.: South Korea :.
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.: South Korea - Asia Telephones Information -
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| South Korea | Republic of Korea -
대한민국 - (大韓民國)
Daehan-minguk
|  |
 |
| Flag - Coat of arms |
Anthem: Aegukga (애국가) -
The Patriotic Song
| Capital
(and largest city) - Seoul
37°35′N - 127°0′E - - / - 37.583°N 127°E - / 37.583; 127 - - - |
| Official language(s) - Korean |
| Official scripts - Hangeul |
| Demonym - South Korean, Korean |
| Government - Presidential republic |
| President - Lee Myung-bak |
| Prime Minister - Chung Un-chan |
| Legislature - National Assembly |
| Establishment | Founding of Gojoseon - 2333 BC [ - 1 ] -
| Japan’s occupation of Korea - August 29, 1910 |
| Independence declared - March 1, 1919 |
| Provisional Government - April 13, 1919 |
| Liberation - August 15, 1945 |
| Constitution - July 17, 1948 |
| Government Proclaimed - August 15, 1948 |
| Area | Total - 100,210 km2 (108th)
38,622 sq mi |
| Water (%) - 0.3 |
| Population | | 2009 estimate - 50,062,000 (24th) |
Density - 500/km2 (21st)
1,296/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) - 2009 estimate |
Total - $1.364 trillion [ - 2 ] -
Per capita - $27,978 [ - 2 ] -
| GDP (nominal) - 2009 estimate |
Total - $832.512 billion [ - 2 ] -
Per capita - $17,074 [ - 2 ] -
| Gini (2007) - 31.3 [ - 3 ] - (low - ) |
| HDI (2007) - ▲ - 0.937 [ - 4 ] - (very high - ) (26th) |
Currency - South Korean won (₩) (KRW) |
| Time zone - Korea Standard Time (UTC+9) - |
| Summer (DST) - not observed (UTC+9) |
Date formats - yyyy년 mm월 dd일
yyyy/mm/dd (CE) |
| Drives on the - right |
| Internet TLD - .kr |
| Calling code - 82 |
| 1 - - Mobile phone system CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA and WiBro |
| 2 - - Domestic power supply 220V/60 Hz, CEE 7/7 sockets |
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea ( ROK) (Korean: 대한민국 - , pronounced [tɛːhanminɡuk̚] - ( listen) - ), is a country in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul. South Korea lies in a temperate climate region with a predominantly mountainous terrain. Its territory covers a total area of 100,032 square kilometers and has a population of over 50 million. [ - 5 ] -
| Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period. [ - 6 ] - [ - 7 ] - Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when Korea was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy. A war between the two Koreas ended in an uneasy cease-fire, and the border between the two nations is currently the most heavily-fortified in the world. [ - 8 ] - After the war, the South Korean economy grew significantly and the country was transformed into a major economy , a full democracy, and a regional power in East Asia.
| | South Korea is a presidential republic consisting of sixteen administrative divisions and is a developed country with a very high standard of living. It is Asia's fourth largest economy and world's 15th (nominal) or 12th (purchasing power parity) largest economy. The economy is export-driven, with production focusing on electronics, automobiles, ships, machinery, petrochemicals and robotics. South Korea is a member of the United Nations, WTO, OECD and G-20 major economies. It is also a founding member of APEC and the East Asia Summit.
| |
| | 1 - History -
| | 1.1 - Before division -
| | 1.2 - After division -
| | 2 - Government -
| | 3 - Administrative divisions -
| | 4 - Foreign relations -
| | 4.1 - China -
| | 4.2 - Japan -
| | 4.3 - North Korea -
| | 4.4 - United States -
| | 6.1 - Climate -
| | 6.2 - Environment -
| | 7 - Economy -
| | 8 - History -
| | 8.1 - Exponential growth from 1960s to 1980s -
| | 8.2 - Strong financial stability -
| | 8.3 - High-tech industries in the 1990s and 2000s -
| | 8.4 - Transportation and energy -
| | 9 - Science and technology -
| | 9.1 - Aerospace research -
| | 9.2 - Robotics -
| | 9.3 - Biotechnology -
| | 10 - Education -
| | 11 - Demographics -
| | 11.1 - Cities of South Korea -
| | 11.2 - Religion -
| | 12 - Public health and safety -
| | 13 - Culture -
| | 13.1 - Art -
| | 13.2 - Architecture -
| | 13.3 - Cuisine -
| | 13.4 - Contemporary music, film and television -
| | 13.5 - Technology culture -
| | 14 - Sports -
| | 16.1 - Footnotes -
| | 16.2 - Bibliography -
| | 17 - External links -
| - History - - Before division - | History of Korea
| | Korean history begins with the legendary founding of Joseon (often known as "Gojoseon" to prevent confusion with another dynasty founded in the 14th century; the prefix Go- means 'old' or 'earlier') in 2333 BCE by Dangun. [ - 10 ] - Gojoseon expanded until it controlled much of the northern Korean Peninsula and parts of Manchuria, a total territory nearly the size of Western Europe. After numerous wars with the Chinese Han Dynasty, Gojoseon disintegrated, leading to the Proto-Three Kingdoms of Korea period.
| | In the early centuries of the Common Era, Buyeo, Okjeo, Dongye, and the Samhan confederacy occupied the peninsula and southern Manchuria. Of the various small states, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla grew to control the peninsula as Three Kingdoms of Korea. The unification of the Three Kingdoms by Silla in 676 led to the North South States Period, in which much of the Korean Peninsula was controlled by Unified Silla, while Balhae succeeded the northern parts of Goguryeo. In Unified Silla, poetry and art was encouraged, and Buddhist culture flourished. Relationships between Korea and China remained relatively peaceful during this time. However, Unified Silla weakened under internal strife, and surrendered to Goryeo in 935. Balhae, Silla's neighbor to the north, was formed as a successor state to Goguryeo. During its height, Balhae controlled most of Manchuria and parts of Russia. It fell to the Khitan in 926.
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| 
| | Jikji, the first known book printed with movable metal type in 1377, which is 62 years earlier than Gutenberg's Printing press. Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.
| | After the North South States Period,[citation needed] successor states fought for control during the Later Three Kingdoms period. The peninsula was soon united by Emperor Taejo of Goryeo. Like Silla, Goryeo was a highly cultural state and created the Jikji in 1377, using the world's oldest movable metal printing press.
| | The Mongol invasions in the 13th century greatly weakened Goryeo. After nearly 30 years of war, Goryeo continued to rule Korea, though as a tributary ally to the Mongols. After the Mongolian Empire collapsed, severe political strife followed and the Goryeo Dynasty was replaced by the Joseon Dynasty in 1388 following a rebellion by General Yi Seong-gye.
| | King Taejo declared the new name of Korea as "Joseon" in reference to Gojoseon, and moved the capital to Seoul. The first 200 years of the Joseon Dynasty were marked by relative peace and saw the creation of Hangul by King Sejong the Great in the 14th century and the rise in influence of Confucianism in the country.
| 
| |
| | Gyeongbok Palace is the largest of the Five Grand Palaces built during the Joseon Dynasty.
| | Between 1592 and 1598, the Japanese invaded Korea. Toyotomi Hideyoshi led the forces and tried to invade the Asian continent through Korea, but was eventually repelled by the Righteous army and assistance from Ming Dynasty China. This war also saw the rise of Admiral Yi Sun-sin and his renowned "turtle ship". In the 1620s and 1630s, Joseon suffered from invasions by the Manchu who eventually conquered all of China.
| | After another series of wars against Manchuria, Joseon experienced a nearly 200-year period of peace. King Yeongjo and King Jeongjo especially led a new renaissance of the Joseon Dynasty.
| | However, the latter years of the Joseon Dynasty were marked by excessive dependence on China for external affairs and isolation from the outside world. During the 19th century, Korea's isolationist policy earned it the name the "Hermit Kingdom". The Joseon Dynasty tried to protect itself against Western imperialism, but was eventually forced to open trade. After the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Korea came under Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945). At the end of World War II, the Japanese surrendered to Soviet and U.S. forces who occupied the northern and southern halves of Korea, respectively.
| - After division - | History of South Korea
| | Despite the initial plan of a unified Korea in the 1943 Cairo Declaration, escalating Cold War antagonism between the Soviet Union and the United States eventually led to the establishment of separate governments, each with its own ideology, leading to Korea's division into two political entities in 1948: North Korea and South Korea. In the North, a former anti-Japanese guerrilla and communist activist, Kim Il-sung gained power through Soviet support, and in the South, an exiled and right-wing Korean political leader, Syngman Rhee, was installed as president.
| 
| |
| | The Seoul Olympic Stadium, seen from the Han River, hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics.
| On 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, sparking the Korean War. At the time, the Soviet Union had boycotted the United Nations (UN), thus forfeiting their veto rights. This allowed the UN to intervene in a civil war when it became apparent that the superior North Korean forces would unify the entire country. The Soviet Union and China backed North Korea, with the later participation of millions of Chinese troops. After huge advances on both sides, and massive losses among Korean civilians in both the north and the south, the war eventually reached a stalemate. The 1953 armistice, never signed by South Korea, split the peninsula along the demilitarized zone near the original demarcation line. No peace treaty was signed, resulting in the two countries remaining technically at war. At least 2.5 million people died during the Korean War.
| In 1960, a student uprising led to the resignation of the autocratic President Syngman Rhee. A period of political instability followed, broken by General Park Chung-hee's military coup (the "5-16 coup d'état") against the weak and ineffectual government the next year. Park took over as president until his assassination in 1979, overseeing rapid export-led economic growth as well as severe political repression. Park was heavily criticised as a ruthless military dictator, although the Korean economy developed significantly during his tenure.
| | The years after Park's assassination were marked again by considerable political turmoil as the previously repressed opposition leaders all campaigned to run for president in the sudden political void. In 1980 there was another coup d'état by General Chun Doo-hwan against the transitional government of Choi Gyu Ha, the interim president and a former prime minister under Park. Chun assumed the presidency. His seizure of power triggered nationwide protests demanding democracy, in particular in the city of Gwangju, in Jeollanam-do, where Chun sent special forces to violently suppress the Gwangju Democratization Movement.
| | Chun and his government held Korea under a despotic rule until 1987, when Park Jong Chul—a student attending Seoul National University—was tortured to death. On 10 June, the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice revealed Park's torture, igniting huge demonstrations around the country. Eventually, Chun's party, the Democratic Justice Party, and its leader, Roh Tae-woo announced the June 29th Declaration, which included the direct election of the president. Roh went on to win the election by a narrow margin against the two main opposition leaders, Kim Dae-Jung and Kim Young-Sam.
| 
| |
| | View of Seoul's Gangnam district today.
| | In 1988, Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics. It became a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1996. It was adversely affected by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. However the country was able to recover and continue its economic growth, albeit at a slower pace.
| | In June 2000, as part of president Kim Dae-Jung's "Sunshine Policy" of engagement, a North-South summit took place in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Later that year, Kim received the Nobel Peace Prize "for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular."
| | In 2002, South Korea and Japan jointly co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup, however South Korean and Japanese relations later soured due to conflicting claims of sovereignty over the Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo in Korean), in what became known as the Liancourt Rocks dispute.
| - Government - | Government of South Korea
| 
| |
| | The National Assembly of South Korea
| | Like many democracies, South Korea's government is divided into three branches: executive, judicial, and legislative. The executive and legislative branches operate primarily at the national level, although various ministries in the executive branch also carry out local functions. Local governments are semi-autonomous, and contain executive and legislative bodies of their own. The judicial branch operates at both the national and local levels. South Korea is a constitutional democracy.
| | The South Korean government's structure is determined by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. This document has been revised several times since its first promulgation in 1948 at independence. However, it has retained many broad characteristics and with the exception of the short-lived Second Republic of South Korea, the country has always had a presidential system with an independent chief executive. [ - 15 ] - The first direct election was also held in 1948. Although South Korea experienced a series of military dictatorships since the 1960s up until the 1980s, it has since developed into a successful liberal democracy. Today, the CIA World Factbook describes South Korea's democracy as a "fully functioning modern democracy". [ - 16 ] -
| - Administrative divisions - | Administrative divisions of South Korea
|
- See also Special cities of Korea and Provinces of Korea
| 
| |
| | Principal divisions of South Korea
| The major administrative divisions in South Korea are provinces, metropolitan cities (self-governing cities that are not part of any province), and one special city.
|
| Name a
| hangul
| hanja
| population
|
| Special city (Teukbyeolsi) a |
| 1 - Seoul (Special City) - 서울특별시 - 서울特別市 - 10,421,782 |
| Metropolitan cities (Gwangyeoksi) a |
| 2 - Busan - 부산광역시 - 釜山廣域市 - 3,635,389 |
| 3 - Daegu - 대구광역시 - 大邱廣域市 - 2,512,604 |
| 4 - Incheon - 인천광역시 - 仁川廣域市 - 2,628,000 |
| 5 - Gwangju - 광주광역시 - 光州廣域市 - 1,415,953 |
| 6 - Daejeon - 대전광역시 - 大田廣域市 - 1,442,857 |
| 7 - Ulsan - 울산광역시 - 蔚山廣域市 - 1,087,958 |
| Provinces (Do) a |
| 8 - Gyeonggi-do - 경기도 - 京畿道 - 10,415,399 |
| 9 - Gangwon-do - 강원도 - 江原道 - 1,592,000 |
| 10 - Chungcheongbuk-do (Northern Chungcheong) - 충청북도 - 忠淸北道 - 1,462,621 |
| 11 - Chungcheongnam-do (Southern Chungcheong) - 충청남도 - 忠淸南道 - 1,840,410 |
| 12 - Jeollabuk-do (Northern Jeolla) - 전라북도 - 全羅北道 - 1,890,669 |
| 13 - Jeollanam-do (Southern Jeolla) - 전라남도 - 全羅南道 - 1,994,287 |
| 14 - Gyeongsangbuk-do (Northern Gyeongsang) - 경상북도 - 慶尙北道 - 2,775,890 |
| 15 - Gyeongsangnam-do (Southern Gyeongsang) - 경상남도 - 慶尙南道 - 2,970,929 |
| Special self-governing province (Teukbyeoljachi-do) a |
| 16 - Jeju-teukbyeoljachido (Jeju-do) - 제주특별자치도 - 濟州特別自治道 - 560,000 |
a Revised Romanisation. -
- Foreign relations - | Foreign relations of South Korea
| 
| |
| | President of South Korea Lee Myung-bak, with former U.S. President George W. Bush.
| | South Korea maintains diplomatic relations with more than 188 countries. The country has also been a member of the United Nations since 1991, when it became a member state at the same time as North Korea. On January 1, 2007, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon assumed the post of UN Secretary-General. It has also developed links with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as both a member of ASEAN Plus three, a body of observers, and the East Asia Summit (EAS).
| | Beginning in May 2007, South Korea and the European Union have been negotiating a free trade agreement to reduce trade barriers. [ - 17 ] - South Korea is also negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with Canada, [ - 18 ] - and another with New Zealand. [ - 19 ] - In November 2009, South Korea made its accession to the OECD Development Assistance Committee marking the first time a former aid recipient country has joined the group as a donor member. South Korea has also agreed to host the G-20 Summit in Seoul in 2010.
| - China -
| Historically, Korea has had relatively close relations with China. Before the formation of South Korea, Korean independence fighters worked with Chinese soldiers during the Japanese occupation. However, after World War II, the People's Republic of China embraced Maoism while South Korea sought close relations with the United States. The PRC assisted North Korea with manpower and supplies during the Korean War, and in its aftermath the diplomatic relationship between South Korea and the PRC almost completely ceased. Relations thawed gradually and South Korea and the PRC re-established formal diplomatic relations on August 24, 1992. The two countries sought to improve bilateral relations and lifted the forty-year old trade embargo, and [ - 20 ] - South Korean-Chinese relations have improved steadily since 1992. [ - 20 ] - The Republic of Korea broke off official relations with the Republic of China upon gaining official relations with the People's Republic of China. [ - 21 ] -
| - Japan - 
| |
| | Liancourt Rocks has become an issue known as the Liancourt Rocks dispute
| | Although there were no formal diplomatic ties between South Korea and Japan after the end of World War II, South Korea and Japan signed the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea in 1965 to establish diplomatic ties. There is heavy anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea due to a number of unsettled Japanese-Korean disputes, many of which stem from the period of Japanese occupation. During World War II, more than 100,000 Koreans were forced to serve in the Imperial Japanese Army. [ - 22 ] - [ - 23 ] - Korean women were lured to the war front to serve the Imperial Japanese Army as sexual slaves, called comfort women. [ - 24 ] - [ - 25 ] -
| | Longstanding issues such as Japanese war crimes against Korean civilians, the visits by Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine honoring Japanese soldiers killed at war (including some class A war criminals), the re-writing of Japanese textbooks related to Japanese acts during World War II, and the territorial disputes over Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo in Korean) [ - 26 ] - continue to trouble Korean-Japanese relations. Although Liancourt Rocks are claimed by both Korea and Japan, the islets are currently administered by South Korea, which has its Korean Coast Guard stationed there. [ - 27 ] -
| | In response to then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, former President Roh Moo-hyun suspended all summit talks between South Korea and Japan. [ - 28 ] -
| - North Korea -
| Both North and South Korea continue to officially claim sovereignty over the entire peninsula and any outlying islands. With longstanding animosity following the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, North Korea and South Korea signed an agreement to pursue peace. [ - 29 ] - On October 4, 2007, Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il signed an eight-point agreement on issues of permanent peace, high-level talks, economic cooperation, renewal of train services, highway and air travel, and a joint Olympic cheering squad. [ - 29 ] -
| | Despite the Sunshine Policy and efforts at reconciliation, the progress was complicated by North Korean missile tests in 1993, 1998, 2006 and 2009. As of early 2009[update], relationships between North and South Korea were very tense; North Korea had been reported to have deployed missiles, [ - 30 ] - ended its former agreements with South Korea, and threatened South Korea and the United States not to interfere with a satellite launch it had planned. North and South Korea are still technically at war (having never signed an armistice after the Korean War) and share the world’s most heavily fortified border. [ - 8 ] - On May 27, 2009, North Korea declared that the ceasefire treaty, signed post Korean War, is no longer valid due to the South Korean government's pledge to "definitely join" the Proliferation Security Initiative. To further complicate and intensify strains between the two nations, the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March 2010, killing 46 seamen, is as of May 20, 2010 claimed by a multi-national research team [ - 33 ] - to have been caused by a North Korean torpedo, which the North denies. South Korea agreed with the findings from the research group and President Lee Myung-bak declared in May 2010 that Seoul would cut all trade with North Korea as part of measures primarily aimed at striking back at North Korea diplomatically and financially. [ - 34 ] - As a result of this, North Korea severed all ties, completely abrogated the previous pact of non aggression and expelled all South Koreans from a joint industrial zone in Kaesong. [ - 35 ] -
| - United States -
| The United States engaged in the decolonization of Korea (mainly in the South, with the Soviet Union engaged in North Korea) from Japan after World War II. After 3 years of military administration by the United States, the South Korean government was established. Upon the onset of the Korean War, U.S. forces were sent to defend South Korea against invasion by North Korea and later China. Following the ceasefire, South Korea and the U.S. agreed to a "Mutual Defense Treaty", under which an attack on either party would summon a response from both. Currently, the U.S. Eighth Army, Seventh Air Force and U.S. Naval Forces Korea are stationed in South Korea. The two nations have strong economic, diplomatic and military ties, although they have at times disagreed with regards to policies towards North Korea. In 2007, a free trade agreement known as the Republic of Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) was signed between South Korea and the United States, but has not yet been approved by the legislative bodies of the two countries.
| - Military - | Republic of Korea Armed Forces
| | A long history of invasions by neighbors and the unresolved tension with North Korea have prompted South Korea to allocate 2.6% of its GDP and 15% of all government spending to its military, while maintaining compulsory conscription for men. [ - 36 ] - Consequently, South Korea has the world's sixth largest number of active troops, [ - 37 ] - the world's second-largest number of reserve troops [ - 37 ] - and the eleventh largest defence budget. The Republic of Korea, with a regular military force numbering 3.7 million regular personnel among a total national population of 50 million people, has the second highest number of soldiers per capita in the world, [ - 37 ] - after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. [ - 38 ] -
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| |
| | ROKN Sejong the Great (DDG 991), a King Sejong the Great -class guided-missile destroyer.
| | The South Korean military consists of the Army (ROKA), the Navy (ROKN), the Air Force (ROKAF), and the Marine Corps (ROKMC), and reserve forces. [ - 39 ] - Many of these forces are concentrated near the Korean Demilitarized Zone. All South Korean males are constitutionally required to serve in the military, typically for a period of two years. Previously, Koreans of mixed race were exempt from military duty if they "look distinctively biracial", but such policy is potentially up for abolition pending further review by the Ministry of Defense. [ - 40 ] -
| | Along with ROK soldiers, some Korean males are selected to serve two years in the KATUSA Program. [ - 41 ] -
| | The South Korean army has 2,300 tanks in operation, including the K1A1 and K2 Black Panther, which form the backbone of the South Korean army's mechanized armor and infantry forces. A sizable arsenal of many artillery systems, including 1,600 self-propelled K55 and K9 Thunder howitzers, and 680 helicopters and UAVs of numerous types, are assembled to provide additional fire, reconnaissance, and logistics support. South Korea's smaller but more advanced artillery force and wide range of airborne reconnaissance platforms are pivotal in the counter-battery suppression of North Korea's over-sized artillery force, which operates more than 13,000 artillery systems deployed in various state of fortification and mobility. [ - 37 ] - [ - 42 ] -
| | The South Korean navy has made its first major transformation into a blue-water navy through the formation of the Strategic Mobile Fleet, which includes a battle group of Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin class destroyers, Dokdo class amphibious assault ship, AIP-driven Type 214 submarines, and King Sejong the Great class destroyers, which is equipped with the latest baseline of Aegis fleet-defense system that allows the ships to track and destroy multiple cruise missiles and ballistic missiles simultaneously, forming an integral part of South Korea's indigenous missile defense umbrella against the North Korean military's missile threat.
| | The South Korean air force operates 840 aircraft, making it world's ninth largest air force, including several types of advanced fighters like F-15K, heavily modified KF-16C/D [ - 44 ] - , and the indigenous F/A-50, [ - 45 ] - [ - 46 ] - supported by well-maintained fleets of older fighters such as F-4E and KF-5E/F that still effectively serve the air force alongside the more modern aircraft. In an attempt to gain strength in terms of not just numbers but also modernity, the commissioning of four Boeing 737 AEW&C aircraft, under Project Peace Eye for centralized intelligence gathering and analysis on a modern battlefield, will enhance the fighters' and other support aircraft's ability to perform their missions with awareness and precision.
| 
| |
| | A ROKAF F-15K strike fighter.
| | From time to time, South Korea has sent its troops overseas to assist American forces. It has participated in most major conflicts that the United States has been involved in the past 50 years. South Korea dispatched 312,853 troops to fight alongside American, Australian, Filipino, New Zealand and South Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War, with a peak strength of 50,000. Most recently, South Korea sent 3,300 troops of the Zaytun Division to help re-building in northern Iraq, and was the 3rd largest contributor in the coalition forces after only the US and Britain. [ - 47 ] -
| | The United States has stationed a substantial contingent of troops in South Korea since the Korean War to defend South Korea in case of a North Korean attack. There are also approximately 28,500 U.S. Military personnel stationed in Korea, [ - 48 ] - most of them serving one year of unaccompanied tours. The American troops, which primarily are assigned to the Eighth United States Army are stationed in installations at Osan, Yongsan, Dongducheon, Sungbuk, and Daegu. A still functioning UN Command is technically the top of the chain of command of all forces in South Korea, including the US forces and the entire South Korean military - if a sudden escalation of war between North and South Korea were to occur, as of currently, the United States would assume control of the South Korean armed forces in all military and paramilitary moves. However, in September 2006, the Presidents of the United States and the Republic of Korea agreed that South Korea should assume the lead for its own defense. In early 2007, the U.S. Secretary of Defense and ROK Minister of National Defense determined that South Korea will assume wartime operational control of its forces on April 17, 2012. U.S. Forces Korea will transform into a new joint-warfighting command, provisionally described as Korea Command (KORCOM). [ - 49 ] -
| - Geography and climate -
Main articles: Geography of South Korea and National parks of South Korea
| |
| | Topography of South Korea
| 
| |
| | Boseong tea field.
| | South Korea occupies the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula, which extends some 680 miles (1,100 km) from the Asian mainland. This mountainous peninsula is flanked by the Yellow Sea to the west, and East Sea to the east. Its southern tip lies on the Korea Strait and the East China Sea.
| | The country's total area is 38,622.57 square miles (100,032.00 km2). [ - 50 ] -
| | South Korea can be divided into four general regions: an eastern region of high mountain ranges and narrow coastal plains; a western region of broad coastal plains, river basins, and rolling hills; a southwestern region of mountains and valleys; and a southeastern region dominated by the broad basin of the Nakdong River.
| | South Korea's terrain is mostly mountainous, most of which is not arable. Lowlands, located primarily in the west and southeast, constitute only 30% of the total land area.
| | About three thousand islands, mostly small and uninhabited, lie off the western and southern coasts of South Korea. Jeju-do is located about 100 kilometers (about 60 mi) off the southern coast of South Korea. It is the country's largest island, with an area of 1,845 square kilometres (712 sq mi). Jeju is also the site of South Korea's highest point: Hallasan, an extinct volcano, reaches 1,950 meters (6,398 ft) above sea level. The most eastern islands of South Korea include Ulleungdo and Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo), while Marado and Socotra Rock are the southernmost islands of South Korea.
| | South Korea has 20 national parks and some popular nature places like Boseong Tea Field, Suncheon Bay Ecological Park in South Jeolla province.
| - Climate - | Climate of South Korea
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| Seoul
|
| Climate chart (explanation) |
| J - F - M - A - M - J - J - A - S - O - N - D |
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