Background: After World War II, a republic was set up in the
southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a communist-style government
was installed in the north. The Korean War (1950-53) had US and other UN
forces intervene to defend South Korea from North Korean attacks supported
by the Chinese. An armistice was signed in 1953 splitting the peninsula
along a demilitarized zone at about the 38th parallel. Thereafter, South
Korea achieved rapid economic growth, with per capita income rising to 13
times the level of North Korea. In 1997, the nation suffered a severe
financial crisis from which it continues to make a solid recovery. South
Korea has also maintained its commitment to democratize its political
processes. In June 2000, a historic first south-north summit took place
between the south's President KIM Dae-jung and the north's leader KIM
Chong-il. In December 2000, President KIM Dae-jung won the Noble Peace
Prize for his lifeling committment to democracy and human rights in Asia.
He is the first Korean to win a Nobel Prize.
Government type: republic
Capital: Seoul
Currency: 1 South Korean won (W) = 100 chun (theoretical)
Geography of South Korea
Location: Eastern Asia, southern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Sea
of Japan and the Yellow Sea
Geographic coordinates: 37 00 N, 127 30 E
Area:
total: 98,480 sq km
land: 98,190 sq km
water: 290 sq km
Land boundaries:
total: 238 km
border countries: North Korea 238 km
Coastline: 2,413 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: not specified
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm; between 3 nm and 12 nm in the Korea Strait
Climate: temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter
Terrain: mostly hills and mountains; wide coastal plains in west and south
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Halla-san 1,950 m
Natural resources: coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower
potential
Land use:
arable land: 19%
permanent crops: 2%
permanent pastures: 1%
forests and woodland: 65%
other: 13% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 13,350 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: occasional typhoons bring high winds and floods; low-level
seismic activity common in southwest
Environment - current issues: air pollution in large cities; acid
rain; water pollution from the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents;
drift net fishing
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine
Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous
Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note: strategic location on Korea Strait
People of South Korea
Population
Korea's population is one of the most ethnically and linguistically
homogenous in the world. Except for a small Chinese community (about
20,000) virtually all Koreans share a common cultural and linguistic
heritage. The origins of the Korean people are obscure. At present, the
most accepted theory suggests Korea was first populated by a Ural-Altaic
peoples who migrated to the peninsula from northwestern Asia, some of whom
also settled parts of northeast China (Manchuria).
South Korea's major population centers are in the northwest area and in
the fertile plain to the south of Seoul-Incheon. The mountainous central
and eastern areas are sparsely inhabited. The Japanese colonial
administration of 1910-45 concentrated its industrial development efforts
in the comparatively under-populated and resource-rich north, resulting in
a considerable migration of people to the north from the southern agrarian
provinces. This trend was reversed after World War II as Koreans returned
to the south from Japan and Manchuria. In addition, more than 2 million
Koreans moved to the south from the north following the division of the
peninsula into U.S. and Soviet military zones of administration in 1945.
This migration continued after the Republic of Korea was established in
1948 and during the Korean war (1950-53).
About 10% of the people now in the Republic of Korea are of northern
origin. With 47 million people, South Korea has one of the world's highest
population densities--much higher, for example, than India or Japan--while
the territorially larger North Korea has only about 21 million people.
Ethnic Koreans now residing in other countries live mostly in China (1.9
million), the United States (1.52 million), Japan (681,000), and the
countries of the former Soviet Union (450,000).
Language
The Korean language shares several grammatical features with Japanese, and
there are strong similarities with Mongolian, but the exact relationship
among these three languages is unclear. Although regional dialects exist,
the language spoken throughout the peninsula and in China is
comprehensible by all Koreans. Chinese characters (Hanja) were used to
write Korean before the Korean Hangul alphabet was invented in the 15th
century. Chinese characters are still in limited use in South Korea, but
the North uses Hangul exclusively. Many older people retain some knowledge
of Japanese from the colonial period, and many educated South Koreans can
speak and/or read English, which is taught to all students beginning in
primary school.
Religion
Korea's traditional religions are Buddhism and Shamanism. Buddhism has
lost some influence over the years but is still followed by about 27% of
the population. Shamanism--traditional spirit worship--is still practiced.
Confucianism remains a dominant cultural influence. Since the Japanese
occupation, it has existed more as a shared base than as a separate
philosophical/religious school. Some sources place the number of adherents
of Chondogyo--a native religion founded in the mid-19th century that fuses
elements of Confucianism and Christianity--at more than 1 million.
Christian missionaries arrived in Korea as early as the 16th century, but
it was not until the 19th century that they founded schools, hospitals,
and other modern institutions throughout the country. Christianity is now
one of Korea's largest religions. In 1995, about 11.7 million Koreans, or
26.3% of the population, were Christians (about 66% of them
Protestant)--the largest figure for any East Asian country, except the
Philippines.
Population: 48,422,644 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 21.59%
15-64 years: 71.14%
65 years and over: 7.27%
Population growth rate: 0.89%
Birth rate: 14.85 births/1,000 population
Death rate: 5.93 deaths/1,000 population
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Infant mortality rate: 7.71 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.65 years
male: 70.97 years
female: 78.74 years
Total fertility rate: 1.72 children born/woman
Nationality:
noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean
|Ethnic groups: homogeneous (except for about 20,000 Chinese)
Religions: Christian 49%, Buddhist 47%, Confucianist 3%, Shamanist, Chondogyo
(Religion of the Heavenly Way), and other 1%
Languages: Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 99.3%
female: 96.7% (1995 est.)
SOURCES: The World Factbook, U.S. Department of State |