Finally! (And notice)

Look at this beauty.

Yes, this is the first, ever, the Korean Story YouTube video. For the next few weeks, however, I will be focusing on making these video versions of the articles here. I apologize for the inconvenience.
The YouTube video link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M2TTGenCqQ


Well, see you in a couple of weeks!

Should I YouTube?

Dear blog readers,

I am here to tell you that I am near to creating a YouTube Channel for the Korean Story.

This picture doesn't need a reference.

My reason to create a YouTube Channel for this wonderful blog, is not to ditch Blogger and go off to YouTube (Which would be pointless because some people don't like sounds, and the videos may lag. Plus, running away from a Google service for another Google service seems, again, pointless.)

To many people, text may be more appealing to them than videos. However, to others, it may be the opposite. To reach a wider audience, I am considering a YouTube channel.  

YouTubers such as CGP Grey and Thoughty2 have collected huge amounts of subscribers (And donations via Patreon) from millions of people around the world. In fact, YouTubing are their full time jobs, with CGP Grey earning more than $18,000 per video per video with his YouTube channel and "Hello Internet"!

As a student living outside of Korea, I am busy finding an online job, study, and write at the same time. If I start to earn cash out of the content I make and be proud that I have reached more subscribers than I thought, it would really help me by saving time on things and help you by creating content in a shorter amount of time.

What's your idea? PLEASE right it down in the comments below!
And don't forget to subscribe this blog via email!
Give a one-time donation to me at: paypal.me/andy5740!
Contact me at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

Terror in Korea

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES]

I pray for those whose families have died in all terrorist events throughout modern history.
Anyways, to those Korean-learners who were wondering if Korea is a terrorist hotspot, here's some things about terrorism in Korea.

{North Korea}
Living is just terror. Rely on your families for happiness. (For the commoners)
---

Qantas Boeing 707, similar to the plane that was crashed
by North Koreans. The picture of that plane is really rare.
I just can't find it. (CC/Wikipedia Phillip Capper)

{South Korea}
The Republic of Korea had 30 or less terrorism events in their soil since the 1960's, if you count terrorist events that happened outside of South Korean territory that involved a Korean citizen as one of the casualties.
In the East Asian nation where even guns are rare to civilians except for shooting arenas, counter-terrorism acts are getting strict by the year. Why?

1982, when curfew abolishment
 was put into action (In Seoul).
(Instiz.net)

Simple answer: North Koreans.
Since the 50's, the North Korean government wanted to terrorize the South Koreans. They used their special forces to supply many terror attacks in South Korea, such as the Korean Air plane crash in the 80's, a secret deployment of spies and a battle that lasted for more than 40 days in the 90's, explosion of a Korean military vessel and invasion of a civilian-living island in the late 2000's. This was why "President" Park Jung Hee enforced the "야간통행금지" (통금 for short, Curfew at night) Rule, which prohibited movement from Midnight 'till 4 in the morning; to fill the streets with soldiers looking for North Korean spies. The curfew was lifted in every South Korean territory in the first day of 1988. More about the Korean curfew law in a future post.

Anyways... where was I? Even the night curfew was abolished and no terrorist events happened in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Republic of Korea strengthened its counter-terrorism laws, in which was strengthened again in the 2000's, when 9/11 exploded in New York, and at the other side of the world, the Seoul Olympics were coming up. 

However, the risks and possibility that there might be a major terrorist attack in Seoul (By international or national religious terrorists) have increased. Seoul is the second largest city/metropolitan area in the world, in terms of population. Besides, the Korean National Intelligence Service (KNIS) has reported that Al-Qaeda members have entered the nation at least twice. To a nation with only 40,000 ethnic Korean muslims (And more than 10 times population of Middle East migrant workers), that is a shock. Actually, to a country that used to have a majority no-religion population until recently, and to their people whom see signs of random radical protestant churches and them destroying Buddhist architecture, that may not be surprising. (Click Here for more.)
But we are still reminded that the Korean military is one of the most technologically developed armies (Hint: Samsung+LG+Kia+Hyundai), and the 7th largest in the world... next to France. We've seen that fall. (Besides, 9/11?)

ROKCDC Logo. Know where this is
when you're visitng South Korea.  ⓒROKCDC Homepage

But many people haven't heard about "민방위", or the Republic of Korea Civil Defense Corps (ROKCDC). It's something all men are trained to do, and 6.86 million people are learned what to do in a case of emergency, for example, a North Korean invasion. (In which even schoolchildren are often trained). So basically, with many people knowing where to go and what to do, Korea basically is prepared for minimum casualties during an attack. 

Well, that's it about terrorism in Korea. Remember, wherever you are, be vigilant for a terrorist attack. Even in North Korea. 

Thanks for reading this article! Don't forget to subscribe for the fastest way to read the latest articles.
Contact us at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES.]

Korea- The "True Nation of Food Delivery"

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

What?

The term "Baedalue Minjok", is an ancient term meaning "The people of the Baedal". Basically, that's what the ancient Koreans called themselves to elevate themselves among the other ethnic groups. Baedal, is the nation in which Hwanung came down from Heaven and made. (Remember Creation of the Nation?)

Well, that shouldn't get confused with "The people of delivery" or "fast delivery". South Korea is one of the few countries where you can get McDonald's delivered to, well, almost anywhere in the country. And an app/company,  "배달의민족" (The people of Delivery), has the list of almost all restaurants in the nation, that has delivery service. No interest. 20 million people have downloaded the application.

See, many people in Korea like to have food delivered. It's usually a free service, and others, well a free service if you order more than a certain amount of cash. (McDonald is 30,000 Won, or around $30 USD)

You know those Korean-Chinese restaurants across Koreatowns in LA, NY, Vancouver and Toronto? Well, they're one of the popular choices for delivery, even if many people just eat it at the restaurants.

Anyways, I'll give out more tips about restaurants, and how their services are awesome here in Korea.

And don't forget for pizza.

Don't forget to subscribe for the latest news!
Contact us at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

[DO NOT COPY]

Why does Korea Have Such a Fast Internet Speed?

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

Logo of Korean "Chaebol" SK Group.

Dear 3G lovers, remember when 4G came out and suddenly 3G became that "Old and slow" internet? Well guess what, don't save up for a 4G wifi, but a 5G.


South Korea's home to the fastest average, I say AVERAGE, internet speed in the entire world, ranging approximately 25MB/s, while the U.S. doesn't even go in the top 10, with having an average of 11MB/s. In fact, Korea, unlike any other country, has an 4G "LTE-A" (LTE-Advanced) service made in 2014, three times faster than the normal LTE.

CC/Samsung

But why is this, very small and formerly one of the poorest nations in the world only 50 years ago, have the fastest average internet speed in the world?
The answer was in the sentence above; emphasize on "formerly" and "poor".

Remember my old post, "Miracle of the Han River"? Well, read that first and then you'll remember what I'm referring to.

During Korea's very fast economic growth, their technological advancement grew even faster, There were two major reasons: Since Korea (at the time), just started trading with their very technologically advanced neighbor, Japan, Korean companies had to speed up in order to compete with Japanese companies. One was to build and construct in government construction programs. The second, was to develop technological weapons against... you guessed it, North Korea. (No wonder South Korea has the seventh largest army in the world, with it being the second most technologically advanced nation, well, because they sell their weapons to the U.S. who, are the most advanced.) Anyways, tech grew, communication grew, people stopped talking as fast as possible on their phones to pay less fees, and so on. Samsung, actually at-the-time (In the 70's and 80's) developing in many sectors, (It started as a rice-trading company.) started to invest in technology.

And that, my friends, is how you get connected to Wi-Fi in buses, subways, and even the restroom in South Korea.

One more tip: Usually, at Korean restaurants, whether in Korea or not, usually have their Wi-Fi password as their phone number. It's a good marketing technique.

Don't forget to subscribe for faster news deliveries to your E-Mail!
Contact Me at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

[DO NOT COPY]

Oiljang 오일장: Korea's Unique Food Market

[DO NOT COPY THIS ARTICLE]

Wait. It's already the 27th of October? How many days have passed since my last post... oh.
Well, I'll do my best to come back on schedule... But this is all I could post for now. Sorry!

This market is not made out of oil. And no, it is not a economic race for gas companies. Oil means 5 days. And I'll explain where that name came from. 

오일장, or the 5-day market, is a tradition that continues to this day on many countrysides across the nation. It is a place, in which a bunch of people selling food... sells food every five days. They are individuals, who stay for hours on a stool or sitting on newspaper, selling things.

Photo from the Korean Tourism Organization (한국관광공사), a government-based institute

Oiljang originated from salesmen who didn't know the calendar thousands, and I mean thousands of years ago, and decided to meet every 5 days.

Personally, I can describe the people selling food on these street markets very kind. Without measuring weight, they always give extra food (And once gave me tons of free food :D). This is called "정", or Jung. It is something similar to the English term "Sympathy", however the same thing done to strangers. "정", has no other word for it in any language on Earth. It is a simple, Korean term. And that's one thing I love about Korea.

Thanks for reading. Always subscribe for the quickest way to receive my blog posts.

Contact me at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

And remember, I'm always looking for sponsors. https://www.paypal.me/andy5740
I'm also looking for extra writers! I can pay once I.. have a sponsor. (Or ads)

The Story of the Creation- of the Nation

[DO NOT COPY THIS ARTICLE]

The Korean peninsula, home to the least ethnic diverse place in the world. From kingdoms to empires to hundreds of small kingdoms, united dynasties, an empire, then a colony, to two republics, communist and democratic. We've already discussed about the early days in the southern part of the nation, and now let's discuss about the creation of the first nationalistic government of Korea- which is a mix of legends and history.

Here goes the story.

It was around 2400 B.C.E. The god "환인" (Hwanin) had a son named "환웅" (Hwanung). Hwanung wanted to go down to the Earth and teach the people skills that would improve their lives, such as farming. So he asked his daddy, who accepted the idea, and after telling him "홍익인간" (Hongikingan, meaning in Sino-Korean "Widespread mankind and make them useful", currently the motto of South Korea) 3,000 servants with him, as well as a sword, a small mirror, and a bell- at the time symbols of holiness and immortals.

Hwanung landed in the top of Taebaek mountain, in current Gangwon province, and founded a city underneath it (by a tree later named 신단수, Shindansu) which flourished, with the people living there doing 360 jobs and tasks. But two creatures weren't so satisfied- in fact, two animals, a tiger and a bear. 

The two, who wanted to become human beings, asked Hwanung desperately. Hwanung, then gave the animals some holy 20 garlics and asteraceae (a kind of vegetable root used in traditional medication), and told them to stay in a cave for 100 days and not look at sunlight, as that would turn them into human beings. So the tiger and the bear did the task, in which the tiger quit in the process; in fact, less than 20 days, and I know this because the bear turned into a beautiful woman in not even 100 days, but 21.

Ungnyo (Bear Woman), however, was treated as an outcast of the town, because she was once a bear. So she went to the Shindansu and prayed to God that she get a child. Hwanung saw this situation, and then married with Ungnyo, and they had a child named "단군" (Dangun), who later, eventually founded Old Joeson Dynasty at 2333 B.C.E. and ruled for 1500 years, changing the capital of this vast nation spreading from Seoul to all of Manchuria and parts of current Russia, to 백악산아사달 (Baekaksanasadal). The dynasty is called "Old Joeson" because later in 1392 C.E., 3725 years later, founds Joeson Dynasty to commemorate the Old Joeson. 

And that is the story of the foundation of a one true Korean nation.

[Do NOT COPY THIS ARTICLE]

Why South Korea's Suicide Rates are So High

[DO NOT COPY THIS ARTICLE]

It's a new month!

Chart by Quartz

Just to clarify, South Korea's suicide rates are the second highest in the world, and the highest among OECD nations, for ELEVEN years. Now, why is the nation with the highest standards of living in Asia (and one of the highest in the world), have such a high suicide rate?

Famous suicides were done by president Roh-Muhyun, Yoon-hyung Lee, the daughter of the current chairman of Samsung, and a lot of people who work in the entertainment sector and get affected by the "악플" or the evil comments left behind articles.

There are a lot of reasons why people suicide in Korea. The first reason is the age gap. One of the huge factors contributing to Korea's high suicidal rate of the elderly is the growth of the young mocking the old. Even if Korea is the "nation of respect and the morning calm", many young Koreans talk behind the back of the elderly, how they always "have to stand in front of them, staring at them, in public transportation, so eventually they have to get up. And then comes the mocking, where old-people jobs such as apartment building security, can't stand up to bullies hanging around in the complex. Another thing is, that many of the young don't know what the old faced years ago, such as the Korean War, discrimination from the Japanese, and poverty. Some of the elderly feel that they're out of the game, out of society, and it's just a matter of time before they rot. So there's that,

And for the youth, as in people who already graduated college/university, many suicide due to financial issues. For people under 17, it's most likely bullying or family problems.

There's also some strange people who are INTERESTED in life after death, so they suicide. Many celebrities suicide because of comments written by very dumb people who didn't mean to write it.
Also, recent news claims that a five-year old have committed suicide.

The government has been trying to lower the suicide rate, so they banned products such as lethal pesticide that was being used for suicide, and Samsung Life Insurance installed signs on Mapo bridge, where the most bridge-fall suicides happened, and the signs had simple things like "Have you eaten?" and "The best part of your life is yet to come". (However, suicidal rates increased in Mapo bridge. But still, good try Samsung.)

People, let's seriously not suicide.
Luckily, suicidal rates have dropped since 2012, even if Korea still holds the highest suicidal rate in OECD nations.

[DO NOT COPY THIS ARTICLE]

The Three Hans- Why Korea's Native Name is Daehan

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

Why Korea's name is Daehan? Well, to those who don't know the ancient characters of hanja which make up 70% of the Korean language, Daehan means, in literal translation, "Large Han". What is this "Han", then?

Not to be confused with the ethnic Han Chinese (Basically the people living in current People's Republic of China excluding the province of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Uighur, Tibet, Qinghai, etc.), the "Han"s, are three "United" kingdoms in peace, in which they themselves are united, too. The three Hans are Mahan (마한), Jinhan (진한), and Byunhan (변한).

Idh0854/Wikipedia (CC)

The Mahan Confederacy is mostly the area of the Baekjae Dynasty that existed after it. It was a council of tribal kings and leaders, then mostly the council was led by Onjo, the brother of the second king of the Gorguyeo Dynasty in the north, who decided to move South and make his own kingdom. Later, he conquered all of the area of Mahan and later led the council of Kings.

The Jinhan Confederacy was the area of the 12 kingdoms, currently North Gyeongsang Province, in which later got united by the Saroguks, based in Gyeongju City, and became the Shinla Dynasty, Shinla had three families choosing the leader, rotating by the Parks, Suks, and Kims, which all had family relations with each other. Later, the Kim family only had kings.

Then comes Byunhan. later the short-living Gaya Dynasty and then part of Shinla.  Gaya was famous for a lot of natural resources, especially Iron and metal, in which they used it to make the most strongest weopons in East Asia and sell some of the resources to the Japanese.

Now, where does the name "Daehan" first get used? In October 12th, 1897, King Gojong of the Joeson Dynasty (1392-1910) decided China was to weak to give tributes to, and decided to modernize the nation so it won't fall behind huge empires. Yes, the Korean Empire in Korean is "Daehan Jaeguk", meaning "Daehan Empire". The Republic of Korea in Korean is "대한민국", "Daehan Minguk", meaning Daehan People's nation= Republic of Daehan. North Korea's government prefers to use everything as "Joeson", not "Daehan", though.

Why Hanguk is sometimes used in South Korea, is because it acts as an abbreviation for "Daehan Minguk". (That's why it's Hangook Tires, Canada's No. 1 Tire, not Daehan Mingook Tires!)
You get it? Hangook Tires actually advertised their brand like that in Canada!

Enjoyed reading this post? Make sure to subscribe and leave your comments below!
Contact The Korean Story at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

Say Hi to a Secure Blog!

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

Hello readers,

Recently Google Blogger introduced a setting to allow bloggers to change their website into an "HTTPS". That is a Secure HTTP.

That means, http://koreaninfoguide.blogspot.com will be:
https://koreaninfoguide.blogspot.com

And you can read the posts safer!

Thanks!
-Andy Moon

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

Can Foreigners Enter North Korea?

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

Ah, North Korea, the Hermit Kingdom. Do you know who can enter, this mysterious, human-rights violating nation?

To start with, South Koreans definitely cannot enter North Korea. However, there are three options for South Koreans if they really want to step on North Korean soil. The first one is, to become the president or diplomat, or any some sort of high-official job in South Korea, then visit the North for peace talks. The second one, is to go to North of the North Korean border, and climb the Paekdu Mountain (백두산), the tallest in the Korean peninsula with being 2744 meters (9002 ft). The final option, is to become a tourist of the Mt. Kumgang Tourist city, with the beautiful views of Mt. Kumgang, bordering South Korea. However, due to the end of the friendly "Sunshine Policy" to North Korea in 2007, plus a North Korean explosives exploding the South Korean military ship, leaving 46 dead in 2010, AND 8 months later exploding a South Korean island REALLY close to the North, which killed both soldiers and civilians, made the South Korean government stopped Koreans from paying to visit the tourist area, which meant that for people with South Korean passports, the only way to see the North is very mere, since the new leader Kim Jung-un ripped the unofficial armistice signed by his grandfather in 1953 as well as showing off aggressive plans to invade the North, plus news says that Mt. Paekdu are showing signs that prove that it's going to blow up pretty soon.

Next, Americans and the people of the West. Even though there's a bunch of propaganda about the Americans, since South Korea banned the travel to North Korea and its tourist attractions, North Korea needed money, so at 2010 they let other people visit North Korea at times other than the huge Arirang Mass Games which cost around $1500 USD.  Did you know that the Rungrado May 1st stadium (릉라도 5월 1일 경기장), the Arirang Games is held, is the largest stadium in the world, with being able to hold 150,000 spectators?

Rungrado May 1st Stadium, tophdgallery.com (CC)

Anyways, American tourists can only enter North Korea via plane, not train or boat, as well as car. And recently, North Korean mobile services, in which all tourists had the right to enjoy, were banned from them. Also, the tourists can only stay in the "Foreigner-only" zones, so they can't see what the North Koreans are doing in the "North Koreans only" zones, where they see the children starving to death in the streets the regular activities of the peoples.

Technically, if you have Korean ethnicity but was born in another country so you were a naturalized citizen of a non-Korean nation, you can enter North Korea. South Koreans also acquire the right to travel there when they get citizenship from a nation that is not South Korea. However, be careful, because many Korean Americans got detained inside North Korea. Plus, an American got detained for leaving a bible at a club in Chongjin City. So, try to act like Chinese, the friendly communist brother of Korea- wait, that doesn't help, since North Korea's relations with the People's Republic of China are tightening, and the Korean language is not the Chinese, but it came from the same ancestral groups---- you get what I mean.

Thanks for reading this article of "The Korean Story"! Leave your comments below and make sure to subscribe!
Contact me at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES]

The DMZ and North Korean Defectors: A More Tragic Story than the Berlin Wall

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

This is a perfect time to post about North Korean defectors; Search up "North Korean defectors" right now and you'll see why.

A four-kilometer wide border, that stretches from the West coast of the peninsula, to the East. This is the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), that existed in this world for about 70 years. Full of land mines and tens of thousands of soldiers placed at both sides, the DMZ is almost impossible to cross, unlike the Berlin Wall and the East-West separation wall, where thousands escaped every year, some digging the ground, some using a subway, and some using air balloons- which would've all been impossible in Korea. Why there is a border, is a simple question.

After the Second World War, the U.S., G.B.R., France, and the U.S.S.R., agreed to this thing, where the U.S. would control the South part (Below 38 degrees N), and the U.S.S.R. would control the North part (Above 38 degrees N) for three years, as they said that they would control Germany, Italy, and Japan, as well as their former colonies for a few years, because they were "undeveloped", and "did not know how to manage a nation". So the Demilitarized Zone comes in and makes the border.

At the time, anyone could just pass over this border if they had an ID; similar to the Allies' occupation of Germany between 1945 and 1949. And many Koreans were frustrated about this.. in which most of them were South Koreans.

After listening to the Americans' propaganda, the people of the South wanted this 3-year Shintak Tongchi (Shintak Rule, 신탁통치) to be abolished. Listening to the Soviets' propaganda, many North Koreans wanted their nation under a Soviet development and a Communist state, with being under military occupation of the Soviets until 1948. Then you know the rest- the South and North civilians fought, they hated each other then, governments and nations were formed, one side electing Rhee Syngman, the other electing Kim Il Sung.

Then the war. After a few days, North Korea seized every Korean territory excluding Jeju Island and Busan. Then, South Korea seized every Korean territory except for a minimal amount bordering the People's Republic of China- If you saw the "People's" part, you know it's communist, and China, as well as the Soviets, invade, capturing Seoul again. Then the UN gets back Seoul, and from 1951 to 1953, the front line zigzags around. At 1953, a very unstable armistice is signed, and a straight Korean border is gone, however a wide "Demilitarized Zone" is made.

After the Korean War, this border is made. In Red is the military-only zone.
R. Tatiraju/ Wikipedia (CC)

To prevent population loss, North Korea made a huge fence around its border, with the heavy guard in the South, facing South Korea, the recently strong-growing guards (However there is barbed wire and fencing), and probably the same for Russia. Except that Russia and China's borders have some gates for the military and the high-class.

Many people still attempt to escape through the borders every day, and most of those people do not escape through the heavily-armed South Korean border, but rather the Chinese border. If a North Korean defector gets caught by Chinese police, they are sent back to North Korea, and many gets executed, tortured, or sent to labor camps, where, for three generations, the defectors' family must work without pay.

Those who do not get caught by Chinese police, especially women, gets caught by Chinese citizens involved in drug and sex trafficking, in which some pretend to be brokers who would say that they will send you to the South, then send you back to North Korea, or make you get involved in the human trafficking business.

Some people who are lucky in China goes straight to Mongolia, NOT by plane, as again, China sends every single North Korean defector "home". The poor North Koreans have to walk their way through the Gobi desert, until they reach Mongolia. Mongolia attempts to have good relations with both of the Koreas, however gives mercy to the defectors, with a pleasant meal and a plane ticket to South Korea.

And finally, some people amazingly travel by boat and attempt to land in South Korea. Some actually got to Japan, where some stayed and some people left for South Korea, and some people, before the 80's, were sent back to North Korea.

Only 23,000 people escaped from North Korea, compared to thousands escaping East Germany. 23,000 defectors in the past 60 years seems to be a little cruel. Let's all hope for the reunification of Korea, and some nationalism kick in.

By the way, did you know that 2 South Koreans left to North Korea? These 2 was a famous Korean movie director couple kidnapped by North Korean agents and had to make propaganda movies and copycats of "Godzilla", until they finally escaped during a Swiss film festival.

The DMZ is also the oldest untouched place in the world, making it sanctuary for endangered animals.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to subscribe and comment below.
Contact the Korean Story at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES. THESE INCLUDE POSTING ON OTHER MEDIA PAGES.]

Korean Last Names Explained

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

Korean last names. The first thing that comes to your mind: Kim. This is no surprise, as 21.6% (in 2000), according to the Korean Census, had the last name Kim. However, this is because of many ancestries in the Kim last name. Let's look into that.

Blue: Kim    Green: Lee    Orange: Park    Red: Choi    Purple: Jung    White: Other
Korea Stats 2000/Wikipedia (CC)

Many surnames have many ancestries in them. Uncommon surnames usually have one ancestry, like mine, Moon, which is the 23rd most common last name in South Korea (with 0.8 percent!). Then, in one ancestry, it may be divided into groups, known as 파 (Pa). It is usually founded by a person who leaves the 본관 (Bongwan, the place where the ancestry was started).

The most populous family, the Kim family, has a bit of history connecting to Korea's neighbors.

Many people with the surname "Kim" came from the Southeast side of the peninsula. Many Kim ancestries there are interconnected to one huge Kim ancestry, that founded the Shilla Dynasty.

Since many Japanese are thought to be of Korean descent, as the latest Korean immigration to Japan being in the 1940's, some Japanese "received" the last name "Kim" from former dynasties of Korea. Some are just descendants of the Koreans who immigrated there. It's complicated; in the 5-6th century Southern Korean dynasties discovered the land of Japan, taught them some stuff, in which the Japanese modified them into their own version (such as Karate and Sushi). That's when Japanese people became more closer to the other East Asians and shared their culture.

If you look at the Northern tip of North Korea, where it was occupied by many Korean and Manchurian Dynasties, South Manchuria was finally occupied forever by Joeson Dynasty of Korea in the 1400's. The Manchurian people who lived there at the time were "culturally mixed" with the Koreans there and became part of their ethnic identities. Many people then were considered to become a barely-known level of society between slaves and commoners, in which most of them were butchers. Off topic again, anyways in the Korean History Recorders, with many books recorded by royal historians at the time, shows in the 1400's, King Sejong the Great (Who made the Korean Writing system), gave some South Manchurians the last name of Kim. That's why, near the borders of North Korea, the People's Republic of China has many citizens with the surname Kum/Gum. 

Onto the Lees. it's pronounced as "E" in South Korea, because of the new pronunciation rule in the 60's and 90's, while North Korea still uses "Rhee". Yang is Liang, et cetra et cetra.  And the rest is too complicated for me to say.

But I can tell you a bit about my last name, Moon. With about 300,000~400,000 people with the last name, its only ancestry, the Hampyung Moons, originated in Hampyung District, Naju City, in Jeonla Province, founded by Dasung Moon, who later became one of the highest officials in Baekjae Dynasty. I'm 48 generations apart from him. 

The story of the Moons goes on like this. When the mayor of Naju was "playing" in the creek, he heard a baby cry. Soon, he discovered a little boy with really, really white skin (no offense!), and decided to raise him. Since the little boy was so good at recognizing most objects, his last name became Moon, which comes from Moonhwa, made up of two words, "Culture Flower". So, Moon=culture? Anyways, the Moons are divided into 6 groups, in which two of them went to the Island Province that used to be part of Jeonla at the time: Jeju Island. One group, the Namjaegongs, made by the great-great grandson of Dasung Moon, settled in Daejung, the Southwest corner of the island. And the Choongjaegongs, descendants of Ikjum Moon, probably the most famous Moon in Korea because he let cotton seeds enter into Korea (which was considered illegal in at-the-time Chinese dynasties, because they said that they wanted to keep their awesome culture inside their lands), and later Japan, settled in another part of Jeju. I said "another part", because I belong in the Namjaegongs and barely know it, through my friend who went to school with me in that island. And my grandfather lives in Illgwa Village, Daejung, which has the highest percentage of the Namjaegongs, so no wonder I know that fact. 

And also, some ancestries are "descedant" ancestries of some East Chinese ones, but since East China doesn't have one language but a lot, who cares? There's a lot of Ancestry group educational centers and meetings, too.

Summary:

Thanks for reading, and please subscribe/comment!

Contact me at: thekoreanstory@outlook.com

[DO NOT COPY FOR COMMERCIAL USES]

Powerful Koreans 1: Ban Ki-Moon

[DO NOT COPY]

© ITU/ M. Jacobson - Gonzalez
Wikipedia/ (CC)

There are some powerful Koreans out there, eh? I can't believe that South Korea is both the home country of the leader of the UN and the World Bank! Welcome to "The Korean Story" series: Powerful Koreans! We'll talk about a bunch of powerful and wealthy Koreans, including North Koreans.

Let's start with Ban Ki-moon (Ban is the last name, 반기문). Ban is the 8th and current Secretary-General of the United Nations. Born in Haengchi Village (행치마을) in Eumseung County (음성군), Choongchung Province (충청도), in June 13th, 1944. It was a Tuesday. Koreans made Haengchi Village a UN tourist site, so that's pretty sad. That's enough information about his birth.

Ban, in his childhood days, was considered as a "English Master" in his town. However, many times he wasn't recognized because of his half-moon looking mole on his face (I think it's the nose). However, his English teachers helped him fight over the discrimination, and he won a speech contest, in which led to him meeting Present John F. Kennedy (of the United States of Americano) in third grade. Yes, THIRD GRADE, during the Korean War. And saying that he was from a small village in Korea that barely anyone knows, that's amazing.

Well, after his visit with at-the-time member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Ban decided to become a diplomat and studied hard enough to enter politics at the very young age of twenty-six in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Third Republic of Korea. (Look at the Korean dictators page for more details.) He then worked as the vice-consulate general in India, rather than the U.S., because Indian consulates did get more pay at the time? Anyways, dictators died, Ban rose through ranks (and became director of UN division, which let Korea, at the time a non-member state, get represented in the UN.), dictators escaped into Buddhist temples, Ban became Deputy Minister for International policy planning, then a Presidential political adviser, then Ambassador to Austria and Slovenia, yadi yadi yada.

In 2007, Ban got to be the Secretary-General of the United Nations (of Earth), and focused heavily on peace and supporting third world nations. No wonder he got elected for the second time in 2011. He also condemned the anti-refugee/migrant stuff going on in Hungary (please don't leave, Hungarian readers! If there's any...), and led peace talks with the "Democratic" People's Republic of Korea.

Since Ban's Secretary-Generalship will end in the last day of 2015, many Korean politicians are eager to use him as their political icon. Why? Let me tell you the reasons.

1: Ban is the most powerful Korean in the world and holds almost 100% popularity in South Korea.
2: Ban luckily didn't get hurt in any political fights, mainly because he worked overseas.
3: His hometown is in Choongchung Province, in which the government is constructing a new capital.

And the Korean politicians want to use him so badly....
Oh yeah! Ban was the Minister of Foreign Affairs before 2007. And Ban met Putin.

Ban and Putin. Kremlin.ru/Wikipedia (CC)

Thanks for reading this first article of "Powerful Koreans", the emergency blog-saving and less stressful program  a "The Korean Story" series!

[DO NOT COPY]

Chaebols, Explained

[DO NOT COPY]

If you finish reading this post, you would know why this took so much time. Also, I took Samsung as an example in this post.

Chaebols, whether is an international news or news in Korea, appear onto the news headlines these days. But before I can talk about all of this, what is a "Chaebol"?

You know how almost all large Korean companies are family companies? We call the families Chaebolga, (재벌가). The members of it are the chaebols. Why does Korea have so many family companies that are rich? Koreans have this "Family ideology", so it was like starting in the 1500's, one ancestry lived in a town and another prominent ancestry in another town. Some, or most Koreans love to keep their things in the family. And to avoid huge amount of taxes, many chaebols spread their wealth to their relatives, and give them high spots on their companies. Also, many wealthy people want to "keep the wealth among their families" and improve relations between chaebol families, so in order to do this, they usually have one chaebol son get married to another chaebol daughter from another company.

Wait, before you see the map below, the reason there is Samsung Electronics but also Samsung Cars is because of less tax payments, so many children to give the companies to and relatives splitting off to make another Chaebol family line. Samsung Group is a group of companies under the Lee family, but isn't really a company itself. And in Korea, the Chaebol family is usually in the Chair's family, not the CEO.

This contributes to why eleven Chaebol companies are all interconnected, based on Samsung's founder Lee Byung Chul;

Long story short Lee Byung Chul made sure that their children were married to children of other major companies and officials of governments. From this part the post is all about the family tree, so if you don't want to read it, you can close the window.

AND SERIOUSLY, DON'T COPY THIS STUFF ONTO YOUR OWN BLOG. Except for expeddi, where I got the family tree photo from.

 Lee Byung Chul had two half-Japanese children we don't care about, and 8 children that became really wealthy people. The eight children are: Male: Gunhee, Changhee, Manghee. Female: Myunghee, Dukhee, Soonie, Sookhee, and Inhee. Notice how all these people's names end with "hee": most Korean siblings have at least one letter (English equivalent are syllables) in their name that their brothers and sisters have.

Son Gunhee:

Relations with Joongang Newspaper Group: Lee's son Lee Gunhee, who got to be the Chair of Samsung Group, was married to the daughter of Joongang Newspaper Group founder, in which one of his three sons became the chair of Joongang News and the other two sons were jealous (or given from his father) and founded Bogwang Group, another Chaebol group.
Relations with Daesang Group: Gunhee's son Jaeyong, who's going to take over Samsung Group when he dies, marries the daughter of the Chair of Daesang Group. Jaeyong's wife and her sister are the largest stock holders of the largest group in Dae
Relations with Donga News Group: Gunhee's daughter marries brother of Donga Chair.

Son Manghee: Received CJ Group from Father

Son Changhee: Received Saehan Group from father

Relations with Dongbang Group:  Changhee's son Jaegwan gets married the daughter of Dongbang Group's Chair. 

Relations with Life Group (Bankrupt in 1990's): Changhee's daughter Hyejin marries the son of former Life Group Chair

Daughter Myunghee: Received Shinsaegae Group (Which made the largest department store in the World) from her father

Daughter Sukhee:

Relations with LG Group: Sukhee was married to the brother of the Chair of LG

Daughter Inhee: Received Hansol Group/ Seperated from Samsung, and had 5 children and 12 grandchildren.

Phew. This took a long time because I was really tired last night and I wrote like once sentence an hour. Sorry!

[DO NOT COPY]

Dictators of South Korea

[DO NOT COPY]

Dictators. I thought they were only existent in the evil, communist North! No, just like North Korea, South Korea had 3 dictators, in which 2 of them I've already mentioned in previous posts. But here are the names:

Syungman Rhee (이승만): 1st, 2nd, and 3rd President (1948-1960)
Chunghee Park (박정희): 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th "President" (1961-1979)
Doohwan Cheon (전두환): 11th, 12th "President" (1980-1988)

Rhee.    Wikipedia/ (CC)

Let's go with the first dude on the list. Rhee Syungman was the first president of the Republic of Korea (a.k.a. South Korea). He was the dude who shouted out for "At least there should be democracy somewhere, let's put it on the south part of Korea!". As he got elected the first president of Korea, the former leader of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea said in his election speech that he will lead the country with the words of the peoples. Yeah, and look how that turned out. He had two 6-year terms as being a really bad president, people called him a dictator, because he acted like one; he arrested all the senators that were against him in Busan, during the Korean War.  And at the 3rd presidential election in South Korea, he made a bunch of systems where some gangs threatened many to vote for Rhee, and somehow made the election system into a useless state, making sure that Rhee got EVERYONE's votes. And that's when the middle and high school students of Masan city rose up and protested. Yes, I did say MIDDLE school students. Other citizens joined as they saw their children protesting.
And sadly, the police, who were supposed to protect the people, killed many of their citizens. Many people even went missing, and their location in unknown even today.Then like a month later, the 11th day of April 1960, people found a body of a high school student who was killed by police then thrown into the ocean in order to hide it from media. The news spread and spread and people got mad and protested in the streets of Seoul. 100 citizens died that day, and more did in the coming days, however the protesters increased. In the 25th, 100,000 people came out to the streets, including professors, and that meant 1 in 250 people in the nation participated. The next day, Rhee resigned and got exiled to Hawaii, in which he lived there with his Austrian wife until he died 5 years later.

Park     Wikipedia/ (CC)

Onto the next dictator. When the Second Republic of Korea was established (but considered to be representing the past republic), with almost all powers going to the Prime Minister Chang Myun, and the new president Yoon Bosun was just a headless figure. Meaning= Yoon was the head of State and Chang was the head of Government. And they were full of pro-Japanese people that angered all the citizens. And soon there was a coup, as in May 16th, 1961, the military, led by Chunghee Park, took over all government buildings and arrested Chang Myun. 2 years later, this dude narrowly won presidency. His goal was to have low labor costs and... just go to the post about the "Miracle of the Han River", okay? Anyways, his two four-year terms ended, and right before the 7th presidential election in 1971, Park changed the constitution and let presidents have a 3-term presidency. Oh yes, the people were mad, as only the government was getting rich and many people were kept poor (Just like in some parts of the People's           Republic of China these days). Of course, he was reelected. A year later, Park added the Yusin Constitution, making him eternal leader of Korea (And the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th President) .Then to make sure he stayed in power, Park reelected himself again in 1978. He was assasinated a year later by Jaegyu Kim, the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (Currently the NIS, National Intelligence Service). Then finally, the fourth Republic came in and elected Choi Gyu Hwa in the 10th presidential election, who was the Prime Minister at the time and also the acting president. People were so happy that they threw away the picture of Park in the police stations.

Cheon, when he was a young person in his 50s (CC)

However, the Fourth Republic lasted shorter than the Second Republic. Only eight months later, Chun doohwan, who was an army general under Park's rule, lead another coup. And people got very, very mad. But from stop making students organize protests, he arrested many of them and closed the gates of all universities in Korea. That didn't stop the protests, though. The people of Gwangju got  into taxis, buses, or walked to the South Jeonla Province provincial building, and ran to the military. The military killed hundreds of people that day, however the citizens finally got control of the provincial buildings in the 21st of May. However, Cheon blocked all the media and even destroyed some companies, then went onto the 11th presidential election where he got all of the votes. He did the same thing in 1984 when he got 90% of the votes of the 12th presidential election. People still protested every day, only to get hit by bombs thrown by police. However, after the death of two students, people held up signs like, "Do not kill my child twice!" And thousands marched up and down the streets every day. Then Cheon began to worry that he might get assasinated, too, and gave his power to Roh Taewoo, who eventually betrayed him and brought democracy to the nation.

This post was a bit late; sorry!

[DO NOT COPY]

The Korean Empire

[DO NOT COPY]

What? Korea was an empire? Never heard of it.



Emperor Gojong.

As the Qing Dynasty/Empire of China was an Empire, it meant that some nations around them paid tributes and they kept expanding land. But as the Qing Dynasty weakened, the Joeson Dynasty said that it was time to stop paying the tributes. So in October 20th, 1897, the Joeson Dynasty became the Daehan Empire (Korean Empire), and Gojong the Great (Look on the Korean Kings' names section) became Gojong Hwangjae (Emperor Gojong).

The Korean Empire is mistakenly thought for being just a name-changed horrifying nation, but really, it's not. It is the symbol of Korean urbanization, in which we decided to let in a bunch of foreign stuff into our nation. We developed modern weopons and modern buildings. Many of us CUT our hair, which was a sacred thing back then. Emperor Gojong's hair was forcefully cut by the Japanese, however, who ruled the peninsula after him. Gojong was also sad when the Japanese killed his wife, the Emperess Min of Korea. This angered many Koreans, but angered them even more when in August 29th, four random people who wanted money and power signed a contract with Japan claiming that the Korean Empire was to be "unified" with the Japanese Empire. Many Korean royals had to marry Japanese royals and as the Korean royals died out, Japan was taking over Korea.

By the way, did you know that the Korean Empire even had a national anthem? I listened to it on Youtube, and it has all the old grammars that disappeared in South Korea (but didn't disappear in the North).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBvh95hpJtA

[DO NOT COPY]

Religion in Korea

[DO NOT COPY]

Religion. In Asia, there's radical Islam in the West, and sometimes radical Buddhism in the South East. Christianity is very unknown in China, however the religion is very different in the Korean Peninsula. Let us look into Korea's religion.

In North Korea before 1948, the place had freedom of religion. But now, there is barely freedom of religion, except for one, where North Koreans believe Kim Jung Un and his daddy and granddaddy does not poop and is a god.

Shining Kim Il Sung- NamuWiki/ (CC) 

Religion in South Korea is, well, has more things to explain.

First of all, Korean Protestants and I think Muslims do not participate in traditional Korean events, like remembering someone who died on his/her death day, et cetra. Catholics and Buddhists participate, though. Traditional beliefs tied with Confucianism and all sorts are not considered religions.

South Korea, according to a 2005 census, is 46.5% No religion, 22.8% Korean Buddhism, 29.2% Christianity (18.3% Protestant, 10.9% Catholic), and the leftover 1.7% are diverse minority religions such as Islam and Hindu.

Buddhism came into the Korean Peninsula in the 6th century and became the national religion of many dynasties until 1392, when the Korean Confucian-believers founded the Joeson dynasty. Buddhism was kind of modified into a type of Buddhism called "Korean Buddhism". It spread around the world, and there are less than 10 Korean Buddhist temples in the Czech Republic. (Simply saying this because I had to study about the Czech Republic in a school project years and years ago.)

Catholicism, just like in other nations, is directly connected to the Vatican City. However, Protestant Christianity is way more complicated, as you can basically make your own Protestant religion in one second. Also, there are hundreds of scam Protestant Christian religions in Korea, and they belong in a group called "사이비 종교" (Psyee-bee Jonggyo). If you heard of the Sewol Ferry disaster that happened in Korea a year ago, the former C.E.O. of the company was a leader of one of these strange religions- 구원파 (Guwon-pa, Miracle Group), in which they claim that they know when they were "saved by god" by the day, hour and minute. However, not all protestant groups are like this. Some protestants didn't participate to behead statues of Buddha in the 80's and 90's. The people who did those things were radical protestants.

For protestant groups that exist in America in Europe, the major three groups are Presbyterianism Church (장로교회), Methodism (감리교회), and the Baptists (침례교회). 

There are 40,000 Korean nationals who are Muslims, and there is a larger population for foreign Muslim labor workers. Same as Hindu. 

As of overseas Koreans, Korean Buddhist temples were built (There's actually one in Metro Vancouver), and quite a lot of Catholic and Protestant churches that usually has like 1 English mass and the rest is just in Korean. 

St. Andrew Kim Korean Catholic Church, Metro Vancouver

And that's it for Korea's religion.

Contact me at: thekoreanstory.outlook.com

[DO NOT COPY]

Where the Name "Korea" comes from

[DO NOT COPY]

Ever wondered where Korea got its name? Wonder why.

"Korea" is from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). In the 12th Century, merchants from Arabia and India "discovered" Korea when passing at the time the Chinese/Mongolian Won Dynasty (The Mongol Empire). And they pronounced "Goryeo" into something similar to "Corea". Then the Frenchies (or French Fries) came by and named us Corée. Then the English Muffins who shared a lot of cultural ties with France, named it Corea. I love giving countries nicknames.

Then the Goryeo Dynasty got wiped off the map and the Joeson Dynasty came in, however the Europeans did not change what they called the Korean Peninsula. Then the Japanese rule came in 1910, and apparently they wanted "J" (of Japan) to be in front of "C" (Of Corea) so they changed Corea into Korea. the English language called it Korea from then. The Romance Languages (Languages spoken in Italy, France, and the Iberian Peninsula) still let Korea start with a C. 

Some Korean activists want nationalism to kick in and rename the Republic of Korea into the Republic of Corea, but that's just millions of dollars wasted, and when the activists told the world that this is about nationalism, I don't get why Arabians and French people trying to write and pronounce the word "고려" (Goryeo) is a nationalistic thing, unless they're saying that we share the same heritage and ancestry (Well, we all share the same ancestry since we all have 1 or 2 common ancestors from the start of humanity, but I'm not talking that far.) This is a nice short post for the night. (Or midnight)

[DO NOT COPY]

Dialects/Regions of Korea Explained

[DO NOT COPY]

Dialects of Korea. Like the U.S. or the U.K., it is the same language however sounds different in many of their areas. However, to South Korea, one of the most homogeneous nations of the world with 95% being ethnically Korean, it may be different.

From the South:
Jeju (제주) Culture: Gray, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province
Jeonla (전라) Culture: Gold, South and North Jeonla Province, Gwangju City
Gyungsang (경상) Culture: Red, South and North Gyungsang Prov, Busan, Ulsan, and Daegu Cities
Choongchung (충청) Culture: Blue, South and North Choongchung Prov, Daejeon City, Sejong Special City
Gyungi (경기) Culture: Dark Green, Gyungi Province, Seoul Special City, Incheon
Gangwon (강원) Culture: Purple, South Korean and North Korean Gangwon Proivnces, Mt. Kumgang Tourist Region
Hwanghae (황해) Culture: Orange, South and North Hwanghae Provinces
Pyungan (평안) Culture: Lime Green, South and North Pyungan Provinces, Pyungyang, New Yiju Free Trade City, and Jagang Province
Hamgyung (함경) Culture: North and South Hamgyung Provinces, Nasun Special City

Korea has 9 different dialects with its own regional culture, dialect, and stereotypes. The languages, no matter how strange one person from Jeonla can speak, I bet that a person from Hamgyung province could understand it. In fact, Jeju is the most culturally different province from the rest of Korea. That's why there was a secession movement in the 50's. (But seriously, they can understand Korean fine, and I'm a Jeju person myself, so...) The provincial borders are very clear; the Jeonla dialect exists in the Jeonla Provinces, Gyungsang dialect in the Gyungsang Provinces, and so on. In fact, the reason there are the "North and South provinces" in South Korea, is because one nation is hard to govern with only 5 provinces (At the time Jeju was part of Jeonla.), and they thought the reasonable number would be around 10.

Some regional stereotypes I know of is putting dangke (당께) on every end of a sentence said by a Choongchung person, a dialect sounding similar to South Japanese (but many of their ancestors came from Korea) in Gyungsang, and a bunch of unknown words used by Jeju commoners.
There is also a regional variety in Kimchi, Korea's national food, which makes a great side dish, Very strange, but if you compare it to comparing German beer to Czech beer or a bunch of types of German beer INSIDE Germany, that's probably not an uncommon thing to see in the world.

Nowadays, the Gyungi cultural popularity is growing in South Korea, and the Pyungan cultural popularity is like 100% in North Korea.

In the old days where Korean dynasties used to control a huge chunk of Manchuria, (Northeast China), some North Korean cultures were there, too. Now, the place is just full of Han Chinese, Manchurians, and a Korean Autonomous Prefecture. Mao Zedong loved Koreans, too.

Also saying, the Hamgyung Culture actually is a mix of Korean and Manchurian ethnicity. The Southern half of Manchurian ethnicity is known to be "sucked in" by Korea.
Good night.

[DO NOT COPY]

Major South Korean Cities Explained

[DO NOT COPY]

Major Korean city Geography is nothing like normal Canadian or American Geography. You'll see soon. See, some major Korean cities have a huge population/too large enough to be governed by a provincial government. So they are made, excluding Seoul and Sejong, "광역시", or Gwangyuk-Sis (Si=City). It used to be called 직할시 (Jikhal-Si). There are 6 in total, and are indeed provincial-level. Those 6 cities are:

Gwangju Gwankyuk-Si (Not to be confused with Gwangju in Gyungi Province) Busan, Ulsan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Incheon. 

Gwangju: 1. Busan: 2. Ulsan: 3. Daegu: 4. Daejeon: 5. Incheon: 6.

Dialect Map of South Korea, one of the most homogeneous nations of the world. (Hint about another post!)

Usually, these major cities are first considered to be a "광역시" when its population goes over a million. Some people thought of unifying cities together in the most populous province of Gyungi (In which surrounds Seoul), as there are a lot of small cities in the Seoul Metropolitan Area. The idea, however, was turned away by many people, as unifying those small cities would take away huge parts of the Seoul Metropolitan Area and creating another, which would not solve the terrible overpopulation in the area.

Korean politicians usually consider making some cities into these provincial-level cities when they surpass the population of 1 million.

When cities are made into these "광역시"s, they usually take a nearby county with them. Now let's see what the major cities are made out of.

Busan: Busan City+ Gijang County
Ulsan: Ulsan City + Ulju County
Gwangju: Gwangju City + Songjong City + Gwangsan County
Daejeon: Daejeon City + Daeduk County
Incheon: Incheon City + Ganghwa County + Ongjin County + Gumdan District, Gimpo City (At the time Gimpo County)
Daegu: Daegu City + Dalsung County

The 6 Major cities together make up a quarter of Korea's population of 50.22 million in 2013.

One thing people might be curious about, is that if, IF South Korea's population reached 81 million (1 million for every municipality), is every single city going to be a provincial-level city? Or will the provincial-level city law be banished and they become provinces? We would never know today, but maybe in the future, we will.

[DO NOT COPY]

A Second Capital in South Korea?

[DO NOT COPY]

Seoul was the third largest city in Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), the capital of Joeson Dynasty (1392-1910), Japanese Korea (1910-1945), and is the capital of the Republic of Korea, with many historical monuments in and around it. However, many presidents (and dictators) considered moving the capital of Korea. Why were they? And why is Korea's newest city, Sejong Special Self-Governing City, (Named after the famous King Sejong), the first of its kind, the new parliamentary capital of Korea?

Map of Sejong.  TKostolany-Wikipedia/ (CC) 

First off, a little background information about Sejong City. Founded in July 1st, 2012, Sejong is made out of most of its former municipality, Yeongi Gun (Pronounced Goon, meaning county; not urban-centered), and took away Jang-gi District and a part of Lee-dang district (To make Janggun district) and a part of Banpo District (Not to be confused with the one in Korea) to add to Gum-nam District. And most of Buyong District of Cheongwon County (Now part of Chung-ju City, capital of North Choongchung Province) was added, too.

The two-capital thing is actually a part of a movement to move South Korea's capital southward, due to North Korean threats. In fact, it started in 1977, where the government of "President" Park Chung-hee did some research about Choongchung province and then decided that Jang-gi District of  Gongju would make a perfect capital. (Remember, Jang-gi is now part of Janggun District, in SEJONG!). But no progress was made since then, and finally it reappeared to the world when in the 2002 presidential election, former president Roh Mu-hyun talked about a new capital somewhere in Choongchung, from making it to the parliamentary capital and then moving other government bodies such as the Blue Roof House (Presidential home of Korea). And then through a 2006 poll/referendum, the name Sejong was decided.

The new capital movement was temporarily stopped by the Lee Myungbak government from 2007 to 2012, whom opposed the idea. Lee Wangoo, a key player in Korean politics right now, and was the governor for South Choongchung province at the time was mad about the idea, however had to resign his spot due to controversy. The new capital movement resumed after 2012, and now it is the parliamentary capital of Korea, solving Seoul's overpopulation problems.

Anyways, since Sejong is a de facto capital, it might be considered that South Korea has one capital. But since they moved the parliament to Sejong, so we'll count it as two.

Phew.
[DO NOT COPY]

Help!

Hey guys, Andy here.

As you know, "The Korean Story" makes content about Korea. For instance, South Korea's economic revolution, or how awesome Gimbop is.

To the readers who read my post minutes after I publish it, I thank you all, and remind you that this is also your blog. If you want me to post every post on a certain time, I will think about it and maybe use that idea. If you want me to post 2 posts a day on weekends, I will try my best. If you want more awesome posts about awesome... food, I will post about awesome food.

Korea is a thriving nation with a rich history and people (well, some of them at least), and to cover this approximately 210 thousand square kilometers of awesomeness I need your help. I can also accept information with accurate sources.

Thank you for reading this post till this far, and you can suggest me stuff through comments or sending an email to:

thekoreanstory@outlook.com

Thanks again!

Cause(s) of the Korean War

[DO NOT COPY]

The Korean War. Almost became the Third World War, and many Koreans didn't like it. Now, what had caused this war, a bloody war that killed, wounded, or misplaced around 4 million people?

After the Second World War ended and the Empire of Japan gave up most of its colonies, including the Korean Peninsula, many Koreans were happy that they could now govern themselves. The temporary Korean government organized in Shanghai finally came back to Korea and made the 조선건국준비위원회, or the Joeson (Korea) Foundation Preparing Council. two-thirds of the people there were communists, but that's not important. The important fact, is that Koreans were angered when they heard that the USSR, USA, GBR, and France had a secret meeting in Moscow about the future of Korea, and that the U.S. would control Korea below 48-degrees latitude for three years, while the Soviets, in which at the time temporarily controlled Manchuria (a former Japanese colony/puppet state right above Korea), occupied the North side of the 48-degrees latitude for three years. Many of those in the South rebelled against in what many Koreans know as "신탁 통치" (Shintack Tongchi,). The North didn't agree. Then a political leader, Kim Gu, who was a key in Korean independence, held a "Protest against Shintack Tongchi". And both sides agreeing and being against it showed up. And there was a bloody fight.

Syngman Lee. Flickr/(CC)

Eventually, 1948 showed up and the three-year period ended, whether Koreans hated or not. During the three-year period, many in the North started believing in Communism, and the South was the exact opposite. And someone in the crowd shouted,

"Let's just make a government in the South first! A capitalistic, democratic government!"

The name of the shouter was Syngman Lee, who was a fighter for Korean independence, relied on the U.S., and the first, second and third president of South Korea. (And he also tried to become dictator but eventually got executed to Hawaii) Eventually, the constitution was made in July 17th 1948, and the Republic of Korea was born exactly three years after Korean independence/End of WWII.

Kim Il Sung right after the Korean War started

Now the South Korean government was made, many North Koreans did not like that. and in less than four months, Kim Il Sung founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

And then you know the rest of the story- the communists wanted all of the Korean Peninsula to be like them so they invaded the South in a quite Sunday dawn, the dawn of June 25th, 1950.

So what caused the Korean War?
The correct answer is: the Americans and the Soviets.
Too bad South Koreans are TOO much trying to copy looking and living like Americans. And we will remember that the form of government isn't important at all; the only important thing is the happiness of the peoples.



[ DO NOT COPY]

Miracle of the Han River

[DO NOT COPY]

"South Korea's GDP (PPP) growth from 1911 to 2008" by Cantus - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - 

Now, remember that other post with Dictat- I mean former President Park and the population of Seoul? Anyways, as I said, under his rule, there was a miracle in the Korean economy. I'm not exaggerating here- but it had the fastest record of economic growth for decades! From 30 billion to more than a trillion in THIRTY YEARS- It's GDP (Gross Domestic Product, how much a country earns in a period) increased like 333 times in that 3 decades; that's way less than what General MacArthur (who commanded the Korean War and disobeyed former U.S. president Truman) said:
"It will take them (Korea) 100 years to recover from the devastation."

Anyways, why is my post called "The Miracle of the Han River?" Because that's what usually people call South Korea's huge economic growth in the late 20th Century. It was inspired by the "Miracle of the Rhine River", in which West Germany, after the Second World War, became Europe's largest economy after they experienced pain from the... you know what it is.

The Miracle of the Han River started in 1961, where Chung-hee Park was kind of like (in the 1961 election), "With cheap labor costs and sending the Koreans abroad, we will experience stress little now and have great wealth soon!" That statement came to life. Korean medics went everywhere, as well as one tragic event: sending Koreans the West German Rhine coal mine regions, where many had died. (Yes, the coal mines are dangerous.)

Within South Korea, young girls work in crowded factories and made clothes for 14-16 hours and only got 50 won a day; that was like buying a small cup of machine coffee! Many laborers crowded into Seoul and built buildings and factories, destroyed all the forests of Gangnam district of Seoul, which was all just huts and farmland at the time (And now the most economically thriving region of the nation, in fact this is where "Gangnam Style" by PSY is based on!).

What was the result of all of this? Yes, the high class getting rich and the lower class staying where they are. Even if the Korean economy was growing like wildfire.

But in the late 60's and 70's, something happened. A Korean laborer named Tae-il Jeon, who worked in the Seoul Peace Street Market, who used his bus fees from the day to get home to feed the young kids working with him, made the "Babo Group" in 1968, (바보회) or "The Stupid Group". He told the people with him, that they were "stupid" enough to not protest about the current situations of the laborers. Jeon then studied the laws of labor and went from government office to government office, complaining that the government is treating laborers like machines.

Tae-il Jeon got fired, then. Later, when he barely got rehired, he went on to complain to the media. And finally, on October 7th, 1970, the news about the laborers was finally written about. Everyone thought that things were going to change now, and the government said that they will keep on eye on the market owners, however did nothing at all. Finally, Jeon got mad, and protested a month later by burning himself in the middle of a crowded street, shouting,

"Obey the labor laws, stop treating us like machines, and do not make my death in vain!"

And that's when the huge protests began. The boycotts of the laborers affected the large companies, and in 1988, the Korean government finally made a minimum wage of 470 won. That is approximately 45 US CENTS, however was 30% of an average laborer's salary. These things are now rare in South Korea, as the minimum wage is going to be 6030 won in 2016, and is growing about 30-50 U.S. cents per year.The laborers' minimum wage is higher.

Back to the Korean economic growth story. In 1997, there was this thing called the Asian Crisis, better known in Korea as the IMF jeopardy (Or some across the globe call it the Korean IMF Crisis, just like Greece is in now.). Korea's GNI suddenly dropped below $10,000. Many became unemployed, This was all due to the past 2 decades, where Korea built factories, lent more money, and built more factories.. which turned out to be a dumb idea. If you're wondering why I'm not posting any photos right now, just go to this website 'cause I know all of those three Korean crisis..es?. : http://www.inthekimchijar.com/687

Anyways, that gave me an idea about future posts: Tragic events in Korea and why they happen.

Wait, this is not the end of the story! I forgot to say that Korea finally paid back all their debts in they year 2000 and now they have the 11th largest economy. Yay.

Sorry, I got off-topic.

[DO NOT COPY]