Facts on South Korea
Flag of South Korea, with Daoist and Confucian symbolism.
Political map of South Korea. Source: CIA, 2008. Public domain.
Cityscape of Seoul, capital of South Korea. Photo under GFDL.
Korea has seven cultural World Heritage Sites. Photo
Martin Röll.
Monumental staircase at Bulguksa Temple, South Korea. Photo
bifyu.General Facts
| Official Name: | 대한민국 (Taehan Min'guk, "Republic of Korea") |
| Nationality: | noun: Korean(s) adjective: Korean |
| Region: | Asia |
| Time zone: | Korea Standard Time (UTC+9) |
| Flag: | See above right. White background with a red and blue yin-yang symbol in the center, surrounded by a different black trigram from the ancient Confucian I Ching (Book of Changes). |
| Capital: | Seoul |
| Population: | 48,508,972 (July 2009 est.) |
| Languages: | Korean; English widely taught in school |
| Religions: | Christian 26.3% (Protestant 19.7%, Roman Catholic 6.6%), Buddhist 23.2%, other or unknown 1.3%, none 49.3% (1995 census) |
Geography |
|
| Area: | total: 98,480 sq km land: 98,190 sq km |
| Coastline: | 2,413 km |
| Climate: | temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter |
| Terrain: | mostly hills and mountains; wide coastal plains in west and south |
| Natural hazards: | occasional typhoons bring high winds and floods; low-level seismic activity common in southwest |
| Environmental issues: | air pollution in large cities; acid rain; water pollution from the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents; drift net fishing |
People and Culture |
|
| Age structure: | 0-14 years: 18.3% (male 4,714,103/female 4,262,873) 15-64 years: 72.1% (male 18,004,719/female 17,346,594) 65 years and over: 9.6% (male 1,921,803/female 2,794,698) (2007 est.) |
| Population growth rate: | 0.394% (2007 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth: | total population: 77.23 years male: 73.81 years female: 80.93 years (2007 est.) |
| Literacy rate: | total population: 97.9% male: 99.2% female: 96.6% (2002) |
| Ethnic groups: | homogeneous except for about 20,000 Chinese |
Government |
|
| Country names: | conventional long form: Republic of Korea conventional short form: South Korea local long form: Taehan-min'guk local short form: Han'guk abbreviation: ROK |
| Government type: | republic |
| Leadership: | President (currently Lee Myung-bak) assisted by Prime Minister (currently Han Duck-soo) |
| Independence: | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) |
| Legal system: | combines elements of continental European civil law systems, Anglo-American law, and Chinese classical thought; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Communications |
|
| Land lines in use: | 21.325 million (2008) |
| Cell phones in use: | 45.607 million (2008) |
| TV broadcast stations: | 57 (plus 103 cable operators and 119 relay cable operators) (2008) |
| Internet country code: | .kr |
| Internet users: | 35.59 million (2007) |
Article Sources
- Korea, South - CIA World Factbook 2008
- South Korea - Wikipedia
