71 Facts About Korea South

Japanese rule ended following the former's surrender in World War II, after which Korea was divided into two zones; a northern zone occupied by the Soviet Union and a southern zone occupied by the United States.

South Korea is a highly developed country and is ranked as the fifth-highest country on the Human Development Index in the Asia and Oceania region.

Since the 21st century, South Korea has been renowned for its globally influential pop culture, particularly in music, TV dramas and cinema, a phenomenon referred to as the Korean wave.

The modern name of Korea South, appears in the first Portuguese maps of 1568 by Joao vaz Dourado as Conrai and later in the late 16th century and early 17th century as Korea South in the maps of Teixeira Albernaz of 1630.

On 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, sparking the Korean War, the Cold War's first major conflict, which continued until 1953.

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South Korea was formally invited to become a member of the United Nations in 1991.

Korea South's election was significant given that he had in earlier years been a political prisoner sentenced to death .

Korea South won against the backdrop of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, where he took IMF advice to restructure the economy and the nation soon recovered its economic growth, albeit at a slower pace.

South Korea saw another milestone in 2012 with the first ever female president Park Geun-hye elected and assuming office.

Korea South's tenure saw an improving political relationship with North Korea, some increasing divergence in the military alliance with the United States, and the successful hosting of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

That same year, South Korea recorded more deaths than births, resulting in a population decline for the first time on record.

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 is home to three terrestrial ecoregions: Central Korean deciduous forests, Manchurian mixed forests, and Southern Korea evergreen forests.

The easternmost islands of South Korea include Ulleungdo and Liancourt Rocks, while Marado and Socotra Rock are the southernmost islands of South Korea.

South Korea has 20 national parks and popular nature places like the Boseong Tea Fields, Suncheon Bay Ecological Park, and the first national park of Jirisan.

South Korea has four distinct seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter.

In 2017, South Korea was the world's 7th largest emitter of carbon emissions and the 5th largest emitter per capita.

South Korea had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.

South Korea is a member of the Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity Treaty, Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, and Whaling.

South Korea is ranked 45th on the Corruption Perceptions Index, with a score of 57 out of 100.

Major administrative divisions in South Korea are eight provinces, one special self-governing province, six metropolitan cities, one special city and one special self-governing city.

In practice the population density in much of South Korea is higher than the national one, as most of the country's land is uninhabitable due to being used for other purposes such as farming.

South Korea has the steepest decline in working age population of the OECD nations.

South Korea is one of the top-performing OECD countries in reading literacy, mathematics and sciences with the average student scoring 519, compared with the OECD average of 492, placing it ninth in the world.

In 2014, South Korea ranked second worldwide in the national rankings of students' math and science scores by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development .

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Education is regarded with a high priority for South Korean families, as success in education is often a source of pride for families and within South Korean society at large, and is a necessity to improve one's socioeconomic position in South Korean society.

South Korea still uses some Chinese Hanja characters in limited areas, such as print media and legal documentation.

Korean language in South Korea has a standard dialect known as the Seoul dialect, with an additional four dialects and one language in use around the country.

South Korea is the second-largest missionary-sending nation, after the United States.

Today, South Korea has about 7 million Buddhists, most of them affiliated to the Jogye Order.

Suicide in South Korea is the 10th highest in the world according to the World Health Organization, as well as the highest suicide rate in the OECD.

Life expectancy has been rising rapidly and South Korea ranked 11th in the world for life expectancy at 82.

South Korea maintains diplomatic relations with more than 188 countries.

In November 2009, South Korea joined the OECD Development Assistance Committee, marking the first time a former aid recipient country joined the group as a donor member.

South Korea hosted the G-20 Summit in Seoul in November 2010, a year that saw South Korea and the European Union conclude a free trade agreement to reduce trade barriers.

South Korea went on to sign a Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Australia in 2014, and another with New Zealand in 2015.

North and South Korea are still technically at war and share the world's most heavily fortified border.

North Korea initially threatened to sever all ties, to completely abrogate the previous pact of non-aggression, and to expel all South Koreans from a joint industrial zone in Kaesong, but backtracked on its threats and decided to continue its ties with South Korea.

The Republic of Korea South broke off official relations with the Republic of China upon gaining official relations with the People's Republic of China, which does not recognize Taiwan's sovereignty.

South Korea is China's 4th largest trading partner, with $93 billion of Chinese imports in 2016.

The situation was largely resolved by South Korea making significant military concessions to China in exchange for THAAD, including not deploying any more anti-ballistic missile systems in South Korea and not participating in an alliance between the United States and Japan.

European Union and South Korea are important trading partners, having negotiated a free trade agreement for many years since South Korea was designated as a priority FTA partner in 2006.

South Korea is the EU's tenth largest trade partner, and the EU has become South Korea's fourth largest export destination.

EU trade with South Korea exceeded €90 billion in 2015 and has enjoyed an annual average growth rate of 9.

In 1967, South Korea obliged the mutual defense treaty, by sending a large combat troop contingent to support the United States in the Vietnam War.

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Consequently, South Korea has the world's seventh largest number of active troops, the world's highest number of reserve troops .

From time to time, South Korea has sent its troops overseas to assist American forces.

The South Korean economy is heavily dependent on international trade, and in 2014, South Korea was the fifth-largest exporter and seventh-largest importer in the world.

Furthermore, South Korea was one of the few developed countries that were able to avoid a recession during the global financial crisis.

South Korea became a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1996.

South Korea has a technologically advanced transport network consisting of high-speed railways, highways, bus routes, ferry services, and air routes that crisscross the country.

South Korea is the world's fifth-largest nuclear power producer and the second-largest in Asia as of 2010.

South Korea is an emerging exporter of nuclear reactors, having concluded agreements with the UAE to build and maintain four advanced nuclear reactors, with Jordan for a research nuclear reactor, and with Argentina for construction and repair of heavy-water nuclear reactors.

South Korea is preparing to bid on construction of a light-water nuclear reactor for Argentina.

South Korea is not allowed to enrich uranium or develop traditional uranium enrichment technology on its own, because of US political pressure, unlike most major nuclear powers such as Japan, Germany, and France, competitors of South Korea in the international nuclear market.

South Korea has sought unique technologies such as pyroprocessing to circumvent these obstacles and seek a more advantageous competition.

South Korea is the third highest ranked Asian country in the World Economic Forum's Network Readiness Index after Singapore and Hong Kong respectively – an indicator for determining the development level of a country's information and communication technologies.

South Korea ranked number 10 overall in the 2014 NRI ranking, up from 11 in 2013.

Ever since the industrialization of South Korea's economy, South Korea has placed its focus on technology-based corporations, which has been supported by infrastructure developments by the government.

South Korea has the fastest Internet download speeds in the world, with an average download speed of 25.

South Korea leads the OECD in graduates in science and engineering.

Additionally, South Korea today is known as a Launchpad of a mature mobile market, where developers can reap benefits of a market where very few technology constraints exist.

South Korea has today the infrastructures to meet a density of population and culture that has the capability to create strong local particularity.

South Korea has sent up 10 satellites since 1992, all using foreign rockets and overseas launch pads, notably Arirang-1 in 1999, and Arirang-2 in 2006 as part of its space partnership with Russia.

South Korea has sought the assistance of foreign countries such as Russia through MTCR commitments to supplement its restricted domestic rocket technology.

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Industrialization and urbanization of South Korea have brought many changes to the way modern Koreans live.

Korea South is unique among East Asian countries in its use of metal chopsticks.

South Korea has traditionally had one of the top basketball teams in Asia and one of the continent's strongest basketball divisions.

In 1988, South Korea hosted the Summer Olympics in Seoul, coming fourth with 12 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 11 bronze medals.

South Korea has won more medals in the Winter Olympics than any other Asian country, with a total of 45 .

In October 2010, South Korea hosted its first Formula One race at the Korea International Circuit in Yeongam, about 400 kilometers south of Seoul.