A Crash Course on Korean History

After North Korea’s recent missile test, Defense Secretary James Mattis declared the nation now had the capability to hit “everywhere in the world,” demonstrating the rising tensions between the United States and North Korea. Due to this new political climate, it feels increasingly pertinent to examine the history of the peninsula and the two opposing nations. I am, of course, a Medievalist who specializes in Europe attempting to explain a modern conflict in East Asia, so you’ll have to bear with me at points; but I’ll do my very best to give Korea’s complex and intriguing history its due.