South Korea History

South Korea (National Flag)

The flag dates from the late 1800's. With minor changes, it was reintroduced in 1948, officially in 1950. White, which is the Korean national color, symbolizes peace. In the middle is the taeguk, which resembles the yin and yang sign from Chinese philosophy and symbolizes the opposition and harmony of universal forces. The four trigrams, kwae, in each corner symbolize the four elements, air, earth, water, and fire.

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South Korea - mass media

Since South Korea's first daily newspaper was published in 1898, the media has played a significant political role in Korean society; with the dominance of Confucianism as a moral doctrine, the press has a clear political educational function and, despite the fact that most newspapers are privately owned, has actually served as a mouthpiece for changing governments.

The media was previously censored, but with the reform policy of the second half of the 1980's, there was a softening and the number of dailies quadrupled. As No. 34 (2005), South Korea is at the nice end of the Reporters Without Borders worldwide index of press freedom (North Korea is the last in a 167th place). In the early 2000-t. there are 116 dailies, of which 21 are nationwide (and three are English-speaking), the leading ones being Dong-A Ilbo, Choson-Ilbo and the intellectually oriented Hankyoreh Sinmun.

The country's total newspaper circulation is DKK 9.4 million. (2002), and the press increasingly acts as a corrective to those in power. Newspapers that primarily contain sports and comics also have large circulation. Radio and television are predominantly state-owned. The presence of a television station affiliated with the American troops, which also has its own newspaper in English (circulation 34,000) in the country (AFKN), is often criticized.

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The latest shot at the media tribe in South Korea is the online newspaper OhmyNews. The project was established in 2000 with a few journalists and 767 "citizen journalists" with the aim of revolutionizing news dissemination. The phenomenon has been a great success. In the 2002 election, the newspaper mobilized especially the younger groups of voters, which became decisive for the outcome.

President Roh Moo-hyun gave his very first interview to OhmyNews. Today, the newspaper has approximately 40,000 registered "civilians" and more than 50 professional journalists. OhmyNews is now ranked among the most influential media in South Korea. South Koreans are big consumers of news; the largest newspapers have huge media conglomerates, which also supply magazines - from deeply serious specialty publications to light-hearted women's magazines - radio and television.

The family-owned Choson-Ilbo also owns an art gallery and a tourist hotel, and the newspaper sponsors, among other things. an annual award for a debuting author, art exhibitions, sporting events and series of lectures on current social topics. The Internet has gained a large foothold in South Korea, where 34 million people were regular users in 2005.

South Korea (History)

As part of the surrender of Japanese troops after World War II, Soviet troops occupied Koreanorth of the 38th parallel, while US troops occupied South Korea. The temporary division, which was finally agreed by the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union in December 1945, soon became permanent due to the Cold War. The UN decision to hold elections throughout Korea was implemented in South Korea in May 1948, but not in North Korea. The new South Korean National Assembly adopted a constitution and elected Syngman Rhee president; On August 20, 1948, he proclaimed the Republic of Korea. Shortly afterwards, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed in North Korea. The division has since played a key role in South Korean policy and in security policy throughout the Northeast Asian region. With North Korea's attack on South Korea on June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out. It ended with a ceasefire on 27.7.1953, but relations between South and North Korea have since been marked by fierce hatred.

While South Korea functioned quite effectively as a bulwark against communism, the experiment with a democratic form of government was only a limited success. When Syngman Rhee was elected for the fourth time in 1960, a student-led uprising simmered, and when the demand for his resignation was supported by the National Assembly, he had to resign. The continuing political unrest and a tense relationship with North Korea were the background for a military coup the following year, which brought General Park Chung-Hee to power.

With the energy sector and large-scale industry located primarily in North Korea, balanced economic development was difficult at first, but in the 1960's, strong export-oriented growth set in. In this context, close links with the political authorities and the banking system enabled business people to set up huge trading and industrial companies in a short time.

Regular and imaginary infiltration from North Korea invalidated all attempts at political liberalization, and the security police persecuted anyone suspected of communist sympathies. The rural population was tried to be organized in the movement The New Society, whose purpose was both economic development and political discipline.

Growing political unrest culminated in the assassination of Park in 1979. The following year, General Chun Doo-Hwan (b. 1931) carried out a new military coup and continued the repressive regime, continuing with North Korea as justification. A popular uprising in Gwangju in May 1980 was brutally defeated; pro-democracy activist Kim Dae-Jung was held responsible for the uprising and sentenced to death. In the 1980's, however, the Koreans were also able to reap the benefits of economic prosperity in the form of increased prosperity and significant wage improvements for industrial workers.

With a view to international exposure at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a number of opposition demands for increased democratization were met and direct presidential elections were held in 1987. It was won by the ruling party candidate, Roh Tae-Woo (b. 1932), mainly due to division in the opposition. The democratization process continued; the 1992 presidential election was won for the ruling party by former opposition politician Kim Young-Sam, whose promises of sweeping reforms, however, proved difficult to fulfill. Although both previous presidents were accused and convicted of corruption and abuse of power, the traditional Confucian political culture was too strong to bring about profound changes in the administration and political and economic life. When the financial crisis in Asia broke out in 1997, the South Korean economy proved to be weak. The economic collapse came as a shock to most South Koreans, and confidence in the government disappeared. In the 1997 presidential election, the opposition candidate won for the first time, and in February 1998, former death row inmate Kim Dae-Jung was sworn in as president. Since then, the economy has recovered, and relations with North Korea have improved markedly.

South Korea's democratization continued in the late 1990's. The family-owned South Korean industrial conglomerates (chaebol), the backbone of the country's economic miracle of the 1960's and 1970's, were tried to split around 2000 as part of the country's crisis management. Together with greater transparency in the economy and the establishment of a more flexible labor market, this should create the conditions for new economic progress. However, it proved difficult to implement reforms in systems that are rooted in tradition and culture, but nevertheless the country's economy is recovering sharply. An advanced high-tech industry as well as the absolute global leadership position in the shipping industry form the foundation for continued positive economic development.

Relations with North Korea remain tense despite attempts at relaxation; there have been several episodes at sea between naval vessels from the two countries. In 2003, Roh Moo-Hyun was installed as the new president. He gave high priority to the relaxation between the two Koreans, which sometimes caused problems in relations with the United States. In other matters, too, an active foreign policy was followed; in 2004, parliament thus decided to send 3,000 troops to Iraq. Roh was replaced in 2008 by the conservative Lee Myung-Bak, who stands for a tougher line against North Korea. In 2010, relations with North Korea worsened after the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonanon March 26, when 46 crew members perished. An investigation concluded that the cause was probably a torpedo from a North Korean submarine. The accusation made North Korea threaten war.

The country's first female president, Park Geun-Hye, was installed as president in 2013. Following allegations of abuse of power and corruption, she was ousted in March 2017.