[KS] Korea Always Invaded?!

[Eugene Y. Park]

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.
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