[KS] Re: Korea Always Invaded?!

[Jason Shaw Parker]

Yes, but these periods of invasion were generally "total perturbations" of 
the socio-economic system that resulted in periods of suffering for the 
Korean people. Suffering either as vassal states of a dominating power, or 
total collapse of the infrastructure as in the case of the Japanese invasion.

At 09:35 AM 7/21/00 -1000, you wrote:
>The foreign invasions that Professor Park cited are the only external 
>incursions Korea had suffered during the span of nearly 1200 years from AD 
>700 to, say, 1860.  How many countries in the world can claim as having 
>enjoyed as much peace as Korea?
>
>
>At 01:57 PM 7/20/2000 -1000, you wrote:
> >
> >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
> >>
> >
> >
>Yong-ho Choe, Professor
>Department of History
>University of Hawaii at Manoa
>Honolulu, HI  96822
>
>Tel: 808 956-6762
>Fax: 808 956-9600
>E-mail: choeyh at hawaii.edu



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