Two decades ago, as I packed my bags to come to South Korea and begin a journey that would change my life in unimaginable ways, my grandmother, somewhat proudly, though perhaps also with an air of slight trepidation, told her friends that I was going to South Croatia. For those of you suddenly reaching for a map, the Dalmatian Coast has, to be best of my knowledge, never been divided from the mainland. Korea, however, has been divided in two. What is interesting is that most of my international students have little knowledge as to how, or why, there are two Koreas. They assume it must somehow be because of North Korea – because that is obviously the ‘bad’ Korea. We have seen Vietnam divided in two (a Communist North and a Capitalist South), Germany divided (on the same ideological lines East and West). Ireland was divided between the Nationalists (and Catholics) in the South and the Unionists (and Protestants) in the North. India and Pakistan also split on religious grounds. Then there is Cyprus and Yemen. Closest to home, following the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalists there
Why are there ‘two’ Koreas?
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