South Korea: Difference between revisions

{{tropeUseful Notes}}

The Republic of Korea, far better known as '''South Korea''', is a country in North East Asia. After spending thirty-five years under Japanese occupation, the Korean peninsula was divided in two after the [[Reds with Rockets]] showed up.

The most notable event in the history of South Korea is the [[Korean War]], sometimes called the Six Twenty Five War, which is [[Forever War|still technically ongoing to this day]].

South Korea spent athe whilebetter afterpart thatof warthe [[Cold War]] under various authoritarian governments, but is now a democracy (officially) and has been so since 1987. It is also one of the "Asian Tigers", making a major economic leap in the 1980s.

South Korea is a close ally of the United States (who saved the country in the [[Korean War]]), but hasis also known for its contentious problemsissues with Japan for some [[World War Two|rather obvious reasons]]. These include the issue of "comfort women", women from Korea (plus China and a few other countries) forced into prostitution and sex slavery by the Japanese, which independent scholarship has failed to find any evidence for outside of Korean propaganda. Scholars instead find that Korean women were sold by Korean kidnappers and family members to Korean run brothels when demand increased, while the Japanese actually worked ''[http://scholarsinenglish.blogspot.com/2014/10/summary-of-professor-park-yuhas-book.html against]'' this sex slavery. In response dissenting scholars have been arrested and heavily fined by the South Korean government, continuesa tomove which drew criticism from western denygovernments. Then there's the issue of Japan trying to stomp out Korean language and culture, replacing it with Japanese language and culture. Even without [[World War Two]], [[Arch Enemy|Japan and Korea have never liked each other very much]]. Despite these historical issues, the two countries tend more toward [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork]] these days due to their shared interest in keeping [[North Korea]], [[Russia]], and [[China]] in check.

South Korea is ''not'' [[North Korea]]. South Koreans take great pains to refer to their country as "Korea," with no geographic distinction. In their minds, using the term "South Korea" gives an air of legitimacy to the totalitarian doppelganger across the border. Nowhere else in the world is there a homogeneous group of people so starkly divided by ideology.

It's a truism that dog meat is a popular delicacy in South Korea. A quick way to get an "Oooohhh!" from the audience in a [[Panel Show]] is to joke about it. Animal welfare groups scream "animal cruelty". The Koreans scream "cultural imperialism" back. Any argument goes nowhere fast. The Western aversion to eating dogs is so ingrained that it's ripe for [[Stealth Parody]], as [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20130722024143/http://joeyskaggs.com/html/dog.html Joey Skaggs] proved in a famous prank. On the other hand, there is evidence that younger Koreans are turning against it.

Also worth mentioning is religion, specifically the presence of Christianity. Just under 30% of all South Koreans are Christian; 1/3 of these are Catholic, while the rest are Protestants of varying description. The reasons for this include extensive proselytism in the late 19th century, the decrepit state of Korean Buddhism at that time, and the association of Christianity, particularly Protestantism, with leaders of the Korean nationalist movement.<ref>Korean Christians had worked hard to reconcile Christian and traditional Korean values and were at the forefront of the Korean independence movement under the Japanese</ref> Ironically, Pyongyang was the major center of pre-1945 Korean Christianity, with the Christians fleeing south only after the Communists taking over the north. Furthermore, of the ten presidents of the ROK, four have been Protestant, one Catholic, with three Buddhists and two irreligious. As a result, South Korea is one of the most Christian countries in East Asia; it is certainly the most Protestant (the only Christian-majority countries in East Asia are the Catholic Philippines and Timor Leste). Various cults and movements, usually derived from Christianity are also known to exist, including the controversial Unification Church (aka, the "Moonies"). As for other religions, the traditional Buddhism (or more accurately syncretic mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism, and traditional beliefs) of Korea has about 22% of the population; most of the rest are irreligious.

The popularity of NBA stars such as Jeremy Lin, Ha Seung Jin, and Moon Tae Jong have given rise to the popularity of basketball in South Korea, although they are a powerhouse in their own right, ranked #l 3 overall with 23 medals for the Asian Basketball Championship (now known as FIBA).

And of course, we have to mention the popularity of ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'' and [[StarCraft II|its sequel]]. To say it has a professional sportse-esquesports culture built around it and other games over the years would be [http://www.cracked.com/article_18763_5-insane-true-facts-about-starcraft-professional-sport.html absolutely accurate.]

A lot of South Korea's appearances in foreign fiction are to do with its relationship with the North. The country is occasionally inaccurately thought to be poor and technologically backward, which, understandably, annoys the locals no end. But Korea was a pretty poor country during the 1950s: it only became rich and technologically progressive in the last forty years. In fact, according to Martin Meredith in his book The Fate of Africa, South Korea had a lower per capita GDP than Ghana during [[The Sixties]], but things have gotten a lot better. As described above, South Korea is one of the world's most dynamic economies. North Korea is more or less as depicted in the recent [[James Bond]] film ''[[Die Another Day]]''.

South Korea produces quite a few movies and shows of its own, not counting the considerable amount of American and [[Anime|Japanese]] stuff animated there to save costs. [[Korean Movies|Korean cinema]] has also become very popular all across eastern Asia for much of the past ten years and has enjoyed a small following in the west. The most notable recent film from the country to make it to the west is ''The HostParasite'' who won the Oscar for Best Feature in 2020. Other prior exports include ''[[Oldboy]]'' and ''The Host''.

South Korea produces comic books called [[Manhwa]]. Unlike Japanese manga, manhwa read like Western comic books (sort of like how Koreans drive on the right side of the road and the Japanese drive on the left). TheWhile also influenced by its Japanese counterparts, its general style is different from manga in that the art work tends towards realism. Manhwa is also used to define animation. South Korea is home to several animation studios. They supply inbetweening work for American and Japanese animation studios as well for home grown productions. Manhwa production ground to a halt under the Ministry of Women (formally the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family; 여성가족부), in which animated porn (whatever the government chooses to define it as that day) carries a harsher sentence than child rape. South Korea has also their own take on webcomics, namely [[Korean Webtoons|Webtoons]], who are closer to current manga trends as they favor fantasy oriented plots; unlike traditional printed manwa, webtoons are becoming increasingly popular in the west, due to ubiquity and abundance.

The most recentpopular Korean media exportation from the 2000s onwards, in a phenomenon known as the "''Korean Wave''" or "''Hallyu Wave''" (韓流 or 한류 in Korean), is their [[Korean Drama|dramas]], short [[Soap Opera|Soap Operas]] that are either about contrived, tragic love, or pure romantic comedy. Sometimes combining both. The most famous from this wave was the metaseries ''Endless Love'', which consisted of four dramas ambiented each one in a season of the year, namely ''Autumn in my Heart'', ''[[Winter Sonata]]'', ''Summer Scent'' and ''Spring Waltz''. Most tragic dramas will inevitably (or, at least, used to) invoke one or more of the following: [[Easy Amnesia]], [[Ill Girl]] (usually cancer), [[Brother-Sister Incest]], a car accident of some sorts, and blindness.

In strategy games, they tend to be [[Stone Wall]] turtlers: In ''[[Civilization]] III'' they received only peaceable civ bonuses, in ''Civ IV'' they received the Protective trait, the ultimate turtling benefit, and in ''Civ V'' they received scientific bonuses and a unique naval unit that can't venture beyond coastal waters but is insanely difficult to destroy, and is even called the Turtle Ship. In ''[[Age of Empires I (Videovideo Gamegame)||Age of Empires I]]'' they received tower bonuses, in ''[[Age of Empires II|Age of Kings]]'' more tower and stone bonuses,. While in ''[[Rise of Nations]]'', yet more tower bonuses, building repair bonuses and [[La Résistance]] bonuses, in addition to having their own unique aesthetic style. Regardless of that, their unique unit in these games has been the Hwach'a , the Hwach'a, the Hwach'a and the Turtle Ship, and the Hwach'a and Hwarang, respectively.

* [[Hanguk Manhwa AenimeisyeonAeni]]: (Korean Animation)

* [[Korean Pop Music|K-Pop]]: (Korean [[Idol Singer|Idol Singers]], [[Boy Band|Boy Bands]], and [[Girl Group|Girl Groups]])

* [[Korean Movies]]: (Live action)

* [[Korean Series]]: (Korean produced live action television)

* [[Manhwa]] -: Graphic novels, read Western-style (left to right)

** [[Korean Webtoons]] -: manhwa online but in a long strip format - Korean [[Web Comics]]

=== {{examples|Works of fiction set (but not produced) in South Korea: ===include:}}