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Korea: Two Countries, One Past

Why and how the Korean Peninsula came to be divided into North and South Korea. Bridget Kendall speaks to Prof Namhee Lee, Eleanor Soo-ah Hyun, and James Hoare.

For over a thousand years the Korean Peninsula was one nation, with a unique identity and character. So what caused it to be divided into two countries that have become so radically different, culturally, economically and politically? Bridget Kendall is joined by Namhee Lee, associate professor of modern Korean history at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Eleanor Soo-ah Hyun, curator of the Korean Collections at the British Museum; and Dr James Hoare, a former diplomat who set up the first British Embassy in North Korea, and is now a Research Associate at the Centre of Korean Studies in the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (SOAS).

Photo: Korean dancers perform a traditional dance. (Getty Images)

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41 minutes

Last on

Wed 30 Nov 2016 02:06GMT

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  • Sat 26 Nov 2016 20:06GMT
  • Mon 28 Nov 2016 02:06GMT
  • Mon 28 Nov 2016 04:06GMT
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  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 09:06GMT
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 12:06GMT
  • Tue 29 Nov 2016 23:06GMT
  • Wed 30 Nov 2016 02:06GMT

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