Interdependence

Korean Interdependence Page In 1592 the Japanese try to take China by attacking through Korea, and Koreans fight off the Japanese for 6 years.After the China helps the Koreans can finally push the Japanese out of their country. So in the early 1600’s the Manchus take the weakened Korea easily. Even though the Chosen Empire is still in power they still pay tribute to the Manchus. After the invasion of the Manchus, Korea turned to isolationism. So for 200 years Korea closes its ports to foreign ships and ideas. Those who worshipped Christianity had to worship in secret. This ended in the mid-1850’s due to encouragement from its neighbors.

In 1905 Japan, Russia, and China were all competing for Korea. Japan won and 5 years later overthrew the Chosen Empire. They used Koreans for advances in their technology and modernized it. Many Koreans did not like this because Japan took away their old customs and traditions such as their Korean names. So when Japan lost World War 2 the Koreans were happy. The countries who defeated Japan now occupied Korea. The Soviet Union was in the north and the United States was in the south.The Russians pushed communism and the Americans pushed non-communism. By 1948 the country had officially split into North and South Korea.

But in 1950 North Koreans wanted to reunite the Koreas by force and attacked South Korea. The UN and the US are helping the South Korean effort. After three months the Chinese help out the North Korean effort. In 1951 they try to sign an armistice, but there are so many interruptions that they have to wait until June 1953 until the agreement actually gets signed. South Korea retreated because they were not prepared.The war ended in stalemate in 1953. Since then they have kept the peace and have been trying to settle their differences nearly 50 years.

When it comes to interdependence North Korea learned the hard way. In 1948, shortly after World War 2 Kim Il Sung held leadership for nearly 50 years. He was in power from 1948 until 1994. During this time he isolated North Korea, even from other communist countries. This did have some economic progress and helped industrialize and urbanize the country. However, North Korea began to have a low standard of living.In 1995, after Sung’s death his son Kim Jong Il took power. Shortly after this floods and later drought ruined the crops. This caused a famine. This ruined all of North Korea’s economic progress. This forced the government to invest and trade with outside countries.

South Korea on the other hand did not deny help from outside countries. In 1953 when many North Korean refugees fled, the U.S. helped them out a lot with controlling the new South Korean citizens. South Korea’s economy has been great since the 60’s, because they produce many export goods. They export automobiles, textiles, and electronics. South Korea is closely tied to the global economy.