Unit 12: Paper 3 — History of Asia and Oceania (HL)
Topic 12.5: Korea (1840–1945) Questions
Practice 20 exam-style questions for IB History (2028) Topic 12.5. Review the question stems below, then unlock the full Question Bank to access markschemes, model answers, and AI grading.
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On what date did thirty-three Korean leaders publicly read a Declaration of Independence in Seoul, sparking the Samil Movement?
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Which Korean independence leader spent the occupation period mostly in exile in the United States, later becoming South Korea's first president in 1948?
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Discuss the view that the Daewongun's domestic reforms between 1863 and 1873 did more to strengthen the Korean monarchy than to destabilise Korean society.
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Evaluate the claim that the 1876 Treaty of Ganghwa was primarily an attack on Qing China's traditional influence over Korea, rather than a straightforward act of Japanese commercial expansion.
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To what extent do you agree with the claim that the Daewongun's policy of strict isolation between 1863 and 1873 was a wise and necessary defence of Korean sovereignty?
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Choose the correct answer: What did the Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 1895) require China to recognise regarding Korea?
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Choose the correct answer: What event in Gobu county in 1894 triggered the Donghak Peasant Revolution?
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To what extent do you agree that the 1884 Gapsin Coup failed mainly because of the reformers' own weaknesses, rather than because of Qing China's overwhelming military presence in Seoul?
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Choose the correct answer: In October 1897, what did King Gojong do after returning from the Russian legation?
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What was the main long-term effect of the Japanese Land Survey (1910-1918) on Korean peasant farmers?
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The 1939-40 policy that pressured Koreans into adopting Japanese names is known as:
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Which treaty, imposed on Emperor Gojong in 1905, gave Japan control over Korea's foreign affairs and made Korea a Japanese protectorate?
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Which system of government, in which powerful in-law clans controlled the Korean court through royal marriages, weakened the Joseon monarchy in the early-to-mid 1800s?
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Approximately how many of Korea's roughly 700 seowon (private Confucian academies) did the Daewongun close during his regency?
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Which scholar founded the Donghak ('Eastern Learning') movement in 1860, teaching that all people are equal before heaven?
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What was the immediate incident in 1875 that Japan used as a pretext to force Korea into the 1876 Treaty of Ganghwa?
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Who led the pro-Japanese 'Enlightenment Party' (Gaehwapa) reformers who staged the December 1884 Gapsin Coup?
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Choose the correct answer: Who was assassinated by Japanese agents inside the royal palace in October 1895?
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Evaluate the claim that the Donghak movement founded by Choe Je-u in 1860 was primarily a religious phenomenon rather than a political challenge to the Korean state.
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Choose the correct answer: Under the 1885 Convention of Tianjin, what could China and Japan both legally do in Korea?
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