ABSTRACT
Korea's geographic position has tragically affected its people and history. In sweeping geopolitical perspective, the contemporary Korean scene almost seems a reincarnation of the past. Sino-Soviet rivalry forced each nation to woo North Korea and to neutralize or use South Korea much as the imperial Chinese tried to subjugate and include the peninsula in the Sino-centric world order. The cultural continuity, distinctiveness, and resolution of the Korean people are pronounced, as are their eclectic interests. The devastated economy and fragile political system, together with what seemed like the obliteration of the culture and society, made South Korea a likely candidate for oblivion in the eyes of Westerners, for whom it persisted only as a bad memory among foreign combatants. A nation industrializing, Korea attracts international attention as its products and people spread widely throughout the world. Korea has survived as a separate and distinct culture because emotionally it has been an island, self-sufficient in its own cultural pride.
