Why is Korea poorly known to the world?
The story goes some way back to the past.
(A brief history summary may give some help to understand)
Back in the Joseon dynasty(1392-1910) of Korean history, Joseon opened its doors to the outside world belatedly compared to neighboring countries like Japan and China. Due to the weakening of Joseon’s royal authority in the 1800s and Japan’s ambition to imperialize Joseon, Joseon gradually lost its national strength. Joseon tried to reform in multiple ways such as changing its name from Joseon to Daehan Empire, but in the end, in 1910, Joseon was colonized by Imperialist Japan.
During Japanese colonial rule, Korean people strived for national independence, but after 35 years, in 1945, only then was Korea liberated. Both Korean governments were established separately in 1948, but just in two years, the Korean War that lasted three years broke out as the North invaded the South. After the Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953, what the two Koreas had in hands were devastated lands and hundreds of thousands of people who lost their families and homes,
After the war, the Republic of Korea(South Korea) and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea(North Korea) went quiet different ways. Until the early 1970s, the North strived compared to the South. But as you may know, South Korea could achieve democratization and economic growth at the same time period and is now known as the country that has risen from the ashes. However, North Korea maintained a hereditary dictatorship and the economy could not grow as much as the South. As of 2020, nominal GDP of South Korea was around 1.6 trillion USD, exceeding North Korea by 54 times, and South Korean GNI per-capita was around 31,200 USD, exceeding the North by 27 times. The division between the South and the North has been going on for over 70 years, and the gap continues to widen, while both maintains different statuses in various areas.
Despite having a history of 5,000 years, during the last 150 years Koreans were unable to properly inform themselves about Korea to the world due to the period of port opening era of Joseon, Japanese colonial period, the Korean War, and subsequent national division. The will and actions to properly inform about Korea were often blocked by world powers and foreign influences during this time. The history of splendid cultural heritage was denied, ‘Korea’ was defined and misunderstood by other countries, and sometimes, Koreans’ desire to inform their will was ignored by guns and swords. And for now, the division of the Koreas remains a pain and an obstacle. While Korea was unable to exert its power and will, the history, culture, figures, territory of Korea were constantly distorted, and even at this moment, the distortion continues and is being reproduced.
But we do have hope now and the dreams of Koreans are coming into reality.