South Korea

(PD) Image: CIA
Taegeukgi, the national flag of South Korea.

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea or ROK (Korean: Namhan; Daehan Min-guk), is a constitutional republic comprising the southern part of Korea, which protrudes southward from the Northeastern Asian mainland and lies between the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan (East Sea). Its East Asian neighbors include China, Taiwan, and Japan, which share strong historical and cultural ties with Korea. When South Korea was established in 1948 after the end of Japanese colonial rule, the country was one of the poorest in the world, and its economic prospect worsened with destruction of the nation's infrastructure during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. However, during the the early 1960s and the two decades that followed, South Korea transformed its largely agricultural economy into a modern industrial power and has currently the 13th largest GDP. Seoul is the capital of South Korea, and it is also the world's second largest city and a major technological and financial hub for the region. The country's current president is Yi Myungbak, who assumed office in February, 2008.

Geography

(PD) Image: CIA
A political map of Korea.

(PD) Image: NASA
A satellite image of the Korean peninsula.

Physical constituency

South Korea covers a total of 99,268 km² (38,328 mi²) over 8 mainland provinces, the island of Jejudo, and about 3,000 smaller islands appearing almost entirely on the western side of the peninsula. By comparison, the country is slightly larger than the U.S. state of Indiana and is about 4/5th the size of North Korea.

South Korea is largely mountainous, with only 30% of its terrain being the lowlands, concentrated mostly on the western and the southeastern parts of the country.