The force that split Korea in 1945 in two is not recent: It has been pulling it apart for thousands of years. If you understand it, you can understand all of Korea's history.
During the Battle of Myeongnyang in 1597, Admiral Yi Sun-sin did not have any turtle ships (Geobukseon) at his disposal. Although he had successfully utilized turtle ships in earlier battles during the Imjin War, the devastating defeat at the Battle of Chilcheollyang earlier that year resulted in the loss of most of the Joseon navy's fleet. (Admirl Yi was imprisoned at that time.) Consequently, there was insufficient time and resources to rebuild the turtle ships before the Battle of Myeongnyang. Despite commanding a significantly smaller fleet of only 13 ships against a much larger Japanese armada, Admiral Yi achieved a remarkable victory using strategic positioning and the challenging currents of the Myeongnyang Strait to his advantage.
You pass over the development of the Korean script in a sentence. Perhaps you could revisit that. My understanding is that Kanji is the only phonetic representation of a tonal language. It was thought at one time to be original, but some claim it's a brilliant adaptation of a North Asian phonetic script. Kanji, as well as the development of the first armored ships. testify to Korean ingenuity.
The Japanese have refused to pay compensation to the "comfort women," who are now elderly ladies, who suffer physically and mentally from their horrific ordeals.
The Japanese used Koreans as guards on the dreadful Burma-Thailand "Railway of Death," where the guards took out their frustrations over being colonized "citizens of Japan" by torturing starving Allied PoWs.
Still immense tension between South Korea and Japan.
Great, as always. Hans Morgentau (in „Politics among Nations“) wrote about the tragedy of Korea as a buffer state. That‘s how I learned about the forces of history. Combining it with geography makes things so much clearer. And nobody knows how to get Koreans out of this trap. Millions of people as pawns in geostrategic games. Incredibly scary if you think about it.
One interesting difference between Korea and its neighbours that you have not talked about is the remarkable presence of Christianity throughout Korea in the past and in South Korea today, second only to the Philippines.
During the Battle of Myeongnyang in 1597, Admiral Yi Sun-sin did not have any turtle ships (Geobukseon) at his disposal. Although he had successfully utilized turtle ships in earlier battles during the Imjin War, the devastating defeat at the Battle of Chilcheollyang earlier that year resulted in the loss of most of the Joseon navy's fleet. (Admirl Yi was imprisoned at that time.) Consequently, there was insufficient time and resources to rebuild the turtle ships before the Battle of Myeongnyang. Despite commanding a significantly smaller fleet of only 13 ships against a much larger Japanese armada, Admiral Yi achieved a remarkable victory using strategic positioning and the challenging currents of the Myeongnyang Strait to his advantage.
Corrected, thanks! What a crazy story
You pass over the development of the Korean script in a sentence. Perhaps you could revisit that. My understanding is that Kanji is the only phonetic representation of a tonal language. It was thought at one time to be original, but some claim it's a brilliant adaptation of a North Asian phonetic script. Kanji, as well as the development of the first armored ships. testify to Korean ingenuity.
Yes I'll cover that more in an article next week!
Hangeul is the name of the Korean script. Kanji is the name for Japanese use of Chinese ideograms.
Love the maps!
The Japanese have refused to pay compensation to the "comfort women," who are now elderly ladies, who suffer physically and mentally from their horrific ordeals.
The Japanese used Koreans as guards on the dreadful Burma-Thailand "Railway of Death," where the guards took out their frustrations over being colonized "citizens of Japan" by torturing starving Allied PoWs.
Still immense tension between South Korea and Japan.
Great, as always. Hans Morgentau (in „Politics among Nations“) wrote about the tragedy of Korea as a buffer state. That‘s how I learned about the forces of history. Combining it with geography makes things so much clearer. And nobody knows how to get Koreans out of this trap. Millions of people as pawns in geostrategic games. Incredibly scary if you think about it.
One interesting difference between Korea and its neighbours that you have not talked about is the remarkable presence of Christianity throughout Korea in the past and in South Korea today, second only to the Philippines.
https://open.substack.com/pub/paragsomani/p/boom-bubble-and-resurgence-an-ai?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=tprjc&utm_medium=ios