This work provides even-handed coverage of Korea's turbulent history during the last 100 years, from seclusion to division. It focuses particularly on the development of the two different and antagonistic states on the peninsula since 1945. The author sees both countries through the windows of their possibilities and interests. He supplements his narrative, which makes use of rich source material, with observations he has made in South Korea, where he spent more than ten years from the 1970s to the 1990s, and where he had access to politicians and opinion leaders. The book starts by describing how the Hermit Kingdom was exposed to the greed of foreign powers at the end of the 19th century and how it became the victim of imperialistic Japan. Next, an account is given of the country's division and the hardening of that division through the Korean War. The rule of the military and the final triumph of civilian democrats in South Korea are analyzed in much detail. One chapter is devoted to the rise and intermittent decline of the South Korean economy. The history of North Korea under Kim II Sung and under his son is told, before the foreign relations of both Koreas are explained.
A chapter on the so far overwhelmingly antagonistic South-North relations concludes the book.