chapter 2 Th e Po liti cal Context Before it was divided into northern and southern halves in 1945, Korea had existed within what were generally its current borders for more than a thousand years. Th e people living within those borders speak a com- mon language and share a unique phonetic writing system, which facili- tates mass literacy. Unlike many developing countries, the Korean na- tion and its borders were not the artifi cial creation of a colonial regime. Koreans have long had and continue to possess a strong sense of their com- mon culture and nationality. Until 1910 Korea was ruled by a king who was aided by bureaucrats selected on the basis of their formal education in the Confucian classics, per for mance on meritocratic state examinations, and family status. Th is po liti cal structure can be characterized as a “centralized oligarchy” rather than absolutist rule. Under ideal circumstances, a benevolent monarch supported by competent scholar- offi cials can mobilize resources for 1. Allied with the Chinese Tang dynasty, the Korean kingdom of Shilla defeated Baekje and Goguryeo (or Koguryo) in 660 and 668, respectively, but its territorial reach fell short of Pyongyang. Instead, Goguryeo’s former general worked with the Manchus to establish Balhae in the northern region. It was not until 936 that a unifi ed nation more or less within the Korean Peninsula was established, under the name Goryeo (or Koryo). 2. Hangul, the Korean alphabet, is a scientifi c writing system. Until the 1970s, han- gul supplemented Chinese characters in offi cial documents and reports, but since the 1980s hangul has increasingly supplanted Chinese characters, and now texts are written entirely in hangul with a few exceptions, such as homonyms. Because hangul is easy to learn, it has contributed to widespread literacy in Korea. 3. See Henderson (1968) and Palais (1975). Th e Po liti cal Context 17 economic and cultural development. But with few competing sources of power, such a centralized oligarchy can just as easily engage in factional, rent- seeking competition. In fact, after the reformist monarch who had led Korea’s revival died in 1800, a series of weak kings and corrupt offi - cials dominated the po liti cal scene. Th eir exploitation of the peasants and failure to modernize the nation set the stage for Japa nese colonial occu- pation, which lasted from 1910 through 1945. Japan’s defeat in World War II brought an end to the Japa nese empire and its Korean colony, but agreements at the end of the war divided Korea between the Soviet Union and the United States. Th e Soviets es- tablished a Communist regime in the north, while a regime supported by the United States was set up in the south. Although a provisional govern- ment in exile in China, led by Kim Koo, returned to Korea, the United States chose to support Rhee Syng- man (or Syngman Rhee), a Prince ton PhD and longtime exile in the United States who had pro- independence and anti- Communist credentials but little to no domestic power base. Th e newly divided Korea then became the battleground for an inter- nationalized civil war from 1950 to 1953, pitting South Korea and the United States against North Korea and China, with the Soviet Union in the back- ground. Th e war devastated the country. It ended with an armistice but no peace treaty, with both sides maintaining large armed forces facing each other across a demilitarized zone at the border. South Korea was then faced with the task of building a po liti cal and institutional structure on the foundation of a long Confucian tradition, aborted modernization, a bitter colonial legacy, a divided nation, and a physically devastated country, all within the context of the Cold War. At the end of the Korean War, the United States reassessed South Korea’s geostrategic importance and provided generous assistance. Foreign aid 4. In the area of higher education, for example, Sungkyunkwan University had been founded in 1398 as the highest national institution to produce Confucian scholars. Around the turn of the twentieth century, Western missionaries and Korean modern- izers had played a key role in establishing Yonsei, Ewha, and Korea Universities. In 1924, the Japa nese colonial government established the Keijo Imperial University in Seoul, in part to respond to Korean in de pen dence leaders’ plan to set up a citizens’ university. Around two- thirds of the students were Japa nese at Keijo Imperial Univer- sity during the colonial period, when Japa nese residents in Korea accounted for only 3 percent of the population in Korea..