[KS] Re: Still Invaded Economically and Culturally

[C.E.Williamson]

Greetings,
As I see it, the United States is among the oldest countries in the world. The Republic of Korea is, of course, among the youngest, and all ties to former Confucian Chosun nearly gone or going at an accelerated rate.  A major problem for the Korea of today (ROK) is finding values to fill the void of the dreaded (particularly by the younger generations) Confucian past.  In my experience here, Christianity (another invader?) has not quite been able to supplant the spirit of the Chosun Dynasty that the modern world looks so harshly upon and fill the void.
C.E.Williamson
an ordinarily silent observer
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Choi" <michael_choi15 at hotmail.com>
To: <korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk>
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 4:46 PM
Subject: Re: Korea Always Invaded?!


> 
> I'm the rabble rouser who caused this whole storm. I apologize to all those 
> who were irritated by my statement. I appreciate your responses and helps me 
> to understand Korean history better.
> 
> Unquestionably, Korea enjoyed much territorial, social, and cultural 
> integrity throughout history. A fact that should be admired. Koreans should 
> not view themselves as victims. I guess my problem is that I'm comparing 
> Korea with the US, which is too young and in a different geographical 
> environment.
> 
> I'm not saying that Korea was always under foreign rule. Rather it has 
> always been subject to the interests of its more powerful neighbors and 
> rarely, if ever, flexed its influence on its neighbors. Does not the saying, 
> "shrimp among whales" have that kind of connotation. Maybe we should do away 
> with that saying.
> 
> Mike
> 
> >From: "Eugene Y. Park" <eugene.park at yale.edu>
> >Reply-To: korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk
> >To: korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk
> >Subject: Korea Always Invaded?!
> >Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 19:54:14 -0400 (EDT)
> >
> >
> >I cannot agree more with Prof. Yong-ho Choe's observation.  This notion
> >that Korea has always been invaded--that the nation sits on a strategic
> >invasion path from the continent to Japan or from Japan to the
> >continent--seems to be a myth kept alive especially by the Koreans
> >themselves.  Yes, it is perhaps impossible to quantify just exactly how
> >much warfare causes just exactly how much suffering, but my point here
> >(and I think Prof. Choe would agree) is that the historical facts do not
> >justify this victim complex.  To be sure, the list of large-scale foreign
> >invasions is a long one: for the last millenium, we can list the Khitan
> >Liao (late 10th-early 11th c.), Mongol (early to mid-13th c.), Red Turban
> >(mid-14th c.), Japanese (late 16th c.), and Manchu (early 17th c.)
> >invasions, not to mention other smaller-scale incursions.  But then,
> >some of the peaceful intervals between the above invasions are
> >extraordinarily long--most certainly the late Choson "Pax Koreana" between
> >the Manchu invasion and the mid-nineteenth-century incursions by the
> >French and the Americans.
> >
> >In the end, no one who would take a moment to put this Korean record in a
> >world history perspective could assert that Korea has "always" been
> >invaded or suffered from overly frequent invasions.  The cases of China,
> >Persia, Egypt (w/o getting into the issue of did an "Egypt" exist as a
> >distinct nation/cuture in the Medival period), Byzantium, Poland,
> >Lithunia, Italy, and many others should dispell the notion that Korea
> >historically has been a victim of unusually large number of foreign
> >invasions.
> >
> >Any kind of a suggestion that Korea is a special case--for the good or the
> >bad--must be made with utmost caution.  This victim complex has got to go,
> >although I'm not in any way downplaying the enormous suffering the Koreans
> >have suffered especially at the end of Choson and the first half of the
> >20th century.
> >
> >Gene Park
> >
> >-----
> >Eugene Y. Park
> >Assistant Professor of Korean History
> >University of California, Irvine
> >Department of History
> >Krieger Hall Room 153
> >Irvine, CA 92697-3275
> >
> >
> >On Fri, 21 Jul 2000, John Woo wrote:
> >
> > > You seem to forget, at least, the mongoliann occupation for close to a
> > > century...
> > > J.W. Woo
> > >
> > > >From: Yong-ho Choe <choeyh at hawaii.edu>
> > > >Reply-To: korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk
> > > >To: korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk
> > > >Subject: Re: Maehyang-ri
> > > >Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 12:15:15 -1000
> > > >
> > > >I am very much bothered by this statement: "Granted, Koreans suffered
> > > >invasion after invasion by foreigners for centuries."
> > > >
> > > >That Korea had been a helpless victim of constant foreign invasions is 
> >an
> > > >unfortunate myth that has absolutely no historical basis.  Examine the
> > > >Korean history and try to see how many foreign invasions Korea had
> > > >suffered, and compare that with those experienced by other countries, 
> >such
> > > >as China.  Few countries on the Eurasian continent had enjoyed as much
> > > >peace as Korea up until the the latter half of the 19th century.  Only
> > > >after the late 19th century did Korea become a target of contending 
> >powers
> > > >for hegemonic control.  The unfortunte myth--Korea being a victime of
> > > >foreign invasions--must have started by the Westerners at this time, 
> >but it
> > > >is not founded on historical facts.  We, starting with those on this 
> >list,
> > > >should get rid of this myth once and for all from this time on.
> > > ________________________________________________________________________
> > > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
> > >
> >
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
> 



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%