Hermit Kingdom

Hermit Kingdom (은자의 왕국) is another name of the Yi Dynasty (also known as the Joseon Dynasty) in 1800s. The rulers of the Yi Dynasty opened the door only to China and, in a limited basis, to Japan. With the increasing demand for foreign trade by Western states in the 19th century, the Korean rulers tried to prevent foreign trade by closing the borders, earning Korea its nickname of the "Hermit Kingdom". Beginning in 1876, the Japanese forced a series of Western-style trade agreements on Korea, leading to Japan's eventual annexation of the Korean Peninsula in 1910.

Today, the term is often applied to North Korea in news media, and was once used by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009.

Key words
Hermit nation, international cooperation, ODA

Escape from Legacies of the Hermit Nation
Historically, it is true Koreans were hermits. Until 1988 when Seoul Summer Olympics was held, Korea had been known as a mere Far Eastern country suffered from the Korean War and successive dictatorship.

One of the important reasons was the language. Even though average Koreans study English for more than 10 years, they speak poor English. So they are shy away from foreigners. Also the Korean language, Han-gul, is spoken relatively infrequently outside Korea or by overseas ethnic Koreans. This is a significant barrier to international knowledge of things Korean.

From Hermit Nation to Activist Country
Since Korea was admitted to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1996, the situation has been drastically changed. With its brisk economy and ever-increasing foreign trade volume, Korea has emerged from a hermit nation to an activist country. As a matter of fact, "globalization" has been the national slogan of businesses as well as citizens.

In this connection, Korea has hosted successfully a series of international sports games and coferences including the 2002 World Cup and G-20 Summit in 2010. Pyongchang will host the Winter Olympics in 2018. Korea authors are encouraged to publish books and articles in foreign languages. Same encouragement to the Korean arts, music, manufactured goods and services. Though the first immigrant workers set sail to Hawaii in 1902, now there is no place in the world where the Korean people do not exist.

From an ODA Receiver to a Donor
Recently the Korean government is increasingly required to provide more official development assistance (ODA) to less developed countries in proportion to its economic growth. At the end of 2009, Korea was admitted to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) under the OECD. It was remarkable for Korea to shift from an ODA receiver to a donor country within several decades. So Korea is committed to the implementation of untied aid based on the international competitive bidding (ICB) recommended by DAC.

Prospects
Boosted by the government policy and individual passion, Korea continues to lead the world economy and technological advancement. Take an example of Hallyu, the Korean Wave and online games. No one expected the K-pop idols, Girls Generation, Super Juniors, etc., could cut conspicuous figures in the world entertainment markets. Korean online games (MMORPG) including Lineage II and Dungeon Fighter Online, are attracting foreign gamers all across the world.

Likewise Korean manufacturers are producing the "World Best Products" in terms of market shares and export volumes. They are memory semiconductor, CDMA mobile phone, TFT-LCD, refrigerator, microwave range, general purpose ship, among others. Insofar as Korean people keep the initial vitality and entrepreneurship alive, this trend contines to move upward.