. (You know, if we called it by its Korean name, Han’guk, it’ll show up higher, too.)

 

South Korea is located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula and one of the few countries that only share a land border with one country. It’s surrounded by Yellow Sea to the west and the Sea of Japan (also known as the East Sea). South Korea also has several islands, mainly Jeju Island, Ulleung Island, and a number of smaller islands dotted around the mainland. It borders North Korea with the infamous DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). There are actually quite a few DMZs throughout the world, but the Korean one is one of the most militarized on. (Side note: I once dated a Korean guy briefly, and he told me that guys are supposed to serve in the military for two years, either before or after college. While on patrol there, he stepped on a landmine and had to stand perfectly still for eight hours while members of his squad went to get help and come back to defuse the mine. … I once had to wait in a long line at Walmart with a hungry toddler and a baby. I imagine it’s fairly close.) Most of South Korea lies on the same parallel as Nashville, Tennessee, so its climate has four seasons that are similar to most of the Midwestern part of the US.    

An example of the seonbi traditional attire.

Of the three kingdoms that controlled what became the Korean Peninsula, Goguryeo was the largest and most militarized. They spent many centuries combating against each other and various Chinese dynasties. However, after the three kingdoms united, it was a generally peaceful time in the region, and trade among several East Asian kingdoms flourished. The time between the 10^th and 14^th centuries brought along quite a few changes and advancements: invention of the printing press, the expansion of Buddhism, a push for more education (literature, science, philosophy), followed by a Mongol invasion. During the 1500s, the creation of the Hangul writing system spread among the people with the help of the seonbi (ex-noblemen who encouraged learning). The Japanese invaded Korea during the 1600s and with help from the Chinese, they were able to push the Japanese forces back. (This wouldn’t be the last time the Japanese tries to take over Korea, though.) Korea went through a period of isolation during the 1800s but wasn’t able to stay out of global politics when Japan occupied Korea from 1910-1945. A few years after the end of WWII, Korea divided itself into North and South because of growing Cold War aggressions from Russia. North Korea was heavily supported by Russia and China, while generally the UN (along with the US on certain matters) supported the South. The conflict ended as a stalemate with 1.2 million fatalities and many families separated. Although initially, South Korea’s economy was wrecked after the conflict, they made significant developments in their infrastructure such as building expressways and subway systems. Their economy grew and stepped onto the international stage when they hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics (this was the one where diver Greg Louganis hit is head on the springboard – it was scary to watch). They also hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics earlier this year in Pyeongchang, most notable for the apparent civility between North Korean and South Korean heads of state.
 

 

Located in the northwestern part of the country, the capital city of Seoul is officially known as Seoul Special City. Literally meaning “capital,” Seoul has around 25.6 million people in the metro region (which also includes the large suburb of Incheon and surrounding Gyeonggi province). It’s the home of roughly half of the country’s population and headquarters of many global businesses. In fact, it’s one of the largest metro areas in the world, and its mix of ancient and modern makes it an attractive hotspot for tourism. Although it’s the center of government, education, transportation, media, and commerce/finance, there are many issues the city faces because of its population, namely air pollution and an extreme population density.

 

South Korea has a high-income economy and is a developed country, with internationally known companies like Kia, Hyundai, LG, and Samsung contributing to this. They’re one of the fastest growing economies and considered one of the Asian Tiger countries (along with Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong). Tourism and transportation (like Korean Air) are high economic drivers as are electronics, energy, and science and engineering (including space exploration, robotics, and biotechnology).

More than half of Koreans don’t identify with any particular religious following. However, that number may also include people who follow indigenous Korean shamanistic beliefs, and some may actually be atheists. Of the theists who are left, most follow Christianity (with more Protestant [mostly Presbyterian] than Catholic), and a smaller number follow Korean Buddhism.

 

Korean is the official language and is not considered a part of any language family. However, when I started studying Korean as I was preparing to teach there, I found several similarities between it and Japanese, including a few similar words and similar sentence structure. English is the most common foreign language studied in school along with Japanese and Mandarin. 

 

TIME magazine just released its Person of the Year. But before they make their final decision, they poll their readers for their input. Oddly enough, the readers picked the Korean K-pop group BTS (TIME editors actually picked journalists who were killed for reporting the truth). I first heard of this group from my daughter, whose friends listen to it. I have to admit, they’re kind of catchy, and I see why they’re pretty popular. It’ll be interesting to delve into more of what parts of Korean culture they have exported to the world and what we still don’t know about.

 

Up next: art and literature