Home » Archives by category » Intro to Korea » History

Empress Myeongseong

Empress Myeongseong

Have you heard of Operation Fox Hunt? It involves a tragedy that happened in Korea. It was about 120 years ago. A queen of Korea was brutally assassinated. The assassin was hired by the Japanese government. The Eulmi Incident (1895) Murder of Queen Myeongseong Japan wanted to reinforce its influence on the Korean peninsula. For [...]

Japanese Occupation

On the night of signing the 1905 Eulsa treaty or so-called Japan-Korea Protectorate Treaty by force, Terauchi Masadake who took the lead in the Japanese occupation of Korea said as follows: “Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not succeed in sending our troops to Joseon, but we succeeded!” He was a disciple of Yoshida Shoin. Ito Hirobumi who [...]

Joseon Dynasty

Joseon was the nation that succeeded Goryeo, established by Yi Seong-gye. Joseon dynasty is especially important in Korean history, since it is the period when the Korean alphabet – Hangeul – was created. Hangeul was created by the scholars of Jiphyeonjeon, the hall of worthies under the order of king Sejong the great in 1446. [...]

Goryeo Dynasty

In 918, King Taejo Wanggeon established the Goryeo Dynasty, turning a new chapter in history, ushering in the middle ages, and closing the book on ancient times. Goryeo was famous across the world for its publishing. They printed the oldest metal type printed book, Buljo jikji Simcheyojeol in 1377, which was 78 years earlier than [...]

Balhae Kingdom

In A.D. 698, 30 years after Goguryeo collapsed, Dae Joyoung, a general of Goguryeo, who continued to resist the Tang, founded the Balhae nation with the migrants of Goguryeo and parties of Malgal. As Balhae asserted that Balhae is the successor of Goguryeo, Balhae tried to expand of a territory, so Balhae gained power of [...]

Gaya Kingdom

Cultural foundations of Gaya had been laid out since the first century B.C., and its culture prospered in the third and fourth B.C. Gaya had been a confederacy of small polities in Nakdong River basin of southern Korea for 600 years before its demise in the year of 562. Gaya boasted a flourishing iron culture, [...]

Silla Kingdom

The year of 57BC marks the beginning of the Silla Kingdom. Together with the Goguryeo and Baekje, Silla was the third of the Three States Era, controlling the southeastern region of the Korean peninsula for 1000 years. Fostered dramatic development in the sciences, mathematics, culture and religion. Cheomseongdae is one of the world’s oldest surviving [...]

Baekje Kingdom

In 18 B.C., Baekje was founded in the hangang river basin, emerged as the dominant kingdom of the three kingdom period(5th century). In the 4th century, when king Geunchogo was on the throne, Baekje, with its excellent diplomatic skills and geopolitical location, connected ancient China’s Yoseo, present-day Hebei and Shandong provinces to the Korean peninsula [...]

Goguryeo Kingdom

Goguryeo was established in 37 B.C, when King Dongmyeongseong founded its capital in jolbon. After defeating a slew of foreign invasions, including the hyeondogun, Goguryeo recovered all the old territories of Gojoseon by the end of the 4th century and expanded its territory to the northern parts of China. There were multiple invasions by China’s [...]

Gojoseon Kingdom

Established in 2333 B.C., Gojoseon was the Koreans’ first state. However, the history of Gojoseon is, to date, recognized as a myth by historians around the world. Japan has rejected the establishment year of and distorted the history of Korea.  However, the evidence proves that Gojoseon did indeed exist and further evidence that its existence [...]

Page 1 of 212