Cultural History of Korea:Since 1876 - Assignment Example

Cultural History of Korea: Since 1876 Korean Development The Korean journey has had a huge impact in the way the country operates. The basis of its development was mainly the use of dynasties based on the different attributes that define the growing need for a country to shape its culture to benefit the needs of its citizens. Schmid argues that the thing that has made the society within Korean peninsula to deal with its growth over the years has been the continued utility of the Confucian definition of a crisis that identifies the internal disorders that do bring a host of external calamities (Schmid 55). When things happen within the country, they are bound to result to external attributes that could increase or decrease the country’s ability to protect itself. However, this same attribute could be a strengthening feature for a government seeking to deal with the unstable situation in the country. Rather than take it as a calamity, it could be a rallying call that will bring more people to understand and meet the demands of the society within the main attributes of the society. The idea is to eradicate any weaknesses that could hinder the realization of the stability required to deal with the connotations of the cyclical Choson Dynasty failure (“Lecture notes”). A good example of the internal disorder during this time is the aspect of weak kings but were united and strengthened by the increasingly stronger in-law families. Most of the kings such as King Sunjo and King Honjong ascended to power at very tender ages of 10 and 8 years old respectively (“Lecture notes”). This shows that during their reign their families were taking a greater control of the kingdom because the children could not make the requisite decisions (Schmid 56). However, the fact that the kings were not present to meet with the needs of their subjects, there were social discontents and popular uprisings against the kings. This external calamity results from the weak kings taking power in the kingdom. Another aspect that was witnessed during this period was the discrimination against some of the regions due to their rebellion to the kings. This made it difficult to unite the dynasty from the external attacks that could destabilize it completely. To deal with it, the only way of handling the matter was by suppressing these rebellions, and that hurt the powers enjoyed by the ruling government. There was further decline in the way the agricultural production took place in the dynasty and that was a dangerous precedence (Schmid 60). This is because many more people took this internal disorder as a way of leaving their farms and working towards upward mobility and increasing social marginalization to the rest of the regions that were underdeveloped. The status quo was prevalent and the internal disorders were slowly bringing about rebellions such as the Hong Kyongnae rebellions and the Tonghak movements. This also allowed the spread of Catholicism, something that gave birth to the colonization of the society. The eastern learning was at loggerheads with the western learning, something that destabilized the society further (“Lecture notes”). Capitalism became a part of the society that led to the opening of the eastern Asian area to the imperialism of the western society. The era of imperialism clashed with the capitalist ideologies and the citizens suffered more from the economic strategies based on a few people rather than the needs of the society. Any internal reaction was a direct ticket towards the destabilization of the society and that left it more vulnerable to external calamities. If the society was willing to unite at this time, it could have withstood so many issues. Societies need to learn to protect themselves from such attributes when they face adversity (Schmid 63). Korean War The growth of the society was making the neighbors nervous. After colonization, there were incidents that led to the belief that the capitalism was not working in Korea. The main concerns were that there were contradictions between individualism, liberalism, moral decay and capitalism. The conflicts emerging regarding the classes were also making it difficult to determine whether the western civilization attempted by the colonialists was working. The Japanese occupation of Korea led to the creation of a new East Asian order that would bring about change to that side of the planet. Cumings notes that the growing need for a free state was making it difficult to control Korea. This led to the discussion of what to do with Korea after the World War II amongst China, Britain, and the US. The proposal by the US was to make the country free in due course but it would remain under trusteeship until that time (Cumings 153). In 1943, President Roosevelt wanted to have Korea under trusteeship for forty years, but Stalin did not agree with such a long period. In 1945, the US, USSR, and Great Britain sat at the Yalta conference where the US wanted USSR to join in the war against Japan. USSR wanted Germany first to surrender before it could get into war alongside the US. However, the US wanted to have a chance to make the Japanese to surrender so that it could take control of Korea before the USSR did. This led to the division of Korea between the Northern and Southern lines, which made it easy to place the Korean Capital City at Seoul. This was within the American zone (Cumings 189-92). The US occupied Japan and allowed the emperor to remain as the uniting factor because they saw Korea as an important symbol for the stability of Japan. The USSR saw this as a scramble for power, arriving at the northern part of Korea in 1945. This led to the alignment of present parties and leaders to get to understand the impact they would have when it came to the interactions with the collaborators. They aimed at showing the south that they had power and were ready to carry out communist reforms to make the country a stable economy and a key ally of the USSR. The US and the USSR were key factors in the division and the disturbances that took place after the division (Cumings 143-146). Globalization With time, the country was able to release itself from colonial powers. It earmarked growth for the sake of meeting its own economic and social reforms. The aim was to recreate a new country that would integrate world ideas with local ideas and make it an important part of the society (Chung 1070. This was to meet the immediate needs and boost the economic and cultural activities that would generate further interdependence amongst the country’s citizens. The Segyehwa drive was an important part of the society because it was an essential part of the society. It would link the nationalistic views of Koreans to the global needs. However, the aim was to create a society that could appropriately mirror the culture they know about rather lose focus of what they own (Shin 6). Korea knew that it was one of the important countries in Asia and needed to meet this requirement by choosing to deal with issues as they occurred. The goal was to create a platform that would bring about the adaptations that would meet this need. The country knew that it had to make good use of its resources and trust only itself because it had the experience of the conniving aspects of Japan, the USSR and US. The only way to gain this was by linking with the most appropriate form of globalization and decided to make good use of the skills present to reach the ultimate goal (Shin 8). The top-down reform attribute by Kim Young Sam’s government was just the beginning, but there was a chance of successfully modernizing and industrializing the nation to be amongst the best in the end (Shin 10). Works Cited Chung, Steven. Regimes within Regimes: Film and Fashion Cultures in the Korean 1950s, in The Korean Popular Culture Reader, pp. 103-125. Print. Cumings, Bruce. Korea's place in the Sun: A modern History. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. Print. Gi-Wook Shin. The Paradox of Korean Globalization. Stanford, CA: Asia/Pacific Research Center, 2003. Print. Schmid, Andrea. Decentering the Middle Kingdom and Realigning the East, in Koreas between empires, 1895-1919. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 55-100. Print. Read More