Carter J. Eckert. Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea

Korea sits uncomfortably next to Japan, which has invaded the peninsula many times, most importantly in 1592 and 1876, the latter time a case of gunboat diplomacy that set a pattern for the eventual annexation of Korea in 1910. If the past seventy years betray little evidence of Japan’s military tradition, until 1945 it was a defining characteristic of that country: samurai, bushido (the way of warriors), exemplary sword craftsmanship, and of course one civil war after another before the Tokugawa seclusion began in 1600. Korea, by contrast, was known not for its warlords but for its scholars—more particularly, scholar-officials—who despised the military, at least in times of peace. The old Korean army, before 1910, was scolded for its poor organization, low morale, questionable strategies (for example, the illogical disposition of provincial garrisons), and a tendency to concentrate too many troops in the capital, Seoul. Korea’s soldiers could fight fiercely, as U.S. Marines discovered when they invaded in 1871, but fathers reared their sons with an eye to civil service exams, not civil wars.

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