See Also: Korea(encyclopedia)
Korea Gas(finance)
Korea(dictionary)
Korea, North(encyclopedia)
Korea, South(encyclopedia)
Korea (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Korea Strait(encyclopedia)
Korea (South)(tourism)
North Korea(dictionary)
South Korea(dictionary)

Korea (sh)




Korean Chos?n or Taehan

Former kingdom, a peninsula (Korean peninsula) on the eastern coast of Asia.

In 1948 it was partitioned into two republics, North Korea and South Korea. According to tradition, the ancient kingdom of Chos?n was established in the northern part of the peninsula probably by peoples from northern China in the 3rd millennium BC. Conquered by China in 108 BC, it later developed into the Three Kingdoms of Silla, Kogury?, and Paekche. Silla conquered the other two in the 7th century AD and ruled until 935, when the Paekche dynasty became prominent. Invaded by the Mongols in 1231, the kingdom of Chos?n, with its capital at Seoul, was ruled by the Yi dynasty (see Yi S?ng-gye) from 1392 to 1910. From งใ 1637 it shut out foreign contacts but was forced in 1876 to open ports to Japan. Rivalry over Korea brought on the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), after which Korea became a Japanese protectorate. Formally annexed to Japan in 1910, it was freed from Japanese control in 1945 at the end of World War II. After the war it was divided into two zones of occupation, Russian in the north and U.S. in the south; the two republics were established in 1948. For Korea's later history, see North Korea and South Korea; See also Korean War.