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he tragic legacy of the Cold War remains most evident in contemporary
Korea. The Korean peninsula has been divided since 1945 between
North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea (DPRK), and South Korea, officially known as the Republic of Korea
(ROK). Between 1950 and 1953, a war between the two countries failed to
unite the peninsula, and, following an armistice, the two countries have
remained separated up to the time of this writing.
The Korean peninsula’s divided history has made it a flash point of geopol-
itics in the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. North
Korea is globally isolated with few allies beyond China and is a feeble econ-
omy; South Korea enjoys regional and global allies and is one of the leading
global economies. The Korean peninsula has not always been politically
divided, and some kingdoms throughout its history have ruled the peninsula as
a unified polity. However, issues related to Korea’s cultural identity and tradi-
tional heritage have been made more urgent by this division, as did the Japa-
T
Chapter opener photo: Two actors perform the traditional Korean mask dance.
Korean soldiers in Panmunjom, South Korea, at the Joint Security Area (JSA) and
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.