South Korea History, Geography, Economy and Important Events

South Koreans call their country Hanguk, which literally means the Land of Hanas, the first migration of Neolithic people to the Korean Peninsula in the third century BC. Since then, the country has maintained its identity between China and Japan. The culture of Korea is a rich culture which has its own distinct identity. At the end of World War II, the Korean peninsula was divided into two parts, the two superpowers of the time, the Soviet Union and the United States. After the war, authoritarian rule system emerged in the Republic of Korea which was under Seungman Rhee and then Park Chung-hee. Even after being a dictatorial government, South Korea made unprecedented progress in the next three decades and in 1950 it came out of the category of extremely backward countries and developed countries.

The Republic of Korea is located in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and is located 1,100 km from the mainland of Asia. Its neighbors are the Yellow Sea to the west of the country, the Japan Sea to the east, the Gulf of Korea to the south, North Korea to the north. The total area of ​​the country is 100,222 square kilometers. The landscape of the country is mostly hilly and covers 30% of the country's landmass. It has 3,000 islands off the coast, most of which are uninhabited and very small. The largest island is Jeju. The climate is monsoon, summers are hot and humid, winters are cold and dry. Annual rainfall conditions range from 1,370 mm in Seoul to 1,470 mm in Busan.

As of 2008, South Korea's economy is the world's 5th largest by purchasing power and the fourth largest on a cognitive basis. During the last sixty years major areas of South Korea's economy have undergone miraculous changes. During the decade 1940, the economy of the country was mainly agro-based and some light industries. During the next few decades, the emphasis was on light industries and consumer products in the economy, and during the 1970s and 1980s, heavy industries were emphasized.

The Korean language is the official language belonging to the Altaic language family. The Korean writing script, Hangul, was invented in 1446 during the reign of King Sejong with the aim of spreading education among his subjects. In the royal proclamation of Hunmin Geongium, Chinese characters were considered very difficult to learn by a common person, which literally means sounds that are suitable for teaching people. In the year 2000, the government decided to introduce the romanization system. English is taught as a second language in most primary schools. Additionally, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, or Spanish are also taught in secondary schools for two years.

China [M] , Japan [M] , North Korea [LM] ,
Definition of international border: L = Land Border | M = Maritime Border