Month: April 2020

This week talked about the differences that exist between North and South Korea after the Korean war. The main topic was nationalism and economics. I chose the text that focused on the differences from the South Korean perspective. There was a rise of nationalism in South Korea that demonstrated anti-foreigners and created a more rigid definition of what it meant to be South Korean. In later years, after the war, it became the belief of South Koreans that they were the only true Koreans. Moreover, it talks about the struggles that the Koreans went to financially and how urbanization was rising throughout South Korea, which helped boost the economy.

This weeks topic was the Korean War, which is something that I was extremely interested in learning about since my grandfather fought in the war. We all watched different documentaries and discussed what we watched as well as discuss what we read. The documentary told the story for the Korean War from the American perspective, and the short stories were from the perspective of two South Koreans reservists. These sources demonstrated that the Korean War was a miserable time, and that Koreans lacked money which only increased the struggles, and starvation that people were enduring.

This week we discussed Hendrick Hamel and his experiences as a prisoner in Korea. Hamel and the Dutch East India Company (DEITC) were sailing to Japan from Taiwan, they were stranded on an island after a storm moved them off course. After being stranded on the island they were taken to court in Korea, however, they were not guests. I thought it was interesting how they went into detail about the treatment of him and his crew while in Korea. He mentioned that some people treated him well, and others not so well.

I think one of the most interesting things about Hamel’s text was the view of Chinese, Koreans, and the Japanese. There was clear disdain for the Japanese, and a lot of confusion/ mistaking the Chinese and Koreans.

• Topic: 
  • The topic of this paper will be the examination of the Three Kingdoms and the change in social structure/classes in each Kingdom.  
• Thesis: 
  • Throughout the history of the Three Kingdoms, the social structure has changed based on the Kingdom which held power. 
• What you hope the reader will learn from the chapter:
  • I would like the reader to learn more about the different Kingdoms (Baekche, Goryeo, and Silla). There will be a background history presented on each of the Three Kingdoms, as well as information on the development of social structure and how it may have been influenced by the changes that occurred throughout the Kingdom. There will be a brief paragraph that discusses the possible reasons that the social dynamic has changed throughout history. For example, in the other two Kingdoms, there was no sacred bone structure which can be seen in Silla. 

This week we discussed the Imjin War, using a text written by a Korean who had been taken to Japan as a Captive. This was interesting as Korea was nearly defeated the Japanese, but the Korean navy defeated them. We discussed some of the eyewitness accounts of the situation, and they were also fascinating. I think the eye witness accounts are super emotional and impactful in terms of finding the history relevant. In the readings that we did, the man was scared, since he didn’t know what was going on, he seemed frightened and angry. I think this is a normal reaction to the events that he was in. Throughout the reading, he continually insults the Japanese, relating their culture to barbarians. However, he also confused the Chinese and the Koreans a lot throughout the text.