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Korea's pre-modern history was severely stained by the Imperialism. A great deal of countries fought over Chosun dynasty and eventually Chosun became the colony of Japan. This sequences of accidents are remained in every Korean's heart as a deep scar. However, what makes Korean extremely be irritated is not the historical fact but Japan's insolent attitude that Japan modernized Korea significantly throughout their domination. This argument is completely unreasonable - there are significant historical evidences.
Before the invasion of Imperiallistic countries, actually there was a movement of development toward modern society in Korea. One of them is a breakdown of hierarchy. During the 500 years of Chosun Dynasty, the hierarchy had been a basement of society. It was a fundamental element of people's life. In later Chosun, with the development of trade and agriculture, the newly became wealthy peasants emerged as a breakiing factor of the hierarchy. They are somewhat similar to western society's bourgeois who eventually lead society to be modernized. The status of "Yangban", Chosun's noble, was degraded; sarcastic stories and musics toward corrup "Yangban" were prevalent in those period. This implies a great deal of us. As we all know, the collapse of old hierarchy is one of the distinctive features of modern society. Therefore we can deduce from the circumstances of Chosun that the country had suficient momentum to evolve into modern society by itself.
More importantly, there was a great development of trade and technology too. Chosun was a country originally based on agriculture. Therefore, it is fairly intriguing that in later Chosun the trade and technological industries and significantly swelled. The market called "Jangsi" greatly developed in this period and that catalyzed people to trade and be more interested in commerce even more than agriculture. The sudden increase of metal money used in this period clearly proves that. Furthermore, even though the Confucism was a basic ideal of Chosun society, surprisingly there were numerous trials to break the form. Many researchers in various kinds of studies including modern science were done in this period. Considering that there weren't almost any study except Confucism during the old Chosun, this shous Chosun's infinite possibility of modernization.
In contrast to people's general views, it is not true that Chosun didn't have any power for self-development; that is only an artificial truth maden by Japanese in order to discourage Korean people during colonization. Chosun wasn't a weak and pathetic country. It was developing by itself till just before the consequent ruthless invasions. A lack of military power is nothing to be ashamed of. Koreans should be more proud of their spiritual and cultural legacys of thier own and grant their ancestors for brilliant history.
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