Korea (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Korea (Korean: 고려 Goryŏ), officially the Republic of Korea (Korean: 고려민국 Goryŏ Minguk), is a sovereign state in the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from the country's native name, "Goryŏ", which also a name of the dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages. Its neighbors are China to the west, Manchuria to the north, the Soviet Union to the northeast, Japan to the east, and the East China Sea to the south.

Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 220,847 sq km and has a population of almost 90 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 10,521,782.

Climate
The climate of the Korea differs dramatically from north to south. The southern regions experience a relatively warm and wet climate similar to that of Japan, affected by warm ocean waters including the East Korea Warm Current. The northern regions experience a colder and to some extent more inland climate, in common with Manchuria. For example, the annual precipitation of the Yalu River valley (600 mm (24 in)) is less than half of that on the south coast (1500 mm (59 in)). Likewise, there is a 20° C (68° F) difference in January temperature between the peninsula's southern and northern tips.

The entire peninsula, however, is affected by similar general patterns, including the East Asian monsoon in midsummer and the frequent incidence of typhoons in autumn. The majority of rainfall takes place during the summer months, with nearly half during the monsoon alone. Winters are cold, with January temperatures typically below freezing outside of Jeju Island. Winter precipitation is minimal, with little snow accumulation outside of mountainous areas.

Politics and government
According to the 1950 Constitution of the Republic of Korea, Korea is the sovereign and independent country that governed under the principle of National Democracy.

The President of the Republic of Korea (총재 Chongjae) is elected by the National Assembly from among its members every four years. The President is the head of state of Republic, and the nominal commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The President also functioned to advise the Council of the Ministers of matters concerning executive, defense and financial affairs of Korea.

The National Assembly of Korea (국민대표대회 Gukmin Daepyo Daehoe) serves as the national legislature of Korea and responsible for formulate the country's main policies. All members of National Assembly elected every four years by the direct election. The election, however, only participated by the parties that recognized as legal under the Korean law, with the Greater Korean Party (대고려당 Dae Goryŏ-dang) as leading party in Korea since 1950.

The Council of Ministers of Korea (각료회의 Gakryo Hoeŭi) serves as the highest administrative body of Korea and headed by the Chairman of the Council who bearing the title of Prime Minister (총리 Chongri) and assisted by three Vice-Chairmen of the Council, who bearing the title of Vice-Prime Ministers (부총리 Bu-Chongri). The composition of the Council of Ministers is nominated by a formateur committee consisted by three members of the National Congress that appointed directly by the President prior being approved by the majority of the Congress.

The National Court of Korea (국민재판소 Gukmin Jaepanso) serves as the country's supreme judicature in charge of judicial matters and supervision and administration of lower courts. All of judges of the Court appointed by the National Assembly. Every Korean citizens were the subject of Korean law and under the authority of Korean National Court.

Joseon dynasty (1392–1905)
After invasions from Japan and Manchuria, Joseon experienced a nearly 200-year period of peace. King Yeongjo and King Jeongjo led a new renaissance of Joseon. However, as result of the two invasions, Joseon became increasingly isolationist. Its rulers sought to limit contact with foreign countries by closing the country's borders to all nations but Qing China. Joseon's isolationist policy earned it the name the "Hermit Kingdom".

Following the opening of Japan in 1854, The General Sherman, an American-owned armed merchant marine side-wheel schooner, attempted to open Korea to trade in 1866. After being ordered to leave by the Korean officials, the ship crewmen killed four Korean inhabitants, kidnapped a military officer and engaged in sporadic fighting that continued for four days. The ship was then finally destroyed by Korean fireships. In response, the United States confronted Korea militarily in 1871, killing 243 Koreans in Ganghwa island before withdrawing.

Since 1863, King Gojong took the throne as the monarch of Joseon. However, it was his father, Regent Heungseon Daewongun, that ruled for him as true ruler of Joseon until Gojong reached adulthood. During the mid-1860s the Regent was the main proponent of isolationism. In 1873, King Gojong announced his assumption of royal rule. However, the future Queen Min then replaced the retired Heungseon Daewongun as true ruler of Joseon where she gained complete control over the royal court, placing her family in high court positions.

Conflict between the conservative court under Queen Min's dominating rule and a reforming faction led to the Gapsin Coup in 1884. The reformers sought to reform Koreans institutionalized social inequality, by proclaiming social equality and the elimination of the privileges of the yangban class. The reformers were backed by Japan, and were thwarted by the arrival of Qing troops, invited by the conservative Queen Min.

Many Koreans despised foreign influences over their land and the corrupt oppressive rule of the Joseon Dynasty. In 1894, the Donghak Peasant Revolution saw farmers rise up in a mass rebellion. The Joseon government asked the Qing Dynasty government for assistance in ending the revolt. Japan considered the Qing presence in Korea as a direct threat to its sovereignty and sent in their own troops to seize the Royal Palace in Seoul and install a pro-Japanese government on June 8, 1894. This soon escalated into the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) between Japan and Qing China, fought largely in Korea.

After Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, Queen Min advocated stronger ties between Korea and Russia in an attempt to block Japanese influence in Korea, which was represented by Daewongun. After a failed assassination attempt that orchestrated by Daewongun, Queen Min turned her attention away from the Qing and advocated close diplomatic ties with Russia to counter Japanese influence. The new pro-Russian cabinet was installed in 1895 and a series of reforms was initiated. During this period, Korea experienced the partially successful modernization of the military, economy, transportation, real property laws, education system, and various industries that aided by the experts from Russia.

The wave of modernization in Korea as well as Russia's presence in Manchuria causing the Japanese much anxiety. Through threat of Russian expansion, Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded Korea north of the 39th parallel to be a neutral buffer zone between Russia and Japan. The Japanese government perceived a Russian threat to its strategic interests and chose to go to war. The negotiations broke down in 1904, resulted to the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905).

The war concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. According to the treaty, Russia and Japan agreed to divide Korea to their respective spheres of influences along the 38th parallel north and Karafuto Island along the 50th parallel north. Korea was effectively subjugated into a protected state of both Russia and Japan, each with the signings of the protectorate treaties with Russia on November 1, 1905 and with Japan on November 7, 1905. Following the division, King Gojong and the Joseon royal household relocated their seat from Seoul to Hamhung in the north of 38th parallel to avoid the political influence of Japan.

Partition of Korea (1905–1931)
main page: Korea under Japanese rule (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

The outbreak of the World War I in 1914 required Russia to redirect its energies to Europe and neglect its Asian interests, including northern Korea. Abandoned by the Russians, two dominant groups soon emerged in the north of the 38th parallel: Pyeong'an clique under warlord Hong Beom-do and Hamgyeong clique under Queen Min. In order to rid the Pyongyang clique and to protect Korea from the threat of Bolshevik penetration, Queen Min requested the government of Republic of China to send the armies into northern Korea in 1917. The Chinese government then ordered warlord Chang Tso-lin of Manchuria, to dispatch his Fengtian Army into northern Korea.

Chinese moves into northern Korea angered Japan which saw its similarly with Qing presence on Korea prior to the First Sino-Japanese War. In November 1918, Queen Min suddenly died under mysterious circumstances and was rumored to be poisoned by Japanese agents since her influences over the royal court were responsible for the Chinese presence in Korea.

Meanwhile, the revolutionary atmosphere in Japan influenced the political scene in the south of 38th parallel. About a month after the establishment of the Republic of Japan in Kyoto on February 16, 1919, the peaceful anti-unequal treaties rallies swept the Korean peninsula starting from March 1, 1919. The rallies were held in Seoul, Pyongyang, Kaesong and the vast majority of the country’s cities and towns over the next two days to appeal to the consciences of the ruling royal family in north and protest against the presence of foreign troops in the Peninsula.

Following this period of national unrest, the anti-monarchist Korean Revolutionary Alliance (조선혁명동맹 Joseon Hyeokmyeong Dongmaeng; abbr. Hyeong-maeng) was established on August 19, 1919 by Lee Dong-hwi in Seoul. Initially, the KRA was financially supported by the Bolshevik Russia and had left-wing tendencies on its political programs. However, the Japanese Nationalist Party then sent its agent, Sekiya Teizaburo, to offer Lee bigger financial support to sponsor a revolution in Korea in exchange to open the party memberships to non-leftists. Lee agreed and opened the memberships to the right-wing nationalists, such as Seo Jae-pil and Yun Chi-ho. This move was heavily criticized by the party's left-wing faction, which then left the party and founded the Soviet-oriented Korean Socialist Party (한인사회당 Han'in Sahoe-dang).

On September 9, 1919, Lee declared the establishment of the Republic of Korea in Seoul and was elected as its first Chief Executive.

By 1919, Japan succumbed into a civil war following the Rice Riots of 1918 that sparked a country-wide revolutionary wave. The establishment of the Republic of Japan was proclaimed on February 16, 1919 by the National Congress of Japan, presided by Nagayama Yoshida. About a month after the establishment of the Republic of Japan,

Meanwhile in Japan, the inner circle of Japanese General Political Office decided unanimously to sponsor a revolution in Korea that will overthrow the Korean monarchy and establish a republican government in the Peninsula. On April 27, 1919, the Overseas Committee of the Japanese Nationalist Party in Korea was established in Seoul with  as its chairman. On May 4, 1919, the Overseas Committee invited Park Yeong-hyo, Yun Chi-ho and Son Byeong-hui in talk to form a new government in the southern Korea that will be friendly to the Republic of Japan in return for re-negotiation of 1905 Treaty.

On May 7, 1919, the Overseas Committee sponsored the National Congress of Korea in Seoul that was attended by the representatives from northern and southern Korean provinces, overseas Korean communities, cooperative movements, religious leaders and women organizations. The Peace Preservation Committee was formed by the Congress on May 10, 1919 to guard a peaceful transfer of power from the monarchy to the new Korean government with Yun Chi-ho as its chairman. In respond on the establishment of the Committee, King Gojong asked the Japanese Residency-General in Seoul to dispatch a troop to surpress the revolutionary movement.

The Korean Citizens' Army, the military wing of the Committee and predecessor of modern Korean military, was formed to fight against the Imperial Japanese troops in Korea on April 14, 1919. On September 9, 1919, the establishment of the Republic of Korea was declared by the National Congress of Korea. Park Yeong-hyo was appointed the President of the Republic and Yun Chi-ho named the Premier of the Republic. By autumn of 1920, Joseon traditional institutions in the provinces south of the 38th parallel were effectively abolished and was replaced by the institutions of the Korean Republic. By 1922, all of the provinces south of the 38th parallel were under full control of the Republic of Korea.

Prior to the reunification of Japan in 1924, the abolition of joint protectorate in Korea was considered seriously both by the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Japanese Nationalist Party. In 1923, the Japanese Nationalist Party Central Committee sent Inukai Tsuyoshi and Major General Matsui Iwane to Guangzhou to hold a talk with the Chinese Nationalist Party regarding the future of Korea. Both parties agreed that the protectorate status must be abolished immediately, the Republic of Korea in Seoul should be recognized as an all-Korea legitimate government and the independence of Korea must be respected by Japan and China from any foreign influence.

However, after the death of Sun Yat-sen, the leader of Chinese Nationalist Party, in 1925, the relations between China and Japan was gradually soured. The turning point of the tension between the Chinese and the Japanese is the Jinan Incident in 1928 where the Japanese Navy Expeditionary Forces and the Chinese National Revolutionary Army engaged in an unauthorized fierce fighting, resulted to the heavy civilian casualties. By 1929, a plan to remove the Chinese completely from the Peninsula was considered seriously among the Japanese Nationalist Central Leadership.

In July 1930, after the invasion plan was adopted by an extraordinary session of the National Congress, Japan launched a military campaign to northern Korea to oust the Manchuria-based Fengtian Army from the region. After captured Anju and officially abolished the entire institution of Joseon Dynasty in September 1930, Japan successfully ousted the Fengtian Army from northern Korea in December 1930 and continued to move into Yalu River. Chang Tso-lin, the warlord of Manchuria, successfully convinced the Central Government to declare the war with Japan in 1931, thus led to the Second Sino-Japanese War (1931–1932).

Protectorate of Japan (1931–1946)
With the defeat of China, the Korean Peninsula was formally reunified under the government of Republic of Korea. The protectorate status, however, was not abolished immediately. Nevertheless, Japan promised to cease the protection treaty within ten years of transitional period. After the war, the political scene in Korea aligned along former north-south line. Most of southern-based politicians joined the Democratic Party (민정당 Minjeong-dang) with Yun Chi-ho as its main leader, while the northern-based ones joined the Independence Party (독립당 Dongnip-dang) with Anh Chang-ho as its leader.

The president of the Democratic Party, Kim Kyu-sik, became the Premier of the Republic between August 1932 and September 1934. During his tenure, the First Five-Year Plan was implemented to achieve economic modernization of Korea. Through a forced industrialization and Japan's heavy investment, Korea experienced rapid economic growth. While the economic plan contributed to the economic growth of Korea, in fact, Korea was developed to become one of Japan’s “exclusive economic partners” that supplied raw materials and finished products.

In September 1934, the new party president, Seo Jae-pil, replaced Kim Kyu-sik as new Premier of the Republic between 1934 and 1938. Under new administration, the Ministry of Education under Choe Nam-seon implemented an education system modeled after pre-war Japan and Fascist Italy. The Korean education system under Choe Nam-seon's supervision was highly nationalistic and patriotic in spirit and authoritarian in nature. The students were ordered to sing the patriotic songs and read the poetry praising the Korean nation. President Yun Chi-ho of Korea and President Nagayama Yoshida of Japan as well as underwent obligatory military training course.