Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
inspire. It has steadfastly held on to its independence and cultural identity despite numer-
ous attempts to quash both, transformed itself from a poverty-stricken, largely agrarian so-
ciety into a prosperous exporter of cutting-edge technology in a couple of generations, and
traded heavy-handed dictatorships for a functioning (if sometimes messy) democracy with
a healthy respect for human rights and a free press.
A basic understanding of how this astonishing metamorphosis took place, and the des-
pair and extensive struggle on which modern-day South Korea has been built, will prove
invaluable in any attempt to figure out some of the country's cultural quirks or why Koreans
act the way they do. This is one place where some knowledge of history may very well im-
prove your quality of life, for there are few nations where history has as direct a bearing on
the present.
Korean legend has it that the nation was founded 5,000 years ago by the offspring of a di-
vinely assisted tiger and a bear, but most anthropologists tend to disagree. Instead they trace
