Korea

Late February 2018, Luc was invited to Seoul, Korea, for the telecom implementation of Seoul Line 9 phase 3. This was an opportunity for Jas to visit Korea as well. The Winter Olympics are about to come to an end and she's dreaming to visit the snowy mountains of Pyeonchang. But first she needs a Korean visitors visa. So we applied for a (joining) housewife visa. Unfortunately one requirement, Bank Certificate, took longer than expected to get and we could not leave together. Fortunately the visa came through and Jas arrived just after Luc finished the job.

Jas arrived with Cebu Pacific, a little before midnight on March 1, at Inchon International airport. Luc went to airport, which is one hour plus from Seoul, by train and return together to the hotel Ibis Style Ambassador in Gangnam by Taxi because no trains run after midnight. Temperatures are around freezing point.

The History of Korea stretches from Lower Paleolithic times to the present. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000 B.C.E., and the Neolithic period began before 6000 B.C.E., followed by that Bronze Age around 2500 B.C.E. The Gojoseon (Old Joseon) kingdom, founded in 2333 B.C.E., eventually stretched from the peninsula to much of Manchuria.[2] By the third century B.C.E., it disintegrated into many successor states.

In the early years of the Common Era, the Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje) conquered other successor states of Gojoseon and came to dominate the peninsula and much of Manchuria. During that period, Koreans played an important role as a transmitter of cultural advances, aiding the formation of early Japanese culture and politics. Census records from early Japan show that most Japanese aristocratic clans traced their lineage to the Korean peninsula. The Japanese Emperor stated that "it is recorded in the Chronicles of Japan that the mother of Emperor Kammu was of the line of King Muryeong of Baekje," and "I believe it was fortunate to see such culture and skills transmitted from Korea to Japan."

The Korean kingdoms competed with each other both economically and militarily. While Goguryeo and Baekje had great power for much of the era, defeating Chinese invasions several times, Silla's power gradually extended across Korea, eventually establishing the first unified state to cover most of Korean peninsula by 668. Historians often call this period Unified Silla. Soon after the fall of Goguryeo, former Goguryeo general Dae Joyeong led a group of Koreans to eastern Manchuria, founding Balhae (698 C.E. - 926 C.E.) as the successor to Goguryeo. After Balhae fell in 926, the Crown Prince led most his people into absorption by Goryeo.

Cheongja ùnhak sanggam mun maebyeong, the 68th national treasure of Korea.

Unified Silla fell apart in the late ninth century, giving way to the tumultuous Later Three Kingdoms period (892-936), which ended with the establishment of the Goryeo Dynasty. During the Goryeo period, courts codified laws, the government introduced a civil service system, and Buddhism flourished. In 1238, the Mongolian Empire invaded, the two sides signed a peace treaty after nearly 30 years of war. In 1392, the general Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) after a coup. King Sejong (1418-1450) promulgated Hangul, the Korean alphabet, as an alternative to Chinese characters, previously the only system of writing. This period husbanded many cultural and technological advances. Between 1592-1598, Japan invaded Korea, but the Korean Navy, led by Admiral Yi Sunsin eventually repelled with support from Korean resistance armies and Chinese aid. In the 1620s and 1630s, Joseon suffered invasions by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Beginning in the 1870s, Japan steadily forced Korea out of China's sphere of influence and into its own. In 1895, Empress Myeongseong was killed, with Japanese involvement in the assassination. In 1905, Japan forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Treaty making Korea a protectorate, and in 1910 annexed Korea, although international scholars consider neither legally valid. The massive nonviolent March 1st Movement of 1919 manifested Korean resistance to the Japanese occupation. Thereafter the Korean independence movement, coordinated by the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in exile, operated mainly in neighboring Manchuria, China and Siberia.

With the defeat of Japan in 1945, the United Nations developed plans for a trusteeship administration by the Soviet Union and the United States, but the Soviet Union refused to cooperate. In 1948, the South held UN mandated democratic elections while the North suffered the imposition of a communist dictatorship, divided at the 38th parallel. The North, emboldened by the belief the USA would refuse to come to the South's aid, attack the South on June 25, 1950, unleashing the Korean war of 1950.

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Luc & Jasmen SALAETS
Makati, NCR, Philippines
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