xi, 226 pages : 24 cm

This is the first history of Korea dealing exclusively and in detail with the modern period. Employing Korean and Japanese scholarship, the authors have produced an original work that is critical of many prevailing myths. The book is a political history tracing the growth of national consciousness among ordinary Korean people; emphasises the important role of external influence in determining modern Korea's fate; explains how Korea's geographical position made the country a repeated battleground for imperialist rivalries between 1880 and 1910; explains how, under Japanese dominion in this years 1910-1945, Korea was transformed into a colonial dependency and the Korean people given limited freedom of expression; and deals with the explosion of internal and international politics following liberation in 1945 and the subsequent attempts of both regimes (north and south) to develop while maintaining vast armies against each other

Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-221 and index

1. The Yi Dynasty -- 2. Colonial Korea 1910-1945 -- 3. The Korean War -- 4. The Republic of Korea -- 5. North Korea -- the DPRK

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