Examples of Distortions 

Poland: “Because of the geographical and strategic conditions as well as natural resources, Korea was subject to constant battles between China and Japan and was much influenced by both countries.” (Alexandra Dominique, Korea History, Katovicze, 1992.)

Taiwan: “ Since the establishment of Joseon by Kija, Korean has received a seal from China. Korea is a country which shows the most Chinese influence among all of China’s neighboring countries because it was subject to the teachings of Chinese culture.” (Senior High School, Geography, National Institute for Compilation and Chinese Translation, 1994.)

Comment

  Most writings on Korea focus on modern history and therefore only a few deal with Korean history before the modern era. Even these few references overly emphasize the influence of China and Japan and the effect of foreign invasions and occupation. Examples found in these sources usually describe Korea as having been continuously influenced by the cultures of China and Japan.

Historically, from the time of Gojoseon (37 B.C. -A.D. 668) and Balhae (698-926), Korean territory extended into almost all of Manchuria, and Korea was powerful enough to stand against China. Culturally, Korea developed its own distinct culture, which included such things as woodblock printing, movable metal type and Hangeul, a phonetic alphabet for the Korean language.

Especially in relation to Japan, Korea was a conduit for culture from the Three Kingdom’s era (18 B.C. ? A.D. 668) until the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) when special envoys were dispatched to that country. The period when Korea was the recipient of Japanese culture was during the Japanese colonial occupation from 1910 to 1945.

Some people mistakenly think that Japan had a considerable influence on Korea because they overlook Korea as only a small peninsula attached to the Asian mainland. This is a frequent misconception in the textbooks of many countries. However, Korea has maintained a unique culture for Thousands of years, despite its relatively small size and has both contributed to and mistake to try to find the roots of Korean culture solely in China. This must be corrected by publicizing the originality of the Korean historic and cultural experience and the uniqueness of the Korean national identity.