korean history would be best defined as a continuous struggle it is a nation that
throughout history has been attacked vassalized invaded colonized and literally torn apart by a
war that has never ended throughout all of this how is korea being able to maintain its identity
to answer that we must understand the story of the first korean introducing Dangun see here i
am now by myself i'm talking to myself the story goes Hwan-ung the son of the heavenly king wished
to descend from heaven and live in the human world his father chose T’aebaek-san now called
Baekdu-san as the perfect spot for a city of gods they called it shinshi which means city of gods a
bear and tiger who were living nearby approached Hwan-ung and asked that he turned them into humans
he accepted their request on the condition that they eat only garlic and mugwort for 100 days
and stay within a cave on the 21st day the tiger couldn't take it anymore and ran away
the bear who was able to persevere was transformed into a human woman
understandably she had trouble finding a husband so under a sandalwood tree she
prayed to Hwan-ung again who turned himself into a man and together they bore a son
they named him Dangun Wanggeom the sandalwood king in the year 2333 bc Dangun established
his kingdom and called it joseon which is most often translated to the land of the morning com
he ruled the kingdom for 1500 years and then left the throne to become a mountain god
it is through the dangun myth that the korean people have been able to claim
over 4 000 years of unique history and culture as well as unite under common ethnic identity
with dangun being the progenitor while there is no doubt that the joseon dynasty now called the
Gojeoson dynasty was real though the dangun myth is controversial at best confucian scholars ignore
the myth as being baseless though there are other interpretations the union of the bear and Hwan-ung
perhaps symbolizes the joining of two tribes one more advanced and one that worshipped the bear the
tiger could also refer to a tribe that was either cast out or destroyed the name Dangun Wanggeom can
also be understood as shamanistic ruler denoting a king that was in charge of both religion
and politics living to the unlikely age of 1908 suggests that there were multiple rulers with
the same title of Dangun Wanggeom though this of course is just one interpretation the oldest
surviving version comes from the Samguk Yusa a compilation of korean legends collected by
the buddhist monk ilyon in the 13th century this was during the time of the mongolian invasions of
korea and from here we can notice a clear rise in reference to the Dangun myth and the strengthening
of korean nationalism it was seen again during the japanese invasions of the 16th century again in
the 17th century ching invasions it was especially strong during the japanese forced occupation of
the early 20th century and again even through the korean war and into the modern era with democracy
movements and the financial crisis of the 1970s and 90s each time terms like descendants of Dangun
were increasingly used this strengthened the notion of Minjok or an ethnic group
an exclusive family united by a single ancestor the legitimate inheritors of the korean culture
and land tangon has become the center of korean identity during japanese occupation religions
incorporating the dungan myth also emerged such as Daejongism and Cheondoism seeing dangun being
worshipped as a god the traditional chinese calendar was replaced with the Tan’gi system
that begins from dangun and the founding of the Gojeoson dynasty october 3rd of each year is the
korean 개천절 or the national foundation day a public holiday celebrating the day when dangun ascended
the throne and began korea's history even north korea is a follower of the myth claiming to have
discovered dungan's tomb though of course they don't allow outsiders to examine it it might
seem ridiculous how a simple myth has had such a powerful impact on a culture but this is true for
almost every civilization in history just like the bear within the story generation after generation
of korean people have found the power to persevere and overcome every obstacle put in front of them
and i think that's pretty cool so thank you for watching another one of my videos don't
forget to like comment and definitely subscribe if you like this video why not check out one of
my more recent ones as always thank you so much for watching i'm wookong and goodbye