I was reading on Juche, and one of the theories of its origin saw it as a return to the isolationism of Yi Dynasty. It occurred to me that I've heard about isolationist empires a lot in terms of the region's history. Japan was isolated until the United States forced it to open its ports, China only allowed trade through limited ports like Hong Kong, and so on. I am not too knowledgable of the history of the region, but I can't think of famous isolationist kingdoms in Europe or the rest of Asia of the top of my head. Is there something unique about the way this region approached foreign policy, or is there something wrong with the way I understand its history?
Copied from an earlier thread:
The apparent 'isolationism' of China and Japan has been greatly exaggerated, largely post-hoc by European powers who liked to construe the period before their intervention as one of intentional refusal to engage with the outside world. This section of the FAQ, graciously compiled by /u/ParallelPain (seriously, the amount of work they've done on the Japan FAQ is fantastic), contains answers on various aspects of the topic of sakoku in Japan. I've covered the Qing motives behind establishing the Canton System in a few past answers, but this one is perhaps the most relevant. I haven't had much luck finding past answers on Korea, but this one on attempts at European colonialism in Korea by /u/Cal_Ibre discusses a little bit.