he kingdom of 

Goryeo became first
known to Westerners when Afonso de
Albuquerque conquered Malacca in
1511 and described the peoples who
traded with this part of the world known
by the Portuguese as the Gores.
[23]
 Despite the coexistence of the
spellings Corea and Korea in 19th
century publications, some Koreans
believe that Imperial Japan, around the
time of the Japanese occupation,
intentionally standardized the spelling
on Korea, making Japan appear first
alphabetically.[24][25]
After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in
1392, Joseon became the official name
for the entire territory, though it was not
universally accepted. The new official
name has its origin in the ancient
kingdom of Gojoseon (2333 BCE). In
1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the
official name of the country
from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk (Korean
Empire). The name Daehan (Great Han)
derives from Samhan (Three Han),
referring to the Three Kingdoms of
Korea, not the ancient confederacies in
the southern Korean Peninsula.[26]
[27]
 However, the name Joseon was still
widely used by Koreans to refer to their
country, though it was no longer the
official name. Under Japanese rule, the
two names Han and Joseon coexisted.
There were several groups who fought
for independence, the most notable
being the Provisional Government of the
Republic of Korea (대한민국 임시정부 / 
大韓民國臨時政府).
Following the surrender of Japan, in
1945, the "Republic of Korea" (대한민국 
/ 大韓民國, IPA: ˈtɛ̝ːɦa̠nminɡuk̚, lit. 'Great
Korean People's State';  listen) was
adopted as the legal English name for
the new country. However, it is not a
direct translation of the Korean name.
[28]
 As a result, the Korean name
"Daehan Minguk" is sometimes used by
South Koreans as a metonym to refer to
the Korean ethnicity (or "race") as a
whole, rather than just the South Korean
state.[29][28] Conversely, the official name
of North Korea in English, the
"Democratic People's Republic of
Korea", is a direct translation of the
Korean name.
Since the government only controlled
the southern part of the Korean
Peninsula, the informal term "South
Korea" was coined, becoming
increasingly common in the Western
world. While South Koreans
use Han (or Hanguk) to refer to both
Koreas collectively, North Koreans and
ethnic Koreans living in China and
Japan use the term Joseon instead.

History