ABSTRACT
All countries have sports which they have inherited. Korea is no exception. With the expansion of Western imperialism in the second half of the nineteenth century Western sport spread to several continents.
This chapter considers how Western sport was introduced to and spread throughout Korea during the period 1876 to 1945. It explores the influences that ideologies, which emerged in the difficult social and political circumstances of the period, had on the development and diffusion of modern sport. By approaching the history of Korean sport from the perspective of dominant ideologies this chapter offers an original analysis of Korean sport, embracing Confucianism, Imperialism and Nationalism.
