1. Focus on Korea Korean Identity, History and Politics

2. Map of Korea Today

3. King Sejong and the Invention of Hangul

4. Hangul: The Korean Alphabet

5. The South Korean Flag • Three components of a nation: the land, the people, and the government

6. The North Korean Flag • Blue: desire for Peace • Red: revolutionary spirit • White: purity, dignity, strength • Star: Korean worker’s Party • White disc: universe

7. South Korean money today • Money is called Won • Exchange rate is about 1000 to 1

8. North Korean Money • Called Won • Exchange rate: 2.15 to 1

9. Origins of Korean People • Members of the Altaic Language Group, emigrated from near Lake Baikal

10. King Chi Wu “Red Devil” of the Baidal kingdom ( 3,000 B.C.)

11. Stone tools

12. Excavation of the Go-Choson kingdom (3rd to 1st Millennium B.C.

13. Prehistoric dolmens in Korea

14. Chessboard type dolmens in the South

15. Mountain dolmens

16. Dan-gun and the mythological origins of the Korean people

17. Korea’s Bronze Age: 10th century B.C. • Bronze mirror and bronze rattle

18. Korea’s Iron Age: 300 B.C.

19. Proto Three Kingdoms Period • Jar coffins

20. Three Kingdoms: Koguryo, Paekche and Silla: 3rd Century A.D.. to 668 AD

21. Paekche: Tribes in Southwest begin to unite around 3rd century A.D. • Threat by Chinese Wei dynasty caused tribes to unite • Paekche depended upon alliances with Yamato (Japan) and Kaya to retain independence • Buddhism became important

22. Brick tomb of King Muryeong of the Paekche dynasty

23. Silla: Unification begun in 57 BC but first ruler was King Naemul (356AD) • Grew in Korea’s Southeast, separated form Paekche (and Chinese influence) by mountains • Engaged in military struggles with Paekche and Kaya, absorbing Kaya in the 6th century • Characterized by strong, independent women, including Queen Sondok ( 632-647) • Scientific advances, especially in astronomy

24. Cheomseongdae: observatory from 647: old Silla Kingdom

25. Silla, 5-6th centuries, Heavenly Horse Tomb

26. Koguryo: Expanded with fall of Chinese Han dynasty to control Manchuria and North Korea by 391 King Kwanggaet’o conquered 65 walled cities and 1,400 villages

27. Ancient capital of Koguryo (Jip-ahn)

28. General Ulichi Mundak, most famous Koguryo general (7th century)

29. Koguryo Women’s attire (based on cave painting)

30. Carriage from wall tomb (Koguryo)

31. Hunting scene from 6th century Koguryo tomb

32. Koguryo tomb

33. Buddhism was introduced in the 4th century: relics of early Buddhism

34. Confucianism became the basis of three kingdom’s governments

35. Confucian temple: gate and mortuary house

36. Confucian academy in present day North Korea

37. Modern Confucian Ceremony

38. Unified Silla Kingdom: 668-918

39. Silla and the Tang Dynasty of China • Tang helped Silla to conquer first Paekche and then Koguryo • Silla then had to resist Chinese control for the next 300 years! • New political, legal and educational institutions • Domestic and foreign trade (China and Japan) flourished • Medicine, astronomy and math flourished

40. Geongju: Capital of Unified Silla • Today an open air museum, one of Korean’s World Heritage sites.

41. Kim Yu-shin’s tomb: one of Silla’s unifiers

42. Bell from Geongju (Capital of unified Silla)

43. Tomb of the Heavenly Horse

44. Gold work: Girdle with Pendants

45. Pottery: Incense burner

46. Buddha sculptures

47. Zodiac figures: The Boar

48. Hwangnyong pagoda: destroyed by Mongols

49. Sarira Reliquaries

50. Sokkuram Grotto