Korea, located on the Korean Peninsula in North-East Asia, consists of two separate states – North Korea and South Korea. What makes it a peninsula is the fact that it has the Yellow Sea on its western coast, the East China Sea on it southern coast, and the Sea of Japan on its eastern coast. Its neighbors, and only land access, are China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast. Occupying a land mass of over 84,000 square miles, Korea has a mixture of plains, mountains, and coastlines. The combination of such varied geography provides many elements to consider when analyzing Korea’s physical environment. This essay will seek to provide a general understanding of the geography, climatology, and biogeography of the components that make up Korea’s physical environment.
Geography
The northern and eastern part of the Korean Peninsula terrain is covered with both high and low mountains. Baekdudaegan, the mountain range that runs along the eastern portion of the peninsula, contains some of the highest elevations in Korea. Mount Sobaek, Mount Kumgang, Mount Seorak, Mount Taebaek, and Mount Jiri are all part of the Baekdudaegan mountain range. Just north of this chain of mountains, through which the border with China runs, is Mount Paektu, the highest mountain in Korea. Running in a northwesterly direction, and very much perpendicular to the Baekdudaegan mountain range, are a series of lower mountains. Though most of Korea’s mountains were formed by volcanic activity there are no active volcanoes in Korea. However, the existence of hot springs throughout the peninsula serves as an indicator to low-level volcanic activity.
With almost seventy percent of the Korean Peninsula covered in mountains, rivers and plains become the secondary p...
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...ng and drastic weather changes cause havoc on the peninsula. Taking into consideration forestall and wildlife situations in Korea makes it clear to understand why they would incline themselves toward a more industrialized way of life
Works Cited
Chu, Bokyong, and Chiu Rebecca. Social Cohesiveness of Disadvantaged Communities in Urban South Korea: The Impact of the Physical Environment. : Department of Urban Planning and Design, 2014.
Jung, Chi-young. Korean Perceptions of the Environment as Viewed through Village Names. Korea Journal 52, no. 1: 74-104. Academic Search Premier, 2012.
RYOO, WOONGJAE. The Public Sphere and the Rise of South Korean Civil Society. Journal of Contemporary Asia 39, no. 1: 23-35. Academic Search Premier, 2009.
Savada, Andrea. South Korea: a country study. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1992.
This shows how complex Japanese and Korean interactions with each other are during this time period, because on one hand many people are experiencing extreme racism such as vulgar racism, while here a Japanese person is treating a Korean person with respect and kindness. This shows how nothing is black and white when interacting with people, however it can also be credited for this period of cultural rule and the government’s effort at assimilation with Koreans and Japanese. Kang Pyongju’s experience differs from Ulsu’s experience in which he did not have a close relationship with his business partner, however, the relationship he had with his work was subtle and affective racism where he observed racism and how it disenfranchise him and his people throughout his work. For example, he noticed that now the Bank of Agriculture now decided to let Koreans apply which benefited him and any other Koreans, however it has its flaw when the bank selected more Japanese than Koreans, regardless of how qualified a Korean is. He also noticed that although it appeared as if the salaries for both Japanese and Korean bank managers appeared to be the same, Japanese people received
Chosin Reservoir is a man-made lake located in the northeast of the Korean peninsula. The battle was fought over some of the roughest ...
Salter, Christopher L., and Charles F. Gritzner. "Introducing North Korea,." North Korea. 2nd ed. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. . Print.
The Republic of Korea emerged from Japanese colonialism as a Third World Country. Per capita income was under one hundred dollars, the little infrastructure the Japanese built was located in the North, and income inequality was staggeringly high. The future of the Republic of Korea (hereafter simply “Korea”) looked very bleak, even with United States foreign aid. Yet several decades later Korea had become one of the world’s largest, most modern economies run by a democratic government. The “Miracle on the Han,” the term for Korea’s stunning economic growth in such a short period of time, coincided with the lifting of millions of Koreans out of poverty and the
The Takeshima/Dokdo Island, also known as the Liancourt Rocks by other nations, is an island that is located 215km away from mainland Korea while and is also located 250km away from Japan and has been a very well known cause for Japan and Korea to fight over. The two countries have been arguing against one another trying to declare that the island actually belongs to them, rather than trying to find peaceful talks of resolving such an issue. Such dispute did not occur in recent years, but has been going on for decades, from the Japanese declaring annexation in the early 1900s until today, where the current Korean president does not feel there i...
Yun, Tae-gyu. The Constitution of North Korea: Its Changes and Implications. [New York, N.Y.]: Fordham University School of Law, 2004. Print.
North Korea is notorious as the “Hermit Kingdom”. Defensive and secretive to the point of paranoia, its history as well as its present conditions remains shrouded in mystery. What little we do know can be murky at best. The central govern...
Japan, started dictating and dominating Korea so much that the later had no choice but to succumb to their authority.from 1910 to 1920, no Korean owned newspapers were permitted, and all Korean political meetings and public assemblies were banned. In Richard Kim’s
This response will focus on the key issue of fragmentation. In his book Korea’s Twentieth-Century Odyssey, Michael E. Robinson wrote “Multiple interest groups resided within the bureaucracy and even divided the royal house” (p. 16). Arguably, Korea’s sovereignty was lost in large part, due to the lack of unity among different groups and faction. It was clear from the readings that some Korean individuals and groups prioritized their self-interests above their own country’s benefit. Nowhere was this most evident then the issue of national security.
3. Blij, H.J. de and Peter O. Muller. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts 2000 Ninth Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000.
South Korea, once a broken country filled with broken families, has transformed itself into a fine example of perseverance in a tough situation. South Korea and its neighbor to the north have developed past where they were before the Korean War, but in different ways. The two countries, while certainly dependent on each other, are vastly different. Their conflicting styles of government and their differing cultures speak for themselves in this case. South Korea has, over the years, changed dramatically from the crippled country of the Korean War into a blossoming beacon of Asian cultural and economic changes. The combination of its recent economic importance, its heavy cultural influence, and its constant danger of participating in a war makes South Korea one of the most influential countries in the world.
This country is of particular interest as it is one of the four Asian Tiger economies, whose rapid industrialisation and growth between the early 1960’s and 1990’s caused it to emerge as one of the most dynamic and fast-changing countries in Asia and the world. Much like Japan, its economic development was marked by heavy investments in foreign technology and imitation through reverse-engineering. By limiting FDI, South Korea maintained control over its industrial base and encouraged investments in R&D.
To understand this situation more fully, one must be given some background, starting in the early 1950s. Due to the harsh differences between the peoples of Korea, and especially due to the onset of Communism, the Korean War erupted and the nation split in half, with the Communist-supported Democratic People’s Republic in the north and those who favored democracy in the Korean Republic of the south (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000). The two separate countries of North Korea and South Korea went their opposite ways, and each has experienced different fortunes in the past half-century. The South Koreans managed to recover from the turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s to become an economic power and a democracy supporter. On the other hand, North Korea can be viewed as a retro country, based first on a Communist ideology, laid down by leader Kim Il Sung and inherited by his son, the current dictator Kim Jong Il, then evolving into a totalitarian state (Pacific Rim: East Asia at the Dawn of a New Century). Today North Korea holds the distinction of being one of the very few remaining countries to be truly cut off from the rest of the world. Author Helie Lee describes this in her novel In the Absence of Sun: “An eerie fear crawled through my flesh as I stood on the Chinese side of the Yalu River, gazing across the murky water into one of the most closed-off and isolated countries in the world.” (1)
De, Blij Harm J., and Peter O. Muller. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. New York: J. Wiley, 1997. 340. Print.
South Korea is occupied by the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula which extends 680 miles from the Asian mainland. The mountainous regions on the sides of South Korea one by the Yellow sea to the west and the other by the Sea of Japan to the east. South Koreas total area is 38,462.49 square miles. It can also be divided into four general regions: an eastern region with high mountain ranges and some narrow coastal plains, river basins and rolling hills; a southwestern region filled with mountains and valley’s; and a southeastern region along the Nakdong River. Around 3,000 islands, mostly small and uninhabited lie off the western and southern coasts. The country’s largest island is Juju Island it is located about 60 miles off of the southern coast of South Korea. Jeju Island has an area of 712 square miles. The local climate of South Korea is relatively temperate with rain heavier in the summer during a short rainy season called ‘jangma’ and some winters that can be bitterly