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South Korea Research Paper

Decent Essays

The sociocultural role of sport in the country, including any political implications
South Korea loves sport, sport is not only a popular physical activity but is a significant social practice. Sport operates as an important cultural resource and produces and disseminates nationalism. Indeed, in recent years, south korea has shown competence in hosting, playing, and managing sport. South Korean athletes have created notable results at major international sport events. For example, since 1984, the national Summer Olympic team has unfailingly been ranked in the top 10 nations on the medal table, with the only exception being the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The country has also produced a number of major world sporting events, including hosting …show more content…

Korean sport, like all sport has not developed in a political and social vacuum, on the contrary, sport in Korea is a highly nationalistic practice. Lets step back in time and figure out how they got here. Three notable events have had an impressive impact on contemporary Korean society and culture, including the culture of sport. One is the Japanese occupation, number two is the Korean War and the division of the nation creating the two koreas, and three is the rapid economic growth that has occurred under a series of military …show more content…

This has had profound implications in the development of Korean society. Soon after the liberation from Japan in 1945, the peninsula was sectioned into two parts and 5 years later, civil war broke out in 1950. This war ended in 1953 without a peace treaty, which means the two countries still technically are at war. More than 50 years of division has influenced the culture and national opinions of the Korean people. The two Koreas see each other as political and military enemies, but they also see themselves as an ethnically homogenous nation. So there is a strong desire on both sides of the fence to reunify so that a unified Korean nation state can be created. The reunification of the nation is one of the largest political projects in both South and North Korea. This ethnic nationalism allows for occasional cooperation between the two countries such as North Korea and South Korea marching together for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 2004 Athens Olympics and 2006 Turin Olympics. Sport in Korea has reflected these complicated relations. International competitions created a symbolic battlefield between the two countries, at least until the 1980s. North and South Korean governments invested heavily in developing skilled athletes and funded part of the development of high performance sport in order to win more medals in international games. This arms

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