** 10-Jun-2022 World View: Generational History of Korea
thomasglee wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 12:56 pm
> Whatever dude.
I was in the hospital much of the past week (leg infection), and when
I came back I saw this dispute about Korea. I don't claim to have
anything like the knowledge of the Korean people that Seoul Guest and
Thomas Lee have, but I did spend several months doing research for my
book on "War between China and Japan," and I developed some definite
opinions about the generational history of Korea. The following are
some edited excerpts from stuff that I've written about Korea.
**** Vassal relationship
Historically, Korea has never been an ally of China. Korea has always
been a vassal, in a tributary relationship with China, meaning that
Korea paid China a great deal of money, usually gold and slaves, in
return for guarantees of defense from outsiders (i.e., Japan).
Although China does not directly govern the vassal, China expects the
vassal to do as it's told.
After World War II, North Korea alone took on the role of China's
vassal, and called on China to be its principal defender in the Korean
war of the early 1950s.
North Korea paid tribute to China not in the form of gold and slaves,
but in the form of massive amounts of coal and "workers," both of
which are also used to provide financial aid to North Korea.
However, relations between China and North Korea took a hostile turn
in October 2006, when North Korea began testing nuclear weapons.
North Korea did not do as it was told, and China punished North Korea
by agreeing to United Nations sanctions targeting North Korea.
**** Battle of Myongnyang (Myeongnyang), October 26, 1597
Arguably the most important European battle in the last millennium was
the fall of Constantinople and the defeat of the Christian Byzantine
Empire by the Muslim Ottomans in 1453.
In my opinion, the most important battle in Asia in the last
millennium (prior to WW II) was the Battle of Myongnyang
(Myeongnyang), October 26, 1597, because it was so crushing and so
climactic that it must have been well remembered for centuries -- with
glee by the Koreans and Chinese, and with humiliation by the Japanese
-- and would have had a strong visceral influence on the events
following the Taiping Rebellion and the Meiji Restoration.
Japan's samurai army general Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched his second
invasion of Korea on August 27, 1597, with a force of 100,000 soldiers
in 1000 ships to reinforce the 50,000 troops left behind in Korea
after the first invasion. The climax was the Battle of Myongnyang on
October 26. Admiral Yi's small contingent of twelve ships destroyed
133 Japanese vessels without any Korean losses. Admiral Yi achieved
this victory after luring the Japanese fleet into a narrow channel and
using the swift currents to his advantage. This victory prevented the
Japanese navy from entering the Yellow Sea and re-supplying its army
trying to advance towards Seoul.
The Koreans won a brilliant naval victory against the Japanese navy,
using technologically advanced "turtle ships," believed to be the
world's first ironclad warship. A Korean contingent of 12 ships lured
a Japanese force of hundreds of ships into a narrow channel and
destroyed 133 Japanese vessels without any Korean losses. Even today,
the battle is described in mythic terms, as an almost miraculous
victory by Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin,
Joseon Korea became increasingly isolationist after defeating Japan,
and was defeated in 1637 by an invading army by the Manchus in China
who were forming the Qing dynasty, forcing Josean Korean to submit
once more to a tributary relationship with the Manchus in China.
After the climax of the war, both China and Japan went into a kind of
"hibernation," with the Manchus taking charge in China, and the
Tokugawa clan taking charge in Japan, and Korea in a tributary
relationship with China. This stayed the same for over three
centuries, until Britain initiated the Opium Wars with China, and
American Commodore Matthew Perry visited Japan in 1853, forcing it to
open its ports to the west.
Japan left Korea alone for three centuries after the humiliating
defeat at Myongnyang, until the Japanese Empire won the Russo-Japanese
war (1905), when there was a Peace Conference at Portsmouth in the
USA, which began on August 10, 1905, presided over by US president
Theodore Roosevelt. One of the outcomes of that peace conference was
that, despite appeals from Korea, Roosevelt awarded Korea to Japan as
one of the spoils of war. So Korea became a colony of Japan until
1945. According to what I've read, the period of colonization was
generally positive for Korea, and they are not bitter about it, except
for the issue of comfort women.
**** The Goguryeo Stele
In January 2013, an ancient memorial stone or gravestone, the Goguryeo
stele, was unearthed in northeast China. This discovery reopened an
explosive dispute between China and South Korea over whether the
Goguryeo Kingdom (37-688) was really Korean, or whether it was
actually governed by China with a Korean population. In the latter
case, it would mean that part of North Korea is really China's.
Historical records indicate that the Goguryeo (Koguryo) Kingdom was
founded in northern Korea in 37 AD. The kingdom grew through
conquest, and it saw its greatest period during the reign of
Gwanggaeto (391-413), when it dominated northern Korea, most of
Manchuria, and a portion of Inner Mongolia -- including parts of
northeastern China and Russia's Far East. Goguryeo was one of the
three kingdoms of ancient Korea, along with Baekjae and Silla.
China's Sui dynasty launched a series of attacks on the Goguryeo
kingdom, starting in 598 and again in 611, and was pushed back both
times.
The war between the Sui and the Goguryeo empire climaxed in 612, with
a massive Sui army invasion of Korea. When the Koreans under general
Ulchi Mundok won a great victory against the Chinese with the Battle
of the Salsu River (612). According to legend, of the 300,000-strong
Sui army, only 2,700 returned to China. Two more attacks were
rebuffed in 613 and 614 and Goguryeo built a 480-km (300 miles) long
defensive wall in 628 CE so as to deter any further Chinese ambitions.
**** Korea vs China and Japan
Throughout Korea's history, they were either a colony of Japan or a
vassal state of China. I'm not sure which is worse. So which side
would Korea choose to fight against -- Japan or Korea? I get the
feeling that they would rather be like Switzerland, and try to stay
neutral as long as possible.
Historically, Korea has been a Chinese vassal state, forced to pay
tribute to China. So the Koreans hate both the Japanese and the
Chinese. How this will all unfold once war breaks out will not be
pleasant. Those missiles and nuclear weapons that the North Koreans
are developing will be targeting Japan, South Korea and America.
South and North Korea will be in a full scale ground war. Japan and
America will be striking back at both North Korea and China.
The mutual hatred of the Japanese and Korean people goes very deep.
Korea has been the staging ground for earlier invasions by both China
and Japan against one another — for example, Kublai Khan's invasions
of Japan in 1274 and 1281 or Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempts to invade
Ming China via Korea in 1592 and 1597.
During much of the last two millennia, Korea has been a vassal state
of China, in a tributary relationship, meaning that Korea paid China a
great deal of money, usually gold and slaves, in return for guarantees
of defense from outsiders (i.e., Japan).
If you look at history, there is no reason why the Koreans should have
any great love for China. To the contrary, China has always treated
Korea contemptuously, as a vassal.
The North Koreans are in a difficult place. They are stuck with
China, because they want to conquer South Korea. But the North
Koreans have a love-hate relationship with China. They've totally
become vassals to China, which the North Koreans hate. Even worse,
North Korea is a country with one of the 22 border disputes with
China, and China claims a portion of northwest North Korea as
sovereign Chinese territory, as described above with the Goguryeo
Stele.
John Xenakis is author of: "World View: War Between China and Japan:
Why America Must Be Prepared" (Generational Theory Book Series, Book
2), June 2019 Paperback: 331 pages, over 200 source references, $13.99
http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ ... s.scbk.htm
https://www.amazon.com/World-View-Betwe ... 732738637/
