Korean History and Culture Seminar for American Educators Handbook 2017 NKS Seminar-Handbook-Final with Daniel | Page 28
Twentieth Century Korean and East Asian History &
Economic and Political Development of Korea -Post
Korean War to Present
Albert L. Park, Associate Professor of History, Claremont McKenna College,
[email protected]
Twentieth century Korea featured clashes, upheavals and revivals. Koreans entered a new
torturous phase of history following the end of Japanese colonialism in 1945. Within eight
years, Koreans experienced independence, conflict, division and war. The permanent
separation of the two Koreas gave way to drives for building autonomous and strong
nation states following the war. By the late 1970s, North and South Korea achieved
economic revivals that were celebrated by communist countries and industrial capitalist
societies. The divergence of the North and South Korean economies by the end of the Cold
War raised issues and questions about the prospects toward reunification and the role of
the United States in Korea and East Asia. Today, Koreans on the peninsula face an uncertain
future as they are still bound to the Cold War with the division of the peninsula in spite of
the breaking down of boundaries throughout the world due to globalization.
This presentation gives a brief overview of events and developments in a unified Korea
from 1945-1948, wartime Korea (1950-53) and North and South Korea. It explains the rise
of division in 1948, the Korean War, an independent industrial North Korea, and the
industrialization and democratization of South Korea. Studying these events gives the
contextualization for understanding the rise of North Korea’s nuclear program and the
politics of reunification.
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I. The end of Colonialism and the rise of division (1945-1948)
a. “Pressure cooker” and ideological conflict between Koreans
b. Cold War politics between the United States and Soviet Union
c. South Korea (May 1948) and North Korea (Sept 1948)
II. Origins of the Korean War and the Korean War (1950-1953)
a. Colonial Korea
b. Discontent and revolt in South Korea and liberation in North Korea
c. Borderland skirmishes (1949)
d. Did the Korean War start on June 25, 1950?
e. Incheon Landing (Sept 15, 1950)
f. China’s war (Oct 1950)
g. Wartime atrocities
h. Stalemate
i. Armistice (July 1953)
III. North Korea after the war (1953-1990)
a. Juche and Autonomy
b. Industrialization
c. Non-Aligned Movement