I am getting pretty sprung on Korean history. People should know that most of what we consider Japanese culture was 'borrowed' from the Koreans. The pottery, the poetry, the music, the wabi-sabi concept, more. Not only that, but Korea is very very old, and existed as the "Hermit Kingdom" for centuries (millenia, perhaps) peacefully without any real interest in venturing outside the peninsula. This was interrupted when the Japanese (silly little brothers, to the Korean mind) began attacking. In early 20th c., during brutal Japanese occupation, Korea requested assistance from the League of Nations to no avail. Shortly thereafter, millions of Koreans organized into peaceful protest[!] against the occupation and were crushed by the Japanese, who killed hundreds of thousands of Korean men, women and children. The U.S. and other Western nations didn't intervene until after WWII, when it became apparent that the peninsula was a strategic military location.
Lighter: My students, for extra credit, are translating Korean poetry into English for me. It's very cute.
posted by Brad Larcen 8/08/2002[edit]
