Medieval Korea: from the Goryeo to Joseon periods
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Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me. We're the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously. My name's Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster. And today we are mastering our hungul and watching out for marauding Mongols as we march back through the centuries to learn all about medieval Korea. And to help us sort out our choreo from our Choson dynasties, we have two very special guests. In History Corner, he's Assistant Professor of East Asian History at the University of Durham. He's a historian of early modern East Asia, especially the Korean Peninsula. With a particular research focus on environmental history, it's Dr. John Lee. Welcome, John. Thank you for having me. I'm really happy to be here.
Pleasure to have you in. And in Comedy Corner, she's an Emmy-nominated writer and comedian. Maybe you've watched one of the many hilarious shows she's written for, including Late Night Mash, Nevermind the Buzzcocks, or Kunk on Life. Or maybe you've seen her guesting on Frankie Boyle's New World Order, or comedians giving lectures, or you've seen her live on tour as a stand-up. It's Erica Ehler. Welcome, Erica. Hello. Hello. Welcome to the show. Happy to be here. We're delighted to have you in. It is your first time on the podcast, so I am contractually obliged to ask you, do you like history?
I will say I liked history when my hot history teacher taught it to me. Oh,
no. Okay. So there's a crush involved. There was a crush involved. Okay.
But it did get me interested. I got really good marks that year.
Okay, hot teacher. That's good. But history now, are you still into history now? Or is that a faded time
for you? I'd say it's a bit faded. It's one of those things where I don't actively seek it out. But whenever somebody tells me something, I do find it really interesting. My dad's like a real history nerd. And sometimes when we're on road trips, that's his way of connecting with his daughter. It's an interesting choice. It doesn't always work, but I do find it enlightening. It's fun to learn. It's very strong dad energy to
do history. And I mean, I've heard that when you were younger, you were a bit of a K-pop fan.
Yeah, when I was in high school. Yeah. It was very popular in my high school. In fact, it started like a drama on prom night because this one girl wanted only K-pop songs. It wasn't me, to be clear. I'm a little bit more. But yeah, and it was super popular.
Yeah. I mean, it's still huge. I
mean, it still is now. Absolutely
massive. So you know a little bit about the kind of modern sort of K-pop culture. Do you know anything about the history of Korea, medieval Korea, in fact? Not at all. Not at all. Ditto. So what do you know? This is called the So What Do You Know? This is where I have a go at guessing what you, our lovely listener or viewer, hello, what you might know about today's subject. Now, nowadays, Korean culture, of course, is a global sensation. So maybe you love Korean masterpiece movies like Parasite or you're tuning into your K-dramas like Squid Game or Crash Landing on You. Perhaps you've adored K-pop. Perhaps you caught BTS on their record-breaking tour or saw them at the World Cup final. Maybe you've got a bias or a bias wrecker you can't stop thinking about it.
Maybe you're just obsessed with Korean skincare or kimchi or Blackpink or K-pop Demon Hunters, my daughter's favourite film. But when it comes to medieval Korea, maybe you know a little bit about the historical K-dramas, but I'm not sure there's much more beyond that, certainly not for me. So perhaps the history is less familiar. So what do we need to know about medieval Korea? How does it measure up to the plot of Alchemy of Souls?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–17:15
2
What is the origin myth of the Korean people involving a bear and garlic?
17:15–29:53
3
How did Wang Geon unify the Korean peninsula and establish the Goryeo dynasty?
29:53–34:26
4
What was the Myojong rebellion and who led it as a geomancer?
34:26–1:01:01
5
How did the Mongol invasions of the 13th century affect Goryeo Korea?
1:01:01–1:03:35
Speakers
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