ABSTRACT

The Korean peninsula is fated by geography and history to be the storm center of East Asia. This chapter reviews the geography, resources, and people of the Korean peninsula. It focuses on the problems arising out of Korean history, culture, politics, economics, and international relations. The Korean people today are culturally and genetically homogeneous. The Korean peninsula juts southward from the Eurasian land mass between Russian Siberia and Chinese Manchuria. The peninsula as a whole is only moderately endowed with natural resources; in both north and south, the principal asset is an educated, motivated, and able work force. South Korea has one of the longest-sustained and highest national economic growth rates in history. Korean international relations since 1948 have been overshadowed by the hostility between the two Korean states—a hostility hugely magnified by the war. Both Koreas cultivate the Third World for reasons of prestige, ideology, and economics.