1. THE KOREAS Everything you ever wanted to know!

2. Early Korea  Absorbed many ideas from China including Buddhism and Confucianism  Chinese refugees would travel to Korea  Adapted Chinese traditions to match their beliefs  Faced constant attacks by the Japanese in their conquests to control China  Japan gained control of Korea after Shino- Japanese War  Japanese wanted to destroy Korean identity

3. Korea After WWII  Had been part of the Japanese empire Korea to the north  Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north  Pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south  Divided at the 38 th parallel

4. Domino Effect  North Korea invades South Korea on June 25, 1950  First military action of the Cold War  U.S. fears if one Asian country falls to Communism, all will fall like dominos  Joins the war in July 1950

5. Stalemate  July 1951 – U.S. starts peace talks  Fighting continues  Disagreement over POWs – “repatriated” or not  July 27, 1953 – armistice signed  New boundary near 38 th parallel gives S. Korea more territory  Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)  150 miles long, 2 miles wide  Still exists today  Most heavily guarded border in the world on both sides but rarely sees conflict

6. DMZ

7. South Korea Today  Maintained a large army to prevent another invasion  Established a thriving economy  Some Confucian ideals remain strong  Education and close family ties

8. South Korea Today  Government is still strict and withholds some human rights  Life has gotten better but they have long hours for low pay  Draws businesses to the country  Tremendous pollution  Focus to rebuild quickly caused environment to be ignored

9. North Korea Today  Few links to the outside world  Communist dictatorship that is NOT close with China  Totalitarian state similar to China under Mao Zedong  Import and export almost nothing  Very far behind South Korea in terms of standard of living

10. North Korea Today  Religion is outlawed  Communism replaces Confucianism  Because North Korea is so closed off, we know very little about life there  They have some of the worst human rights violations  Due to bad management the economy is suffering greatly

11. North Korea Today  Tremendous amounts of spending on military, not helping their civilians live better  One in 4 people work for the military  Create elaborate shows to give people pride in military strength  Great deal of time and effort has been spent on developing nuclear technology as a means of “protecting itself”