経済面と活気あるポップカルチャーに関心が向けられている南と、謎の多い、威嚇的な北…という根本的に異なる2つの要素で、かつてない注目を集めている朝鮮半島。これまでどのような歴史を辿り、朝鮮人であるというのは何を意味するのか、朝鮮半島が現在のような形で南北に分断され、著しく対照的な国家となった背景にはどのような理由があるのかを探ります。さらに朝鮮の経済、政治、社会を、東アジア、ひいては世界史の中に位置づけて検討します。
　　

• Offers a short and accessible history of Korea from earliest times to the present
• Places Korea within the context of East Asian and global history
• Considers what it means to be Korean, and analyses how this nation evolved, in a single lifetime, into today's sharply contrasting societies

                          
Having spent centuries in the shadows of its neighbours China and Japan, Korea is now the object of considerable interest for radically different reasons— the South as an economic success story and for its vibrant popular culture; the North as the home to one of the world's most repressive regimes, at once both bizarre and menacing.
                              
This Very Short Introduction explores the history, culture, and society of a deeply divided region. Michael Seth considers what it means to be Korean, and analyses how the various peoples of the Korean peninsula became one of the world's most homogeneous nations, before exploring how this nation evolved, in a single lifetime, into today's sharply contrasting societies. He also discusses how Korea fits into the larger narrative of both East Asian and world history, economically, politically, and socially.