This document provides an overview of Korean literature and history. It discusses: 1) Korea's geography and division between North and South Korea. 2) Brief histories of the kingdoms and dynasties that ruled Korea from the 1300s to 1910. 3) Key facts about Korea such as population, capital, languages, and government. 4) Important figures and genres in Korean literature, including sijo poetry and the creation myth of Tangun.

1. Literature of Korea
Geography, Korea is romantically called the “Land of the Morning Calm” because of its misty mornings.
However, due to the perennial troubles between the two Koreas, a more appropriate modern name for
it is “Land of the Broken Calm”.
North and South Korea formed single country for hundreds of years, from the 1300s until this century.
Between 1910 and 1945 Korea was occupied by Japan. The war ended with Japan’s defeat in 1945. After
this, the Country is divided into two, with troops from the United States.
The country is almost completely covered by north-south mountain ranges separated by narrow valleys.
The Yalu River form part of the border with Soviet Manchuria.
Facts and Figures:
Area: 99, 270 sq. km
Population: 44, 056, 000
Capital: Seoul
Other Major City: Pusan
Official Language: Korean
Main Religions: Buddhism, Christianity
Currency: Won
Government: Multi-party republic
Brief History of Korea
Korea was founded in 2333 BC by a mighty hero named Tangun. Recorded history began independent
kingdom at Pyongyang. Chinese rule lasted until the 7 th century AD when three independent kingdoms
arose in Korea.
Korea became a united nation for the first time under Wang Kien, a Korean patriot, who led a revolution
in 918 and destroyed the Silla rule in 935. Wang named the country Koryu from which its present name
was derived. His descendants ruled until 1392. After a brief invasion by the Mongols,Korea was ruledby
the Yi Dynasty (1392-1910) which established the capital at Seoul, introduced Chinese ways, and
proclaimed Confucianism as the state religion. The first century of the Yi era was Korea’s Golden Age of
civilization. Koreans invented printing, a phonetic alphabet, fostered literature and scholarships, and
granted education to the masses.

2. The Koreans
The Koreans belong to the yellow race. Although they look like the Chinese and Japanese, they have
their own language (Korean), literature, and customs. In the Communist North, no other religion is
allowed. But the South is mostly Buddhist (37%) and Christian (32%).
The North Koreans are taller, huskier, and lighter-complexioned due to their Mongol blood. The South
Koreans have Malay mixture and are smaller and darker.
Korean Literature
Korean civilization dates in legend more than 4, 000 years back to Tangun, mythical founder of Korea.
Thus it is one of the oldest in the world. The historical name of Korea is Joseon, “Land of the Morning
Calm”. The Japanese called it the “Treasure Land of the West” and, until 1882, the outside world knew it
as the “Hermit Kingdom”. Only three dynasties ruled the country (669AD-1910) before it became a
Japanese protectorate and later a republic. These were the Silla, the Koryu, and the Yi dynasties.
Three Most Outstanding Cultural Achievements of Korea
1. The Hangul Alphabet*-a simplified alphabet that excluded the use of Chinese characters.
2. Koryo Celadon-a kind of porcelain made during the Koryu dynasty
3. Bronze Movable Types-by which books are printed
*Advocates of the Hangul thought that its use would receive many obsolete words. These words were to
enhance the charm of Korean literature.
In the fifteenth century, 300 years before the encyclopedia movement originated in France, Korean
scholars compiled an encyclopedia in 112 volumes.
During the Koryu period, the Tripika, or Buddhist sutra, was published. This was a form of prayer to
expel Mongol invaders. Sixteen years passed before the more than 8, 000 wooden plates which make up
the Tripika could be completed.
Early Korean literature owes a great debt to China in terms of the writing style. The literary language is
written in Chinese ideographs, even after the invention of the Korean phonetic alphabet until the end of
the Yi dynasty.
Literature in Korea falls into three categories: works in han’gul, those written in idu, and those written in
classical Chinese. The most general categories, however, are lyric poems, prose, oral literature, and
literature in classical Chinese.
Lyric poems originally were meant to be sung rather than read. The oldest are the hyangga, poems
composed in idu. Shijo is historically the longest enduring and the most widely used representative form
of Koean poetry. One of the greatest masters of the shijo is Yun Son-do.

3. Another form is kasa. Kasa borrowed the form of Chinese lyric and prose poetry. At the end of the 14 th
century and the new establishment of the new capital in Seoul, a Small group of poetic songs called
akchang were written to celebrate the beginning of the new dynasty.
In the field of drama, Korea boasts of their mask play called sandae. Examples of this are Haseo, a play
with seven acts and Hahoo, one with five acts. Any form of dramatic entertainment is called p’ansonri.
The most famous p’ansori is Ch’unhyang chon.
Korea’s Prominent Figures
1. Han Yong-un (1879-1944)- Reformist monk, patriot signatory to the 1919 Declaration of
Independence, Han Yong’un’s name is synonymous with resistance to oppression. The central
symbol in his poems, the beloved (nim), can be interpreted in terms of nation, ideal or lover.
THE ZEN MASTER’S SERMON
I heard the Zen master say,
Suffer not the pain of being bound by love’s shackles;
break the bonds of love; your heart will know joy.
The Zen master is very foolish!
His words belie the truth: to be bound by the bonds of love
may be painful, but to break the bonds of love
is more painful than dying.
To be bound tightly in love’s servitude is to be freed.
In servitude the great liberation is attained.
My love, I thought the love bonds by which you bind me
might be weak, so I doubled the bond strands
by which I love you.
2. Yun Son-do (1587-1661)-great Korean poet, master of the sijo
Song of Five Friends
You ask how many friends I have? Water and stone, bamboo and pine.
The moon rising over the eastern hill is a joyful comrade.
Besides these five companions, what other pleasure should I ask?
I’m told clouds are nice, that is, their color; but often they grow dark.

4. I’m told winds are pleasing, that is, their sound, but they fade to silence;
So I say only water is faithful and neverending.
Why do flowers fade and die so soon after that glorious bloom?
Why does green grass curl to yellow after sending its spears so high?
Could it be that only stone stands strong against the elements?
Look at this, it isn’t a tree, and it isn‘t a grass either;
How can it stand so erect when its insides are empty?
Bamboo, I praise you in all seasons, standing green no matter what
In summer fragile flowers bloom; in autumn they lose their leaves.
But Mr. Pine, see how he disdains winter’s frost and snow—
See him thrust himself to heaven and down to earth’s eternal spring.
Though you’re small, you glide so high, blessing everyone with light;
What other flame can beam so brightly in the blackness of our night?
Moon, you watch but keep silent; isn’t that what a good friend does?
3. Yun Tu-so- a well-regarded Korean calligrapher and painter. He was the great-grandson of
famed poet Yun Sŏndo (I587-1671), the leading sijo poet of the Chosŏn Dynasty. It is unknown
how many sijo Yun Tusŏ wrote, for only this one has survived.
Untouched
Untouched at the edge of the path,
a jewel covered with mud.
How many have passed it by,
seeing nothing but its surface?
Stay there, gem, look like dirt
till someone sees with a loving eye.

5. 4. Lee Kwang-Su-considered the forerunner of modern Korean literature. He leads a group of
Korean poets who stress feeling and beauty in poetry instead of interest in communistic
ideologies and class struggles.
5. Yi Sang-Hwa (1900-1943)-a member of a group of poets who founded the literary journal
“Paekcho” (White Tide).
`Does spring come to this land no more our own, to these stripped fields?
Bathed in the sun I walk as if in a dream along a lane that cuts across paddy fields like parted
hair to where the blue sky and the green field meet.
Mute heaven and silent fields, I do not feel I have come here alone; tell me if I am driven by you
or by some hidden force… ''
Creation Myth
In Korea, there are few creation myths that start from the beginning, the very beginning. In a
few oral traditions, a primal chaos exists until, unexpectedly, a crack appears, separating earth from sky.
But these myths, those that survive, are not the colorful intricate histories of the Theogeny or the
Enuma Elish. Korea’s most treasured myth is that of its own creation from an existing earth and the
humans already living upon it. This is the myth of Tangun.
The story goes that a Heavenly Prince, Hwangun looked down at earth and desired to possess it and
rule over mankind. His father, the Ruler of Heaven, Hwanin knew that his son would bring happiness to
human beings and, looking at the earth, chose Mount Taebak as a suitable place for his son to go to
earth. Hwangun arrives beneath a sandalwood tree where he creates a holy city. He brings with him
three heavenly seals, somewhat mysterious in nature, and 3000 loyal subjects from heaven, which are
possibly spirits. In addition, Hwangun brought three ministers, the Earl of Wind, the Master of Rain, and
the Master of Clouds. Different accounts of the myth tell that Hwangun either taught or took charge of
360 areas of responsibility, like agriculture and medicine. The story moves now to a bear and a tiger,
both desiring to become human beings. Set the task of shunning sunlight and eating only the food given
to them by Hwangun (some mugwort and twenty cloves of garlic), the bear succeeds in earning
Hwangun’s approval while the tiger fails to fast, fleeing into the forest. The bear becomes a beautiful
woman, Ungyo (bear woman) and becomes the wife of Hwangun. Their son is Tangun, the King of
Sandalwood. Tangun becomes the first king of Korea, calling his country choson and ruling for 1500
years. After this time he retreats to Taebak-san to become a mountain god.

8. Sijo is a Korean poetic form. Bucolic, metaphysical and cosmological themes are often explored. The
three lines average 14-16 syllables, for a total of 44-46. Sijo may be narrative or thematic and introduces
a situation in line 1, development in line 2, and twist and conclusion in line 3. The first half of the final
line employs a “twist”: a surprise of meaning, sound, or other device. Sijo is often more lyrical and
personal than other East Asian poetic forms, and the final line can take a profound turn. Yet, “The
conclusion of sijo is seldom epigrammatic or witty. A witty close to a sentence would have been foreign
to the genius of stylized Korean diction in the great sijo periods.
Contemporary Sijo
LOVE
By: Han Yong-un
Deeper than spring waters,
higher than autumn mountains,
brighter than the moon,
harder than a stone.
Asked about love,
this is what I’ll say.
Ancient Sijo
I will break the back of this long, midwinter night,
Folding it double, cold beneath my spring quilt,
That I may draw out the night, should my love return.
Hwang Jin-i (1522–1565) A famous female Korean sijo poet who was also a kisaeng, a professional
entertainer.
The kasa is properly placed in the category of verse, but its content is not limited to the expression of
individual sentiment. It often includes moral admonitions, and the subjects regarding "the weariness of
travel" and "grief." The kasa form is a simple verse form, with a "twin" set of feet of three to four
syllables each, which are repeated four times.