Overview of South Korea - historical information.

 Officially, Korea has very long history which is more than 5,000 years. However, some people say that it has more than 20,000 years' history based on an old book which was found recently. There is still a lot of controversials going on. However, up to now, 5,000 years' history is official opinion.

 According to the official opinion, Kochosun was the first dynasty in the Korean peninsula about 5,000 years ago. After Kochosun collapsed, there were a lot of small countries rose up and disappeared for a while until 3 strong countries came up about 2,000 years ago. The three countries were Koguryo, Paikje, and Shinla.
Koguryo governed north part of Korean peninsula and the north east part of current China, Paikje governed the south west part of Korean peninsula, and Shinla governed the south east part of Korean peninsula. After Koguryo and Paikje collapsed about 1,500 years ago by the attack of the allied forces of Shinla and Dang dynasty in China, Shinla was the only dynasty in Korean peninsula. The north part of Korean Peninsula and the northeast part of China which were a part of Koguryo's territory were governed by Balhae, new country which was built by people from Koguryo and other northern tribes.
 After Shinla, Koryo dynasty took over the Korean peninsula for about 400 years. After Koryo, Chosun Dynasty took over the peninsula for about 500 years until Japan invaded Korea in 1910.

 Here are the historic cities in Korea with relation to the above dynasties.
 Kyungju was the capital of Shinla and is located in the south east part of the peninsula. It takes 1 or 1 and half hours by car from Pusan which is the second largest city in Korea to Kyungju, and 5 hours' drive will take you from Seoul to Kyungju. Kyungju has a lot of remains of Shinla including national museum, temples, and ancient tombs.
 Buyeo was the capital of Paikje and is located in the south west part of the peninsula. It takes about 3 hours from Seoul to Buyeo. Buyeo has a lot of historical attractions as well.
 Seoul was the capital city of Chosun dynasty and is currently capital city of South Korea. It means you can enjoy modern and ancient attractions at the same time.
 Pyungyang which was the capital of Koguryo and Kaesung which was the capital of Koryo is in North Korea where we can not visit unfortunately.