Korea’s Three Kingdom period and unified Silla – mythologies, poems and war stories by HistoryBuff September 7, 2022, 5:40 pm 1 Point Upvote Downvote
3 Comments TIL the Ottawa Convention is a 1997 treaty signed by 133 countries to ban antipersonnel land mines. The U.S. never signed. The U.S. placed thousands of mines in the DMZ between the Koreas during the Cold War to help deter an overwhelming ground invasion from the North. by whatilearned June 22, 2022, 1:43 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
8 Comments TIL that the Korean War never ended. Although the fighting between North and South Korea and their respective allies ended in July 1953 when the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, no peace treaty was ever signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war, engaged in a frozen conflict. by whatilearned April 28, 2022, 5:29 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
2 Comments TIL about Ahn Changho. He and his wife were the first married Korean couple to immigrate to the US in 1902. He is credited with co-writing South Korea’s national anthem, and two of his sons, Philip Ahn and Ralph Ahn, went on to be actors in Hollywood by whatilearned March 2, 2022, 12:16 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
4 Comments TIL to obtain South Korea’s support for making Hashima Island a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Japan acknowledged it had brought Koreans to work on the island against their will and under harsh conditions. Immediately after the site was approved, Japan backtracked and denied forced labor had occurred. by whatilearned January 21, 2022, 8:56 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
1 Comment TIL the two Koreas were split before for roughly 300 years. by whatilearned November 18, 2021, 3:44 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
10 Comments TIL several endangered species, especially red-crowned cranes and white-naped cranes, have found a strange refuge among the land mines, fortifications and total absence of people in Korea’s Demilitarized Zone. by whatilearned October 9, 2021, 5:11 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
2 Comments TIL about Yun Sim-deok, known as Korea’s first soprano. Her song “Hymn of Death” became Korea’s first pop song; selling 100,000 copies after her death in 1926. Yun had been having an affair with the married writer Kim Woo-jin and the pair committed suicide together by jumping off a passenger ship. by whatilearned September 23, 2021, 2:51 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
2 Comments TIL Han Min-hong, a South Korean professor, built and successfully tested a self-driving car in 1993. The car traveled 185 miles from Seol to Busan through one of South Korea’s most heavily-traveled expressways. Despite the amazing results, the government scrapped funding for his research. by whatilearned July 15, 2021, 1:00 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL In 1443, King Sejong single-handedly created Hangul, the Korean alphabet, in response to the immense difficulty that common people faced learning Chinese characters. The publication date of the document revealed in 1446 detailing the new alphabet is now a national holiday in both Koreas. by whatilearned May 16, 2021, 5:45 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
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