Facts about South Korea
Capital Seoul · Asia
10 topics · about 20 minutes
South Korea occupies the southern half of a peninsula divided since 1945 and rebuilt itself from one of the poorest countries in the world into a high-technology economy within about two generations. Its music, film and television now carry that transformation outward through what is usually called the Korean Wave.
The country is administered as nine provinces plus several self-governing cities, and its only land border runs along a demilitarised zone four kilometers wide and 250 long. Mountains cover about 70 percent of the land, so settlement and farming crowd into the western and southern coastal plains. Around 3,400 islands lie offshore, most of them small and uninhabited, with volcanic Jeju the largest and home to the highest peak in the country.
The Seoul metropolitan area holds roughly half the national population, which is an extraordinary concentration for any country, and combines the government, the chaebol headquarters and the entertainment industry in one place. Busan on the southeast coast is the second city and the great port, Incheon holds the main airport, and Gyeongju in the southeast was the capital of the Silla kingdom and is effectively an open-air museum. Visitors typically pair Seoul with either Busan, the temples and tombs of Gyeongju, or Jeju.
- Population
- 52 million
- Area
- 100,363 km²
- Currency
- South Korean won (₩)
- Official language
- Korean
- Provinces
- 9, plus self-governing cities
- Highest point
- Hallasan, 1,947 m
The South Korea course
Geography of South Korea
Seventy percent mountain, everyone on the coastal plains, and one heavily fortified land border.
History of South Korea
Silla, Goryeo and Joseon, Japanese annexation, and a war that ended without a peace treaty.
Language of South Korea
A probable isolate, written in an alphabet designed on purpose and promulgated in 1446.
Culture of South Korea
Confucian hierarchy and an exam day that reroutes flights, alongside K-pop as deliberate soft power.
Economy of South Korea
From African-level income in 1960 to memory chips and shipbuilding within four decades.
Politics of South Korea
One five-year presidential term, no re-election, and a court that has removed a sitting president.
Nature & Wildlife of South Korea
Forest replanted from bare hills, and a demilitarised zone that became an accidental reserve.
Food & Cuisine of South Korea
Rice with endless shared side dishes, kimchi at nearly every meal, and fermentation throughout.
Landmarks of South Korea
A palace rebuilt twice after destruction, 8th-century Buddhist sculpture, and a view into the North.
People & Society of South Korea
The lowest fertility rate in the world, and about half the country living around Seoul.
Geography of South Korea
South Korea covers the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula, bordered only by North Korea across a demilitarised zone roughly four kilometers wide and 250 kilometers long. Mountains cover about 70 percent of the land, so settlement and farming crowd into western and southern coastal plains.
The country has around 3,400 islands, most of them small and uninhabited, with volcanic Jeju off the south coast the largest and home to Hallasan, the highest peak at 1,947 meters. The climate is continental with hot humid summers driven by the East Asian monsoon and cold dry winters, and a distinct rainy season falls in the middle of summer.
History of South Korea
Korea was unified under Silla in the 7th century and later ruled by the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, the latter lasting from 1392 to 1897 and establishing Confucianism as the organizing philosophy of the state. Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and ruled it until 1945, suppressing the language and culture.
Liberation brought division along the 38th parallel, and the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two states technically still at war. The south spent decades under authoritarian rule while industrialising rapidly, and mass protests in 1987 forced a transition to democracy that has held since.
Language of South Korea
Korean has around 80 million speakers across both Koreas and the diaspora, and linguists generally treat it as an isolate with no proven relatives. Word order places the verb last, and the grammar encodes several levels of formality that shift verb endings according to the relationship between speakers.
Hangul, the writing system, was created under King Sejong and promulgated in 1446 to replace Chinese characters, which few outside the elite could learn. Its letters are shaped to represent the position of the tongue and lips, making it one of the few alphabets with a known inventor and a deliberate design, and Koreans mark its creation with a national holiday each October.
Culture of South Korea
Confucian values continue to shape hierarchy, seniority and family obligation, visible in everything from honorific speech to the weight placed on educational success. The university entrance exam is treated as a national event, with flights rescheduled to avoid noise during the listening section.
The Korean Wave carried K-pop, television dramas and film to a global audience from the late 1990s onward, and it now functions as a deliberate instrument of soft power. Parasite won the Academy Award for best picture in 2020, the first non-English film to do so. Older traditions endure through hanbok dress, pansori narrative singing and the communal preparation of kimchi each autumn.
Economy of South Korea
South Korea went from a per capita income comparable to sub-Saharan Africa in 1960 to a high-income economy within four decades, a run often called the Miracle on the Han River. Growth was led by chaebol conglomerates such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG, built through close coordination between the state and a handful of family-controlled groups.
The country produces a large share of the world’s memory chips and is a leader in shipbuilding, cars, batteries and displays. It spends more on research and development as a share of output than almost any other country. Concentration remains a structural weakness, since a few firms account for an outsized portion of exports, and household debt is among the highest in the OECD.
Politics of South Korea
South Korea is a presidential republic under the Sixth Republic constitution of 1987. The president is directly elected to a single five-year term with no re-election permitted, a limit written specifically to prevent a return to long personal rule.
The National Assembly is a single chamber of 300 members combining constituency and proportional seats. The Constitutional Court holds real power and has removed a sitting president through impeachment, as it did in 2017. Politics is dominated by two large blocs and by the permanent question of how to handle North Korea, on which the main parties differ sharply.
Nature & Wildlife of South Korea
Forest covers roughly 63 percent of South Korea, most of it replanted through a national reforestation campaign after the hills were stripped bare during the colonial period and the war. Twenty-two national parks protect mountain and coastal habitats.
The demilitarised zone has become an accidental nature reserve, since almost no one has entered it since 1953, and it now shelters Asiatic black bears, musk deer and endangered red-crowned cranes. Jeju Island holds volcanic lava tube systems on the World Heritage list, and the Getbol tidal flats along the west coast, listed in 2021, are a critical refuelling stop for migratory shorebirds.
Food & Cuisine of South Korea
Korean meals are built around rice with an array of side dishes called banchan, refilled freely and shared across the table. Kimchi, fermented vegetables seasoned with chilli and garlic, appears at nearly every meal, and the communal autumn preparation known as kimjang holds UNESCO heritage status.
Fermentation runs through the cuisine in the form of soybean pastes and chilli paste, giving dishes their characteristic depth. Korean barbecue grills marinated beef or pork at the table, bibimbap arrives as rice under assorted vegetables and egg, and Korean fried chicken with beer has become a national institution and a successful export.
Landmarks of South Korea
Gyeongbokgung in Seoul was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, built in 1395, destroyed during the Japanese invasions and again under colonial rule, and reconstructed steadily since 1990. The changing of the guard outside its gate is staged daily in period dress.
The Bulguksa temple and the nearby Seokguram grotto at Gyeongju date from the 8th century and hold some of the finest Buddhist sculpture in East Asia. Jeju Island draws visitors to volcanic craters and coastal cliffs, while the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom inside the demilitarised zone offers the only place where visitors can look directly across at North Korea.
People & Society of South Korea
South Korea has about 52 million residents and the lowest fertility rate in the world, which fell to roughly 0.7 births per woman, far below the 2.1 needed to sustain a population. The total began declining in 2020, and government spending on incentives has so far failed to change the trend.
Housing costs, long working hours and the expense of private education are the reasons most often given for delayed marriage and childbearing. Around 81 percent of people live in cities, with the Seoul metropolitan area holding roughly half the national population. Society remains ethnically homogeneous by international standards, though foreign residents have risen past four percent through labour migration and marriage.
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