Korea (Carpe Diem)

Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국), is a nation located in East Asia, primarily on the Korean Peninsula. It shares borders with the Soviet Union to the north, and China to the west, as well as maritime borders with Japan to the east.

Korea was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period and its civilization began with the founding of Gojoseon. After the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea in 668, Korea enjoyed over a millennium of relative tranquility under dynasties lasting for centuries in which its trade, culture, literature, science and technology flourished. In 1910 it was annexed by the Japanese Empire, after whose defeat in 1945, Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S. zones of occupation, with the latter becoming the Republic of Korea in 1948. Although the United Nations passed a resolution declaring the Republic to be the only lawful government of Korea, a communist regime was soon set up in the North that invaded the South in 1950, leading to the Korean War that ended in 1952 and resulted in Korea unification under the government in Haeju.