South Korea
Uploaded by Sprintfellow on Nov 06, 2002
History
In the early 1900's Japan were the military power in Northeast Asia and in 1910 they took possession of Korea and made it one of their colonies. Korea was ruled by Japan for 35 years during which they made much effort into trying to destroy the Korean way of life and culture. The Koreans were not allowed to speak their own language or to learn about their history during this time. As a symbol of their patriotism the Korean people pay respect to the day March 1st 1919 in which many Koreans were killed or put in prison as they protested the colonial rule.
National liberation occurred on August 15th 1945 as Japan surrendered the Pacific War; but the country was soon followed by territorial division. The Republic of Korea in the south has a democratic government, while the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north is ruled by a communist regime. The United States became the authority of South Korea in 1948 where it left a small group of military advisors.
North Korea invaded the South on June 25th 1950, which became the start of the three year Korean War. In accordance with its charter with South Korea the United Nations sent military assistance. The area that divides the north and south has become known as the Demilitarised Zone or DMZ. South Korea continues in its efforts to unify North and South Korea, after 1947 in which the North Koreans refused elections proposed by the U.N.
Consequences of rapid Industrialisation
Social
The population of the Republic of Korea was around 45.9 million in 1997. Its population density is among the world's highest, and Seoul, the capital city, has more than 11 million inhabitants. Other metropolitan cities include Pusan, Taegu, Inch'on, Kwangju, Taejon, and Ulsan.
With such a high population overcrowding is a problem, 463 people/km in Korea. Also they is a great need for jobs and in some ways foreign investors like TNCs have come to the rescue of some by supplying them with some way of earning a living; but they are many problems that these workers encounter. The workers are exploited, they are working long hours for little pay and the women find themselves even worse off getting paid less than the men and as is Asian society looked upon as inferior.
Families become desperate at not earning enough money and so they send their children out to work in the factories, even...