This paper will examine the nature and impact of Confucianism upon Korea during this period. It will be argued that this Confucianism - although a cultural "import" from China - had begun to assume definite Korean characteristics at around this time. The key difference between the two, it will be seen, lies in that Chinese Confucianism remained largely an ideal of social and
political practice in China, while the Koreans implemented it as the guiding principle of their political actions and the construction of their state.