Korean History
Korea has a rich history filled with both strife and achievement. Long traditions of dynasties that date all the way back to the Tan'gun dynasty of 2,000 BC dot Korea's past. Throughout its history, various countries and groups of people attempted to gain control of Korea and some were able to occupy it for short stints. Although Korea has had a tumultuous past, it has been able to persevere and rise above the hardships thrown at it and has grown to become one of the largest economies in the world.
Art & Culture
A number of cultural and artistic advances began in Korea. The two most notable advances being the development of bronze movable type and Celadon pottery. Bronze movable type was advanced during the Koryo Dynasty (935 AD - 1392 AD), several hundred years before Gutenberg was credited with its invention. Interestingly, both the Europeans' and the Koreans' first printings were religious. Of course, the Europeans printed the Bible, while the Koreans focused on Buddhist scriptures.
Celadon pottery became popular during the 9th and 10th centuries. It possesses a distinctive blue-green hue and is characterized by a technique called inlaying. This technique involves carving designs into the semi-hardened clay and filling them with white or black clay. This process has been touted as Korea's greatest contribution to the fine arts and made Celadon pottery an emblem of Korean culture.
Korea Today
During the past three decades, Korea has been transformed from one of the poorest economies to the 11th largest economy and exporting country in the world. The attention it has drawn from hosting sporting competitions have been a catalyst for this change. In 1988, Seoul, South Korea was the site for the 24th Olympiad. It was the most successful of any Olympic games to date in terms of participating countries. Korea and Japan were joint hosts for the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in 2002. This marked the first time the soccer tournament was held in a country outside the Americas or Europe. Even more notable was the strong performance the Korean team put forth. They impressed and surprised the world by reaching the semifinals for the first time.
Visiting Korea
Events like these have helped spark an interest in Korea by tourists around the globe. In the past few years, tourism for Korea has climbed steadily. Korea has made a point of increasing the number of visitors to their country by focusing on improving service, developing cultural festivals, and promoting amusement parks and resorts.
Korean celadon pottery is famous the world over for its distinctive color and craftsmanship
The use of moveable type in Korea predates Gutenberg by several hundred years