The Republic of Korea is an East Asian country that is situated on the Korean Peninsula which is spread over 1100 km from north to south. Other countries that are bordered with Korea are China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast and to the east, it is separated from Japan by Korea Strait. The Sea of Japan (also called East Sea) lies to the east, Yellow Sea exists to the west and additionally to the mainland, Korea contains almost 3200 islands.
Korea was unified under one state till 1953. Then after ceasefire of Korean War, it is divided into two separate states called South Korea and North Korea. South Korea is officially called the Republic of Korea, while North Korea which is officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It is a single-party communist country which is founded by Korean leader Kim Il-sung and now currently lead by his son Kim Jong-il.
South Korea is a democratic, stable, progressive and developed country including memberships in the United Nations, WTO, OECD and G-20 economies.
Geography:
Korea circumscribed to a total of 223,098 square km that is almost the same size of Ghana. The 99,678 square km (almost 45%) of the are is considered as cultivable area except reclaimed land areas. Mountainous area is spread for some two-thirds of the countries like Portugal, Hungary or Ireland.
To the northwest of Korea, the Amnok River (also called Yalu River) is situated that separates Korea from China and the Duman River (also called Tumen River) is situated to the northeast that separates Korea from China as well as Russia too. To the west, the Yellow Sea is situated, the East China Sea is to the south and the East Sea is situated to the east of Korea. Noteworthy islands contain Jeju Island (also called Jejudo), Ulleung Island (also called Ulleungdo), and Liancourt Rocks (also called Dokdo).
Korean National Flag (Taegeukgi):
The Korean national flag is called Taegeukgi. The design of this flag indicates the fundamentals of Eum and Yang in Oriental philosophy. The circle presents in the center of the flag is separated into two equal parts that are red and blue in color. The red part signifies the positive cosmic forces of Yang while the blue part indicates the negative cosmic forces of Eum. This circle is surrounded by four trigmas at every corner. Each trigma signifies one of the four elements of the universe that are earth, heaven, moon (or water) and sun (or fire). White background in the flag shows peace and also represents the purity and homogeneity of the Korean people.
Korean National Flower (Mugunghwa):
The national flower of Korea is the rose of Sharon which is commonly called “Mugunghwa” in Korean language. “Mugung” means immortality and “hwa” means flower. Thus, it is a flower that indicates the immortality, constancy and endurance of the Korean people.
Climate:
Korea has a continental climate, it has weather of monsoon in summer. It is bitterly cold and dry in winter season due to the primarily Siberian air mass. The cloudburst falls in the rainy season that starts in late of June and causes severe damage to property and loss of life. The weather is warm and humid in July and August due to the maritime Pacific high. The inconstant seasons, spring and autumn are generally sunny and clear. Although, they come for a very short span of time as compared to the winter and summer.
Spring: Contains mostly clear and dry days and in these days, the temperature ranges from 16℃ to 19℃ in the month of May.
Summer: The summer in Korea is always warm and humid and the temperature ranges from 23℃ to 27℃ in the month of August. In the day time, it usually highs over 30℃ when the summer is on peak.
Also, usually two to three typhoons collide with Korea during this season. The monsoon season in which heavy rain falls, starts in June and winds up about after 30 days.
Winter: The winter season in Korea is cold and dry. January is the coldest month of the year in which temperature ranges from -6℃ to 7℃. Most of the snowfall occurs in mountainous areas with little snow in urban areas.
Population:
At the end of 2007, the total population of Korea was assessed to be 48,456,369 including a density of 498 people per square km. The population of Korea is grown by an annual rate of 3% during the 1960s, but after that, growth slowed to 2% over the next decade. In the year of 2005, the rate stood at 0.21% and is expected to further reduced to 0.02% by 2020.
Language (Korean):
The official language of Korea is “Korean”. All the Korean people write and speak the same language which is a definitive factor in standing their strong national identity. Korean has several different accents of their language in addition to the standard variety used in Seoul. Only the accent of Jeju-do Province, however, is so different and is also difficult for others to understand. The linguistic and ethnological studies have allocated the Korean language into the Altaic language family that contains the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungus-Manchu languages.
Education:
The recent and modern schooling system of Korea contains six years education of elementary school, three years of middle school and three years of high school. Korean students are required to go to elementary and middle school first and this education is free of cost, except for a short amount of fee called “School Operation Support Fee” that differs from school to school. The Program for International Student Assessment that is lead by the OECD, currently ranks science education of Korea as the third best education in the world and being significantly higher than the OECD average.
Korea also ranks second on mathematics and literature and first in problem solving. Although, Korean students often rank high on international comparative tests. The Korean system of education is much more strict, disciplined and structured than the education systems of most Western societies.
Import and Export:
The trade of Korea is based on balanced multilateral expansion and adequate structural changes that devote to its growing share of imports and exports. Korea dependents highly on the import of raw materials, capital goods and industrial supplies. Korea imports consumer and capital goods as well as raw materials such as crude oil from Japan and other advance countries.
The export of Korea contributes 39.4% to its GDP. This export mostly comprises on the manufacturing of foodstuff, iron and steel, chemicals, textiles, apparel and footwear, office machinery and equipments, passenger cars, ships, toys, etc. Also, made in Korea VCRs, semi conductors, fax machines and computers are the most key export items.
