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remain largely untouched. Confucianism displaced Buddhism as the state religion and res-
ulted in a rigid social hierarchy and deference to authority that is still visible to some extent
today. In the mid-15th century, Sejong, considered the greatest of Korea's kings, developed
and promulgated the hangul script. This was a significant achievement that saw literacy
skyrocket as people were no longer required to learn complex Chinese characters, the only
writing system Korea had had up to that time, to express themselves.
monument to King Sejong, who is credited with creating hangul
The Joseon Dynasty was a time of strife as well as successes. In the late 16th century
Korea suffered a massive Japanese invasion that saw many of its cities occupied and
plundered, with many of its greatest cultural properties looted or destroyed. Assistance
from China and Korea's unmatched naval skill eventually managed to send the Japanese
home, but those battles were swiftly followed by attacks from the Manchu tribes, who were
on their way to establishing control over China. The near-continuous battering convinced
Korea that the outside world was a nasty place, and prompted it to shut its borders nearly
completely for much of the 17th to 19th centuries, a time when it earned the “Hermit King-
dom” nickname. In 1875, Japanese pressure obligated Korea to open some ports to Japan-
ese vessels, and it signed its first diplomatic treaty with the United States a few years later.
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