After a long period of dynastic decline, the royal dynasty of Silla was toppled and a new dynasty arose, known as Goryeo, established in 918 and lasting until 1392, with its main capital much further to the north, for much of the time in Gaeseong, to the north of what is now Seoul. Buddhism had entered all parts of Korea well before the Silla unification. It formed a very strong feature in the culture of Goryeo, when temples became rich and powerful while individual monks exercised great influence at court. Joseon
Finally, just as Ming China was emerging after the end of the Mongol domination, Korean court politics led to the overturn of the reigning dynasty of Goryeo and a new dynasty was proclaimed in 1392, with the name Joseon. The new royal family bore the family name Yi. The kingdom of Joseon, or the Joseon era, lasted until 1897, during which time it remained in a tribute-relationship with the Chinese emperor. The capital city was relocated to the town of Hanyang, which was renamed ‘Seoul’ (meaning ‘Capital city’). The Joseon era was marked by a strong reaction against Buddhism and an equally strong emphasis on a rigid form of Confucianism. Many hundreds of temples were destroyed, monks were not allowed to enter Seoul, and those temples that survived were mostly located in remote rural areas.
Near the start of the Joseon era, under the reign of King Sejong, the Korean alphabet (‘hangeul’) was invented to allow easy writing of the multiple syllables of Korean grammar, as well as those Korean words which did not correspond to any Chinese character. The written language of education and administration was Classical Chinese and the high-class scholars saw no need for this new invention. It was branded ‘women’s writing’ and only came into its own with the beginning of modernity late in the 19th century.
The greatest crisis during the Joseon era was the Japanese invasion that began in 1592. That year was known in Korea as Imjin year and therefore the entire invasion is often known as the Imjin Wars. The invasion was launched by Toyotomi Hideyoshi with the aim of crossing Korea, marching into China and conquering it. He had wrongly assumed that the Koreans would offer no resistance. When Korea asserted its loyalty to China, and thwarted the Japanese plan, the Japanese armies turned against Korea and systematically set about burning it. Almost every significant building in Korea was destroyed in the years that followed. China belatedly sent forces to support Korea and finally, with the death of Hideyoshi in 1598, the Japanese withdrew.
In the following century, the Manchus established the Qing dynasty in China in 1644. Joseon felt a strong loyalty to Ming China on account of the help they had provided against the Japanese. Therefore they opposed the Manchu and this led to two Manchu invasions of Joseon, in 1627 and again in 1637, ending in humiliating defeat for the Koreans. Late Joseon was marked by intense rivalry between different court factions, which led at times to violent purges and multiple exiles. The Joseon era was marked by a fierce resistance to all contact with the rest of the world, beyond strictly controlled relations with China and Japan. Early Modern Korea
Modern history in the Far East began on 3 January 1868, when the new Emperor of Japan made a formal declaration of the restoration of his power. This was the beginning of the Meiji Reforms, by which Japan emerged from isolation and became part of the modern world. Japan soon awakened to the possibility that it, too, might establish an empire and a first step would be to gain control of Korea. The Ganghwa Treaty between Japan and Joseon was signed on 26 February 1876. The United States and the other major western powers were not far behind.
Japan had already determined to take control of the Korean peninsula, stationing armed forces and police there, and in 1896 a group of Japanese thugs murdered the Korean Queen, Queen Min, for opposing the Japanese plans. In the decade that followed, Japan ruthlessly robbed Korea of its independence and forced Gojong, the king of Joseon, off the throne when he tried to resist. In 1910 Joseon was formally annexed by Japan. For the following decades Chosen was the name of a colonised Japanese province, where all education and administration used uniquely the Japanese language and where Korean culture was treated with disdain. Thousands of Koreans, reduced to penury, either fled to Manchuria or went to seek work in Japan.
On 1 March 1919, exasperated by years of intense Japanese repression, the Korean population staged street demonstrations demanding independence, the March 1 Independence Movement. After this, a Provisional Government in Exile was established in Shanghai and later groups of militant independence fighters would fight guerrilla campaigns against the Japanese in Manchuria and Siberia.
Then came the Pacific War, which ended on 15 August 1945, with the surrender of Japan. One condition of the act of surrender was that Japan would withdraw from all occupied territories, including Korea, so this date is known in Korea as ‘Liberation’. A few weeks before this, at a meeting of the allied leaders in Cairo, the United States had proposed and the Soviet Union agreed that after the defeat of Japan, Korea would be occupied by the US and the USSR, each taking responsibility for half the peninsula, defined by the 38th parallel running just north of Seoul.
The Americans brought with them a Korean exile who had long lived in the US, Yi Seung-man, known in the West as Dr Syngman Rhee. Meanwhile, many Koreans across southern Korea believed that they had now gained the freedom to run their country for themselves as they thought best, following more or less socialistic models. They were very soon branded ‘Communists’ (‘Palgaengi’ or ‘reds’) by supporters of Syngman Rhee and the American Military Government. Some took to the hills as guerrillas. The result was a reign of terror in which countless innocent folk were massacred as ‘reds’. One of the most notorious and atrocious mass-acres happened in Jeju Island on 3 April 1948, when thousands of innocent civilians, including children, were killed.
Meanwhile, in the northern half of the peninsula, the USSR quickly handed control to the local Communist Party with the support of many guerrila fighters returning from Manchuria and Siberia. Hundreds of Christians and landowners began to flee southward, while many of Korea’s brightest intellectuals and writers rejoiced in the establishment of a socialist regime in the North and were glad to go there to support it. As a result of the growth of the Cold War, in 1948 two opposing republics of Korea, South and North, were proclaimed, each claiming to control the entire Korean peninsula.The Korean War
On 25 June 1950, the North Korean army (Korean People’s Army, KPA) began to advance southward across the 38th parallel. This act of aggression or invasion was brought to the attention of the United Nations Security Council, which the USSR was then boycotting, and after debating the matter, the Security Council recommended that member states provide military assistance to the Republic of Korea.
As they launched their first attack, the North Koreans had a combined force that included tanks supported by heavy artillery; the South Koreans, lacking tanks, anti-tank weapons, or heavy artillery, could not stop such an attack. On 27 June, Syngman Rhee evacuated secretly from Seoul with some of the government. The next day the South Korean Army blew up the only bridge across the Han River in an attempt to stop the North Korean army. The bridge was blown up without warning while 4,000 refugees were crossing it, and hundreds were killed. Seoul fell to North Korea that same day.