Japan used its success to occupy Korea in 1910, having already connected internally with the leaders. It is said that the Emperor Sunjong was the last ‘united’ Korean leader and also the last emperor of the dynasty.
He died in 1926, Japanese by that time were in complete control of the things and wanted to destroy the Korea’s unique cultural identity. Japan made laws and Koreans were forced to abide by the same. The Korean language and the culture were not given importance and Japanese even made a rule that all the Koreans must carry their second name as Japanese. Many other unlawful inequalities were imposed on Koreans. This developed the anti-Japanese feeling in the hearts of Koreans and this feeling has not died and lasts till date When the Japanese empire was dismantled at the end of World War Two, Korea fell prey to the Cold War. The peninsula was divided among two sphere North Korea and South Korea The Americans developed the relation with South Korea and the Russians installed a socialist command in the north, later ceding influence to China.
The Korean War, which started in June, 1950 is often remembered as the “forgotten war “. This was resulted in shedding the blood of almost 5,000,000 people. Although the war failed to get the public sympathy but it definitely caused the much harm to the relationship of North Korea and South Korea. Most troops on the UN side were Americans and approx. 80000 British soldiers were also involved in fighting with the Chinese army. By the time, the war stopped and settlement papers were signed , number of people had lost their lives . The line of division remained same, at the 38th parallel.
After the war, the South Korea economy flourished under the right leadership and eventually attained democracy. On the other side, North Korea remained an economic basket and was being ruled by same family for generations. After the war, North Korea has been experiencing various ups and downs in its relations with South Korea and the United States. Any hopes for uniting the divided peninsula have incited the cultural and sociological responses from both the sides.
