South Korea

A peninsula of ancient kingdoms, half a century of colonization and fratricidal war, and a startling rise from ruin to global cultural powerhouse.

Korean history reaches back to the legendary kingdom of Gojoseon and the early states of the peninsula, through the Three Kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, the unification under Silla in 668, and the long dynastic ages of Goryeo and Joseon. The Joseon dynasty, founded in 1392, ruled for more than five centuries and gave Korea its alphabet, hangul, before falling to Japanese imperial pressure. Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and ruled it with harsh repression until 1945, when liberation came hand in hand with national division along the 38th parallel. The Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the south on 15 August 1948; within two years it was nearly destroyed by the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, which ended in armistice rather than peace and left the peninsula permanently split. From poverty and authoritarian rule, South Korea built one of the fastest industrial transformations in modern history, the Miracle on the Han River, then won its democracy through mass struggle in 1987. Today it is a prosperous democracy and a worldwide exporter of technology and culture.