I am honoured to be invited to talk to you about the Korean War and what it was like. I will tell you of my own experiences. I was there in the infantry for just under a year, 1951/2, following on after Colonel Hickey. Sir Max Hastings, the well-known historian and journalist, described the war…
After I have spoken you will get an exceptionally realistic account, from John Bowler, of what the Korean War was like at the sharp end. As an infantryman he saw at very close range the violence that only the infantry know, for it falls to them to take part in close combat. I was not…
The following paper will deal with the political system of North Korea. I will present the successor to the actual leader of North Korea and the elites that are conducting North Korea. These elites are all connected to Kim Jong Il’s family. According to Jae Cheon Lim, a South Korean analyst, Kim Jong Il’s family…
In many ways, the people of Korea are still waiting for the Korean War to end. The standoff between North and South Korea across the demilitarized zone located on the 38th Parallel continues to wield invisible influence over both countries, not only in politics, but also in economy, society, and culture. Although the war has…
The Korean War (1950–1953) was not a single war, but rather a combination of several different kinds of war. It was a civil war, of course, waged between two mutually negating post-colonial political forces, each of which, through the negation, aspired to build a common, larger, singular, and united modern nation-state. It was an international…
Since Taejo [Yi Seonggye, the founder of Joseon] took over the kingship from the Wang family by military force, there were many valiant commanders from the northwest among the retainers who aided him. However, after he established his government, he ordered that people from the northwest not be appointed to high positions. Download article |…
On 28 April 1884, Britain and Korea exchanged ratifications for the Second British-Korean Treaty of Amity and Commerce (the ‘Parkes’ treaty). With this treaty’s ratification, Britain and Korea created an official diplomatic channel and wrote clearly the first page of British-Korean diplomatic history. However, the Port Hamilton affair (May 1885–Feb 1887), in which the British…
On the fifteenth day of the third month of 1728, rebels led by Yi Injwa seized Ch’ŏngju, marking the start of the Musillan rebellion (also known as Yi Injwa’s rebellion). The rebels controlled areas of Ch’ungch’ŏng, Kyŏngsang and Kyŏnggi provinces for more than a week. However, after these serious losses, government forces rapidly annihilated the…
In the seventh month of 1727, Yŏngjo shocked his entire court by removing the Noron (the Old Doctrine) faction and restoring to power the Soron (the Young Doctrine) faction. What was shocking was that Yŏngjo removed a faction that was loyal to his rule, and restored a faction that had campaigned against him and in…
While studying the political mechanisms of ancient Korea, my research paid particular attention amongst various factors to the bureaucratic systems (官僚制度), government statements by the literati, political meanings of divination rituals and medicine, and attempted to reveal how these were used by the ruling class in solidifying their power over society. In other words, the…