“How do we rise again in the face of repeated crises?”
The one book that even those who have never read a history book must read

There are many particularly tragic events in Korean history.
Our land was destroyed by countless foreign invasions, our sovereignty was eroded by the Japanese, and our once united nation was divided into two.
But we survived and overcame all these hardships.


"A Korean History That Makes You Cry" reflects on the history of hardship and overcoming that our people have experienced countless times.
It also provides insight into how we should view and overcome the crisis and conflict we are currently facing.
The author, a historian and bestselling author, tells the story focusing on modern and contemporary history, which is filled with particularly tragic events, but which we rarely learn about properly in textbooks.


Our history has been arduous.
But even as the country was falling apart, even as there was no hope, someone wrote a new history.
As we look back on historical moments through the stories of those who persevered and moved forward regardless of the circumstances, we will gain the strength to live on without retreating.

About 430 years ago, Joseon was hit by the great wave of the Imjin War, and less than 40 years after the war ended, it suffered the humiliation of the Byeongja War.
And after 30 years, an unprecedented famine occurred, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
What is strange is that the country did not fall into ruin even after going through all this.
To be more precise, the people endured and overcame all of this.
Even when the country was in disarray due to the politics of factions and when the powerful expropriated property under absurd pretexts, the people still lived their lives.
He cultivated the land and farmed to survive, and sometimes, unable to bear it any longer, he raised a bamboo spear and begged the king to spare his life.
(…) So, did the descendants of Koreans who overcame hardship live better lives? Unfortunately, just like the Koreans who were forced to live through war and famine, it was the children of these Koreans who were forced to live lives of bleakness and heartbreak.
They are our grandfathers, grandmothers, or great-grandparents who were born just over 100 years ago.
This is also the moment when the current identity of 'Korean' was created.
In other words, the sense of community called 'we' was created as a result of the camaraderie of overcoming difficulties together in a tearful history.
---"prolog.
From “Stories of people who lived without giving up at any moment (pages 5-6 of the text)”

On the dawn of the fateful October 8th, the Japanese soldiers and ronin entered through the west gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace and moved quickly to find the queen.
Surprisingly, King Gojong actually witnessed this entire process firsthand.
Gojong immediately requested Minister Miura to disband the Japanese army and asked the Russian and American embassies for help.
At this very moment, the swift Japanese ronin enter the queen's quarters.
King Gojong, who was in his quarters, encounters Japanese ronin.
The Japanese ronin pushed Gojong's shoulder and assaulted Joseon's court ladies as they searched for the queen.
Lee Gyeong-jik, the Minister of the Imperial Household, tried to stop the Japanese ronin in order to save the queen, but ended up having both of his arms cut off by the ronin's swords.
When Lee Gyeong-jik, who was being assaulted, tried to run away, the ronin shot him in front of King Gojong and eventually stabbed him to death.
After that, the ronin, not knowing who the queen was, began to kill every woman in the palace they saw.
(…) At 6 o’clock in the morning, the Japanese ronin who were searching for the queen discovered that one of the bodies lying around was the queen of Joseon.
It was a shameful death for the queen of Joseon, wearing only white underwear.
---From “The Assassinated Queen and the Runaway King (pp. 55-57)”

Lee Bong-chang started out as a low-ranking employee at Yongsan Station when he was nineteen and quickly rose through the ranks.
Afterwards, he goes through the official post and becomes a train driver and a connecting person.
As I got promoted, my salary went up and I gained financial freedom.
However, Lee Bong-chang gradually realizes that Japanese and Koreans are being treated differently.
(…) At the same time, the cruel reality that ‘we must eat and live despite everything’ torments Lee Bong-chang.
This alienation led him to indulge in lust and gambling, and he soon resigned from his job to pay off his entertainment debts with his severance pay.
The place he headed to after leaving Yongsan Station was surprisingly Japan.
(…) Then one day.
Lee Bong-chang (…) headed to Kyoto to see the Emperor.
(…) Lee Bong-chang was carrying a letter partially written in Korean, and during the search, this letter was discovered, and he was imprisoned in a detention center for ten days simply because he was Korean.
This incident turns Lee Bong-chang's life upside down.
The resentment caused by discrimination and the desire to become a true Japanese soon become defined as the identity of a Korean.
Returning to Osaka, Lee Bong-chang hears that there is a Korean government in Shanghai and heads to Shanghai, dreaming of living an honorable life as a Korean.
---From "The Last Method to Overcome the Crisis of the Independence Movement (pp. 118-119)"

On June 30, 1983, a special live broadcast titled “Finding Separated Families” was broadcast nationwide to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Korean War and the 30th anniversary of the armistice.
(…) The response to the broadcast was tremendous.
In addition to the 150 or so applicants who had already been selected, the hosts began interviewing the stories of separated families sitting in the audience.
The telephones installed for broadcasting rang nonstop, and when the line went dead, the entire KBS line rang.
In a country where one-quarter of the population is separated from their families, perhaps this chaos was foretold.
(…) The special live broadcast lasted well over an hour and a half, and lasted until 2:29 a.m. the next day, with a total of 29 families successfully meeting.
(…) The viewership ratings soared to 78%, and the special live broadcast to find separated families continued for five days.
The events that took place in the first week of July 1983 were no ordinary television program.
It was a cultural phenomenon, an event, a festival.
This festival brought together separated families from all over the country and the world, each with their own stories, to Yeouido Square.
Unable to ignore this yearning for both sadness and joy, KBS continued the special live broadcast, which lasted a total of 138 days until November 14th.
It was a time that made the word special seem meaningless.
Ultimately, out of over 100,000 applications received over 138 days, over 50,000 people showed up, and a total of 10,189 separated families were reunited.

---From “A country where one-quarter of the population is separated from their families (pp. 250-252)”