80 Facts About South Korea

1.

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea.

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2.

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.

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3.

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.

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4.

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

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5.

The modern name of South Korea, 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 South Korea in the maps of Teixeira Albernaz of 1630.

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6.

Since the government only controlled the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, the informal term "South Korea" was coined, becoming increasingly common in the Western world.

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7.

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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8.

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

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9.

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

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10.

South Korea 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.

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11.

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

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12.

South Korea'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.

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13.

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

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14.

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.

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15.

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

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16.

South Korea's terrain is mostly mountainous, most of which is not arable.

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17.

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

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18.

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.

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19.

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

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20.

Green-based economic strategy is a comprehensive overhaul of South Korea's economy, utilizing nearly two percent of the national GDP.

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21.

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

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22.

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

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23.

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

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24.

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.

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25.

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.

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26.

Regardless of the ethnicity, there are 28, 500 US military personnel serving in South Korea, most serving a one-year unaccompanied tour, according to the Korea National Statistical Office.

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27.

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

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28.

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.

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29.

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 (OECD).

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30.

The top three universities in South Korea, often referred to as "SKY", are Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University.

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31.

Korean is the official language of South Korea, and is classified by most linguists as a language isolate.

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32.

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

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33.

Korean language in South Korea has a standard dialect known as the Seoul dialect, with an additional four dialects (Chungcheong, Gangwon, Gyeongsang, and Jeolla) and one language (Jeju) in use around the country.

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34.

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

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35.

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

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36.

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.

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37.

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

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38.

South Korea maintains diplomatic relations with more than 188 countries.

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39.

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.

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40.

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.

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41.

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

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42.

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

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43.

The Republic of South Korea 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.

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44.

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

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45.

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.

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46.

South Korea asked the International Olympic Committee to ban the Japanese Rising Sun Flag from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and the IOC said in a statement "sports stadiums should be free of any political demonstration.

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47.

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.

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48.

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

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49.

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

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50.

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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51.

The US has over 23, 000 troops stationed in South Korea, including the U S Eighth Army, Seventh Air Force, and U S Naval Forces Korea.

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52.

Consequently, South Korea has the world's seventh largest number of active troops, the world's highest number of reserve troops (3, 100, 000 in 2018).

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53.

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

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54.

South Korea dispatched 325, 517 troops to fight alongside American, Australian, Filipino, New Zealand and South Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War, with a peak strength of 50, 000.

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55.

In 2004, South Korea sent 3, 300 troops of the Zaytun Division to help re-building in northern Iraq, and was the third largest contributor in the coalition forces after only the US and Britain.

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56.

South Korea's economy was one of the world's fastest-growing from the early 1960s to the late 1990s, and was still one of the fastest-growing developed countries in the 2000s, along with Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, the other three Asian Tigers.

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57.

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

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58.

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

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59.

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.

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60.

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

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61.

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.

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62.

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

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63.

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.

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64.

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

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65.

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.

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66.

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

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67.

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

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68.

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

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69.

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.

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70.

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

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71.

South Korea's government maintains a broad-ranging approach toward the regulation of specific online content and imposes a substantial level of censorship on election-related discourse and on many websites that the government deems subversive or socially harmful.

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72.

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.

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73.

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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74.

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

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75.

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

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76.

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

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77.

South Korea hosted the Asian Games in 1986, 2002 (Busan), and 2014 (Incheon).

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78.

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

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79.

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

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80.

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

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