The History of Korea
Have you ever heard of a country called Korea? Korea is one of the world’s separated countries. Korea has a very sad history of being separated. Let me explain about Korea’s sad history.
Starting in 1910, the Japanese Occupation lasted for 35 years. In 1945, combined forces dropped a bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. So Japan surrendered to the combined forces and because of this, Korea gained independence from Japan. But America’s General MacArthur said since Japan surrendered to the combined forces, Korea had to be controlled by America.
After having a meeting with China, America, England, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, they decided to control Korea. They shared the southern and northern parts of Korea. At the 38th parallel, Korea split into two. The U.S army was in the south, and the Soviets were in the north. It was a big cause to be separated. Also, people trusted future South Korean president Lee Seung Man more than the leader of the Korean independence movement, Kim Gu. Kim Gu tried to unify Korea, but people didn’t trust him. If they had trusted him, Korea could have been one country today.
In North Korea, Kim Il Seong founded D.P.R.K and was ready to unify with their power of weapon. In 1950, on the dawn of June 25th, North Korea started a war. This war was the famous 6/25 war, the Korean War. South Korea fought with the U.S.A and North Korea fought with China and the Soviet army on their side. The fighting ended on July 27, 1953 but North and South Korea had a stalemate, which meant the war was not really over.
There are many important people who tried to unify Korea. Two famous people are Kim Gu and Kim Il Seong. First, Kim Gu was a really famous person in Joseon. He did anything to gain independence and to unify Korea. Kim Gu also helped independence soldiers. Kim Il Seong was North Korea’s leader. He was also an independence movement fighter. He worked usually with the Chinese.
I think you’ll wonder about the Korean War’s result. Because of this big fight, Korea was damaged. Countless numbers of people were killed and more were never found. Also, the war created bad stereotypes about North Korea.
To conclude, I want to explain that unification is a very important unsolved homework that we have to finish before it is too late. So we have to pay attention to this problem.
