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Travel to South Korea — Unbiased reviews
and great deals from TripAdvisorKorea, South
| Republic of Korea National
name: Taehan Min'guk President: Lee
Myung-bak (2008) Prime Minister:
Han Seung Soo (2008)
Current government officials
Land area: 37,911 sq mi (98,189 sq
km) Population (2007 est.): 49,044,790
(growth rate: 0.4%); birth rate: 9.9/1000; infant mortality rate:
6.1/1000; life expectancy: 77.2; density per sq mi: 1,294
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Seoul, 10,287,847 (city proper) Other large cities: Pusan, 3,504,900;
Inchon, 2,479,600 (part of Seoul metro. area); Taegu, 2,369,800 Monetary unit: won
Languages:
Korean, English widely taught
Ethnicity/race:
homogeneous (except for about 20,000
Chinese)
Religions:
no affiliation 46%, Christian 26%, Buddhist 26%,
Confucianist 1%, other 1% Literacy
rate: 98% (2003 est.) Economic
summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $1.201 trillion; per capita
$24,800. Real growth rate: 5%. Inflation: 2.5%.
Unemployment: 3.3%. Arable land: 17%.
Agriculture: rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit;
cattle, pigs, chickens, milk, eggs; fish. Labor force: 23.99
million; agriculture 3.2%, industry 39.6%, services 57.2%.
Industries: electronics, telecommunications, automobile
production, chemicals, shipbuilding, steel. Natural resources:
coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower potential.
Exports: $371.5 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): semiconductors,
wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles, computers,
steel, ships, petrochemicals. Imports: $356.8 billion f.o.b.
(2007 est.): machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil,
steel, transport equipment, organic chemicals, plastics. Major
trading partners: China, U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia
(2004). Communications: Telephones:
main lines in use: 26.866 million (2006); mobile cellular: 40.197
million (2006). Radio broadcast stations: AM 61, FM 150,
shortwave 2 (2005). Radios: 47.5 million (2000). Television
broadcast stations: 43 (plus 59 cable operators and 190 relay
cable operators)(2005). Televisions: 15.9 million (1997).
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 315,537 (2007). Internet
users: 34.12 million (2006). Transportation: Railways: total: 3,472 km
(2006). Highways: total: 100,279 km; paved: 87,032 km
(including 3,060 km of expressways); unpaved: 13,247 km (2004 est).
Waterways: 1,609 km; use restricted to small native craft.
Ports and harbors: Chinhae, Inch'on, Kunsan, Masan, Mokp'o,
P'ohang, Pusan, Tonghae-hang, Ulsan, Yosu. Airports: 105
(2007). International disputes:
Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has
separated North from South Korea since 1953; Liancourt Rocks
(Take-shima/Tok-do) are disputed with Japan.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Slightly larger than Indiana, South Korea lies below the 38th parallel
on the Korean peninsula. It is mountainous in the east; in the west and
south are many harbors on the mainland and offshore islands.
Government
Republic.
History
South Korea came into being after World War II, the result of a 1945
agreement reached by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference, making the 38th
parallel the boundary between a northern zone of the Korean peninsula to
be occupied by the USSR and southern zone to be controlled by U.S. forces.
(For details, see Korea, North.)
Elections were held in the U.S. zone in 1948 for a national assembly,
which adopted a republican constitution and elected Syngman Rhee as the
nation's president. The new republic was proclaimed on Aug. 15 and was
recognized as the legal government of Korea by the UN on Dec. 12,
1948.
On June 25, 1950, North Korean Communist forces launched a massive
surprise attack on South Korea, quickly overrunning the capital, Seoul.
U.S. armed intervention was ordered on June 27 by President Harry S.
Truman, and on the same day the UN invoked military sanctions against
North Korea. Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander of the UN forces.
U.S. and South Korean troops fought a heroic holding action, but by the
first week of August they were forced back to a 4,000-square-mile
beachhead in southeast Korea. There they stood off superior North Korean
forces until Sept. 15, when a major UN amphibious assault was launched
deep behind Communist lines at Inchon, the port of Seoul.
By Sept. 30, UN forces were in complete control of South Korea. They
then crossed the 38th parallel and pursued retreating Communist forces
into North Korea. In late October, as UN forces neared the Sino-Korean
border, several hundred thousand Chinese Communist troops entered the
conflict, pushing MacArthur's forces back to the border between North and
South Korea. By the time truce talks began on July 10, 1951, UN forces had
crossed over the parallel again and were driving back into North Korea.
Cease-fire negotiations dragged on for two years before an armistice was
finally signed at Panmunjom on July 27, 1953, leaving a devastated Korea
in need of large-scale rehabilitation. No official peace treaty has ever
been signed between the former combatants.
President Syngman Rhee, after 12 years in office, was forced to resign
in 1960 amid rising discontent with his autocratic leadership. Po Sun Yun
was elected to succeed him, but political instability continued. In 1961,
Gen. Park Chung Hee seized power and subsequently began a program of
economic reforms designed to stimulate the nation's economy. The U.S.
stepped up military aid, strengthening South Korea's armed forces to
600,000 men. Park's assassination on Oct. 26, 1979, by Kim Jae Kyu, head
of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, brought a liberalizing trend as
new president Choi Kyu Hah freed imprisoned dissidents.
The release of opposition leader Kim Dae Jung in Feb. 1980 sparked
antigovernment demonstrations that turned into riots, which were brutally
suppressed by authorities. Kim, the most visible leader of the opposition,
was imprisoned again. Choi resigned on Aug. 16. Chun Doo Hwan, head of a
military Special Committee for National Security Measures, was the sole
candidate when the electoral college confirmed him as president on Aug.
27. In 1986–1987, South Korea's opposition demanded that the
president be selected by direct popular vote. After weeks of protest and
rioting, Chun agreed to the demand. A split in the opposition led to Roh
Tae Woo's election on Dec. 16, 1987.
In Aug. 1996 Roh was convicted on bribery charges, and Chun was
convicted for bribery as well as his role in the 1979 coup and the 1980
crackdown on rioters. In 1997, an accumulation of corrupt business
practices and bad loans led to a series of bankruptcies and a massive
devaluation of South Korea's currency. The political instability that
followed helped former dissident Kim Dae Jung become the first South
Korean president ever to be elected from the political opposition.
In 1998 the Asian economic crisis bottomed out in South Korea. The
nation began rebounding in 1999, the only sizable Asian economy to do
so.
In June 2000, President Kim Dae Jung met with North Korea's president,
Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang. The summit marked the first-ever meeting of the
countries' leaders. Kim Dae Jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oct. 2000
for his Sunshine Policy, which included initiating peace and
reconciliation with North Korea.
Roh Moo Hyun of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party became president
in February 2003 and promptly faced daunting problems. His vow to pursue
his predecessor's Sunshine Policy toward North Korea was put to the test
as the North continued to taunt the world with boasts about its nuclear
capabilities. In addition, many South Koreans had begun to resent U.S.
influence over their country. In March 2004, the conservative national
assembly voted overwhelmingly to impeach Roh, claiming he had violated
election laws. More than 70% of the public, however, condemned the move;
the constitutional court dismissed the impeachment in May; and Roh was
reinstated as president.
Researchers led by Hwang Woo-suk stunned the world in May 2005, when
they announced they had devised a new procedure to produce human stem-cell
lines from a cloned human embryo. The country's reign as the leader in the
field of cloning was brief. In Jan. 2006, a Seoul National University
panel reported that Hwang had fabricated evidence for his cloning
research. His downfall was a blow to the entire nation. Indeed, he had
become a national hero and had received millions in research money from
the government.
Prime Minister Lee Hae Chan resigned under pressure in March 2006,
after facing intense criticism for playing golf rather than dealing with a
national railway workers' strike. He was replaced by Han Duck Soo.
For the first time in 56 years, trains passed between North and South
Korea in May 2007. While the event was mostly symbolic, it was considered
an important step toward reconciliation. South Korea hopes that eventually
a trans-Korean railroad will provide easier access to other parts of Asia.
Given North Korea's failing infrastructure, such a railroad, however, is
years away from becoming a reality.
In July, the Taliban kidnapped 23 South Korean missionaries from a
Protestant church group while they were traveling by bus in Afghanistan.
Two of the hostages were killed after the Taliban's demands for a prisoner
exchange were not met with a positive response by the Afghan
government.
In October 2007, President Roh Moo Hyun and North Korean leader Kim
Jong Il met for their second ever inter-Korean summit. The leaders forged
a deal to work together on several economic projects and agreed to move
toward signing a treaty that would formally end the Korean War.
Lee Myung-bak, of the opposition Grand National Party, won December's
presidential elections, taking 48.7% of the vote. Chung Dong-yong, who was
endorsed by outgoing president Roh Moo-hyun, took 26.1%. Lee had been
dogged by allegations of ethical improprieties, and the National Assembly
voted two days before the election to reopen an investigation into whether
he manipulated the stock of an investment company. In January 2008, he
named Han Seung Soo as his prime minister. A special prosecutor cleared
Lee of the fraud allegations, and less than a week later he was sworn in
as president. Lee said he would work to improve South Korea's economy and
forge closer ties with the United States.
In June, just months into his presidency, Lee faced massive protests in
Seoul over his decision to resume imports of American beef, which was
banned in 2003 after mad cow disease was diagnosed in the U.S. The
protests, which took place in Seoul for about six weeks before peaking on
June 10, implied overall dissatisfaction with President Lee. Prime
Minister Han Seung-soo and all 15 cabinet members submitted their
resignations. Three ministers were replaced, but President Lee refused to
accept the other resignations. South Korea and the U.S. reached an
agreement that said the U.S. would not export beef from cattle under 30
months of age.
See also Encyclopedia: Korea.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
South Korea
National Statistical Office www.nso.go.kr/ .
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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