Korea is a peninsula located in northeast Asia, bounded by China (Manchuria) and Russia on the north, the Sea of Japan on the east, Yellow Sea on the west, and Korea Strait on the south (Hoare, 1988). Separated by the latter, Japan lies to the southeast, only a short distance away. The climate ranges from cold in the north to temperate in the south. Largely mountainous, the amount of land that is arable is limited, concentrated in the south and farmed mainly for rice.
Divided after World War II roughly along the 38th parallel, South Korea occupies the southern half of the peninsula. Seoul is the capital and biggest city, with about eleven mil lion people. The population of the country is 43 million (versus 22 million in the North)(World Almanac, 1993).
Known as the "hermit kingdom" historically, it was nomin ally independent but heavily influenced by China in more modern times. In 1895, however, after the Sino-Japanese War, Japan became the dominant influence in the country, resulting in formal annexation in 1910 (Handbook of Korea, 1987). Only after World War II did the pe ninsula gain formal independence, but it was divided into two separate countries, South Korea and North Korea, as a result of occupation by US and USSR forces respectively. In the, Cold War that followed, South Korea has been pro-Western and capitalistic while the North has been Communist.
In 1950 Nunder Kim Il Sung, Moscow's chosen leader, North Korea attacked South Korea, launching the Korean War (Hanbook of Korea, 1987). Initial ly, his army occupied most of the South, but when US forces landed in sizable numbers, the North was routed, and the American and South Korean military swept into the North, occupying most of it. But then China poured in a million troops on the side of the North, which resulted in a stalemate in 1953 near the 38th parallel; that is where the boundary between the two hostile camps remains to this day.
While the Nort...