This is why Korea is awesome

So here’s the deal...when someone says “Asia,” the first thing that comes to mind is probably China or Japan.  Everybody knows where they are, and everybody knows a little bit about them (everything is made in China! Pokemon come from Japan! etc…). But what about that little country mushed between, that shares some of the language and culture of those two well-known countries?

WHAT ABOUT KOREA?!?! 

When I told people that I was about to go live and teach in Korea for a year, the question of: “Why Korea?” often came out with a little note of incredulity or puzzlement in the end.  What I mean is, people asked “Why Korea?” with the intention of asking “Why would you go THERE of all places?”  There are many answers to that question, but for this post I’m going to give a bit of history to show that Korea is in fact one of the least ordinary contries on Earth.  The recent history of Korea contains a mind-blowing miracle that not many people know about, or know about but don’t fully comprehend.  This miracle includes Korea’s mind-boggling speedabulous economic rise, following in the wake of the often forgotten massacre that was the Korean War.  So, let me tell you what I mean…

From 1910 to 1945 Korea was under Japanese colonial rule (Living in South Korea, 31).  I won’t go into all the details of what happened during that time, but an important thing to know is that Japan implemented a stringent assimilation policy.  Essentially, this was a legal ban on all things Korean: culture, language, and even Korean names.  Korean citizens were required to adopt Japanese names, and schools were forced to teach classes in Japanese at all times (Living, 31).  If any of the rules were not carried out, citizens would be denied all of their civil rights, including access to schools and ration cards.  Japan’s reign ended in 1945 after the Second World War, yet Korea still was not its own country.  The Soviet Union and the USA replaced Japan, and divided the country in two: the Soviet Union in the North and the US in the South (Living, 31).  Over the next five years, Russia and China established a strong Communist Party rule over the North, including the development of a 150,000-200,000 man army, while the South remained less organized, with only 100,000 poorly trained troops. (Living, 32).  Then, in June 1950, North Korea attacked the South, beginning the Korean War (Living, 33).  And here’s something I’ll bet you didn’t know: during the war, Seoul was taken in only three days, and the South was pushed all the way down to Busan (Living, 3).  North Korea had practically taken control of the entire country by August!  To make a long story short, the UN stepped in in September and engaged in a war with the North that lasted until June 27^th, when a cease-fire was agreed upon (Living, 33).  The devastation and death caused by this was monumental.  Over two million Korean civilians were killed, and about half a million soldiers.  The US lost 36,940 GIs, and the country was practically raised to the ground.

Now here’s where things get crazy.  After the end of the war (1953), the country’s GDP began to slowly rise, hitting $200 by 1970. Then, from 1970 to 1997 (that’s 27 years people) the GDP rose to $20,000 (Professor Kwon Lecture). That’s ONE HUNDRED TIMES HIGHER than it was in 1997!!!  I’m not an economics major here, but holy crap, readers, even I can understand this rarity.  South Korea’s rise in GDP has been dubbed “The Miracle of the Han.”  And as the all-knowing wiki proclaims: “The word 'miracle' is used to describe the growth of postwar South Korea into the world's 13th largest economy and a role model for many developing countries, something considered to be impossible by many at the time."

Unfortunately, I am not versed in the details of how this was possible, but if anyone reading this post expresses interest, I would be happy to search for some sources.  But I can say that a change like this is something only country full of amazing people could pull off.  I just can’t wait to get out there and learn more.  So whatever you think you have to say about Korea, about why someone would want to visit there as opposed to anywhere else...

Check it.  Korea rules.

(If I got any of these facts wrong feel free to send me angry comments, with the correct info of course.)

Biblio:

Whyte, Rob, and Kyoung-Mi Kim. Living in South Korea: How to Feel at Home, Make Friends and Enjoy Everyday Life. Brattleboro, VT: Pro Lingua Associates, 2001. Print.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_the_Han_River.

Lecture by Yonung Kwon, 07/13/2012.