Side by side

Japan and South Korea compared

Two sourced records set beside each other — the figures each nation publishes, and the events each chronicle records of the other. Compared, never graded.

🇯🇵Japan

660 BCE (traditional)The traditional accession of Emperor Jimmu

Dossier →Chronicle →

🇰🇷South Korea

918Wang Kŏn founds Goryeo, which gives Korea its name

Dossier →Chronicle →

Shared indicators
42
Domains
9
Crossed events
7
Data through
2026-08-10

The figures, side by side

Each figure is the same observation, with the same source, as on the two dossiers. Every value shows the year it was observed — vintages differ by indicator and nation. A “—” is an absence in the source data, never a zero. Metric names link to the world ranking; values open the figure on its own dossier.

Entangled histories

7 events in which either nation’s sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle; nothing here was written for this page.

  1. 1592-1598 CE

    Japanese (Imjin) invasions repelled

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi's forces invade Korea; resistance led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin and his turtle ships, with Ming Chinese aid, ultimately drives them out.

    War & Rupture · from the South Korea chronicle · The Joseon Dynasty · Joseon dynasty, Korea (history)

  2. 1905 CE

    Korea made a Japanese protectorate

    After defeating Russia, Japan imposes a protectorate treaty stripping Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty, a prelude to full annexation.

    Colonisation · from the South Korea chronicle · The Joseon Dynasty · Korea Under Japanese Rule, Korea (history)

  3. 1910 CE

    Annexation and colonial government

    Japan installs a Government-General in Seoul, ruling Korea through military and police power and beginning systematic economic exploitation.

    Colonisation · from the South Korea chronicle · Japanese Colonial Rule · Korea Under Japanese Rule

  4. 1910 CE

    Japanese annexation of Korea

    Japan formally annexes Korea, ending the Joseon dynasty and more than five centuries of Korean monarchy and beginning 35 years of colonial rule.

    Colonisation · from the South Korea chronicle · The Joseon Dynasty · Korea Under Japanese Rule, Korea (history)

  5. April 1919

    Korean Provisional Government formed

    Korean nationalists establish a Provisional Government in exile in Shanghai to coordinate the independence struggle against Japanese rule.

    Politics & Power · from the South Korea chronicle · Japanese Colonial Rule · Korea Under Japanese Rule, Korea (history)

  6. c. 1939-1945 CE

    Forced labor and wartime mobilization

    As the Pacific War expands, Japan conscripts hundreds of thousands of Koreans for forced labor and military service and coerces women into sexual slavery.

    Colonisation · from the South Korea chronicle · Japanese Colonial Rule · Korea Under Japanese Rule

  7. 15 August 1945

    Liberation from Japan

    Japan's surrender ends 35 years of colonial rule; Koreans celebrate Gwangbokjeol, the Restoration of Light, even as foreign occupation and division loom.

    Independence · from the South Korea chronicle · Japanese Colonial Rule · Korea Under Japanese Rule, The Korean War and Japan's Recovery