My name is Daniel. I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, and now I am a writer and scholar who has written a number of books including South Korea: Our Story by Daniel Nardini.

     It has been taught in Korean schools, and written about in numerous books by Korean scholars and historians that Korean civilization is 5,000 years old. There is no doubt that human habitation of the Korean peninsula has happened for tens of thousands of years, but that the actual origin of the ancestors of the present Korean people is far more murky. There is little doubt in my mind that the ancestors of the Korean people really started moving into the Korean peninsula 5,000 years ago, but that does not mean that marks the beginning of the origins of Korean civilization. If this were the case, it would make Korean civilization as old as China's and the archeological record does not support this. The oldest written records that we have on the origins of the first towns and cities that would eventually become Ko Joseon come from early Chinese records that mention the Chinese states doing trade with the Ko Joseon peoples. About 3,000 years ago these peoples would become the states of Goguryo, Baekje and Shilla. The first real ancient Korean records we have of these kingdoms come from the Goguryo tomb paintings some 2,000 years ago. So if we look at the actual record, plus archeological evidence, Korean civilization is 3,000 years old. But in my view that is extremely old. With the exception of China and India, Korea would be the third oldest continuous civilization in that part of the world.