[KS] perspectives on Korean history
Ted Han
jangpa1 at hotmail.com
Mon Dec 10 14:59:57 EST 2001
>The issue is this: it drives me nuts to hear oft and o'er the bit
>about how Korea has been invaded so many times. There are so-called
>scholarly studies that document several thousand "invasions" -- some
>number them, 2,386, or whatever.
>
>My take is, that such a view, though nearly universal, is a product
>of recent, 20th century, events. Looking at the long view, however,
>aside from the Mongols in the 13th century, and the Hideyoshi
>invasion in the late 16th century, you've got a culture of civilian,
>not military dominance, and peace not war -- not a product of
>multiple invasions.
I have to partially agree with you. The concept of Yangban includes two
sides of same coin: munban (literati or civilian) and muban (military). The
16th century or later Korean dynasty's failure is not caused by the civilian
dominance and/or despised military. To me, it was total inability for the
Korean kingdom to deter foreign invasion.
I know you are not implying, but some Korean historians interpreted/
emphasized history that way in order to justify military dictatorship in
Korea.
It may be true that Korea does not have militaristic culture as systematic
as Japan, but I don't think that lack of tradition invited or caused
invasions.
Regards,
Ted Han
Intercultural Institute of California
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