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Korea, South, officially known as the Republic of Korea, country in northeastern Asia that occupies the southern portion of the Korea Peninsula. South Korea is bounded on the north by North Korea; on the east by the East Sea (Sea of Japan); on the southeast and south by the Korea Strait, which separates it from Japan; and on the west by the Yellow Sea. It has a total area of 99,268 sq km (38,328 sq mi), including numerous offshore islands in the south and west, the largest of which is Cheju (area, 1,845 sq km/712 sq mi). The state of South Korea was established in 1948 following the post-World War II partitioning of the peninsula between the occupying forces of the United States in the south and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the north. South Korea rose from devastation in the 1950s�the result of war with North Korea�to become one of the world�s largest economies in the 1990s. The capital and largest city of South Korea is Seoul.

South Korea has a predominantly rugged, mountainous terrain. The principal range is the T�aebaek-sanmaek, which extends in a generally north-south direction parallel to the eastern coast. The country�s highest peak, located on the island of Cheju, is Halla-san (1,950 m/6,398 ft). Plains constitute less than one-fifth the total area and are concentrated in the west along the coast; the coastal plains in the east and south are very narrow. Apart from the eastern coast, South Korea has a highly indented coastline characterized by high tidal ranges. The country�s two longest rivers, the Naktong and Han, rise in the T�aebaek-sanmaek, the former flowing south to the Korea Strait, the latter northwest to the Yellow Sea. Other major rivers include the Kŭm, Yŏngsan, and Tongjin.

South Korea has a basically continental climate, with cold, dry winters and hot, rainy summers. In Seoul the average January temperature range is -7� to 1�C (19� to 33�F), and the average July temperature range is 22� to 29�C (71� to 83�F). Winter temperatures are higher along the southern coast and considerably lower in the mountainous interior. The average annual precipitation in Seoul is 1,370 mm (54 in), and in Pusan it is 1,470 mm (58 in). Rainfall is concentrated in the summer months (June to September). The southern coast is subject to late summer typhoons that bring strong winds and heavy rains.

Mixed deciduous and coniferous forests cover about three-quarters of the land, but they have been thinned for use as fuel. Principal species include pine, maple, elm, poplar, fir, and aspen. Bamboo, laurel, and evergreen oak are found in the mild southern coastal areas. Large mammals, such as tigers, leopards, bears, and lynx, used to be common throughout the Korea Peninsula, but these animals have virtually disappeared from South Korea due to deforestation and poaching.

In contrast to North Korea, South Korea is relatively poor in mineral resources. The principal resources are coal (mostly anthracite), iron ore, and graphite. Other minerals include gold, silver, copper, lead, tungsten, zinc, and uranium. Limestone is abundant.

Rapid urbanization and population growth pose the most immediate threats to the environment of South Korea. The heavily industrialized country has a high rate of carbon dioxide emissions, releasing an average of 9 (1996) metric tons per capita each year. Air pollution is causing health problems in Seoul and other major cities. Deforestation and urban development have diminished natural animal habitats, threatening the survival of many large mammals native to the Korea Peninsula. Of the animal species inhabiting the country, 26 are threatened with extinction. Protected areas make up about 7 percent (1997) of South Korea, including more than a dozen national parks.

South Korea has ratified international treaties protecting biodiversity, endangered species, tropical forests, and the ozone layer. The country has also signed treaties limiting hazardous waste, marine pollution, and desertification.

South Korea, like North Korea, is one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in the world. Aside from a resident foreign population of about 55,000 (mainly Chinese), the country has no racial or linguistic minorities. Because of the mixed racial character of the present-day Korean population, it is believed that the ancestors of the Koreans included immigrants from the northern part of the Asian mainland.

The population of South Korea is 47,904,370 (2001 estimate). The country�s population density of 483 persons per sq km (1,250 per sq mi) is one of the highest in the world. The majority of the population lives in the southern and western coastal areas. The annual rate of increase has dropped steadily from more than 3 percent in the late 1950s to 0.89 percent in 2001. Urbanization of the country has proceeded rapidly since the 1960s, with substantial rural to urban migration; 85 percent of the population is now classified as urban. Following the establishment of North Korea, some 4 million immigrants crossed the border to South Korea. This increase has been partly offset by emigration from South Korea, especially to Japan and the United States. However, South Korea�s burgeoning economy and improved political climate in the early and mid-1990s slowed the high emigration rates typical of the late 1980s and compelled many South Koreans who had emigrated to return. Between 1990 and 1995 the number of South Koreans receiving immigration visas to the United States was less than half the peak of 1987, and in 1994 one South Korean returned for every two who left.

The country�s largest city and chief industrial center is Seoul. Other major cities include Pusan, the principal seaport; Taegu, center of the textile industry; Inch�ŏn, the major port on the Yellow Sea; Kwangju, an ancient commercial and administrative center; and Taejŏn, a transportation hub.

South Korea�s national language is Korean, which is written in a phonetic script known as Han'gŭl (called Chosŏn'gŭ in North Korea).

In 1995 nearly one-half of the people in South Korea did not profess a religion. Buddhism claimed 10.4 million adherents. Confucianism, more a moral philosophy than a religion, is a more prominent element in Korean life than its relatively small number of adherents (0.4 percent of the population) would suggest. Christian missionaries were first permitted in Korea in 1882; by 1995 the Christian population was 11.8 million people, three-quarters of whom were Protestants. Also important is the Korea-based Unification Church. Other significant influences include Ch�ŏndogyo, a religion founded in the mid-19th century that fuses elements of Confucianism and Daoism (Taoism).

Primary education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 15. Secondary education consists of three years of middle school and three years of high school. In the 1997-1998 school year some 3.8 million pupils were enrolled annually in kindergarten and elementary schools and 4.7 million in middle and high schools, including vocational high schools. Private schools play an important role, especially above the primary level. The country has 297 institutions of higher education, with a total annual enrollment of 2.5 million students. The principal universities are Korea University (founded in 1905), Seoul National University (1946), Ewha Women�s University (1886), and Yonsei University (1885), all in Seoul; Chosun University (1946), in Kwangju; and Pusan National University (1946). An estimated 100 percent of the adult population of South Korea is literate�99.8 percent of the men and 99.8 percent of the women.

The country�s strong and distinct cultural heritage is respected by the Korean people, and efforts are made by the government to encourage and preserve the traditional arts. Several museums are located in Seoul, including the National Museum (1908), with its extensive collection of Korean cultural and folklore relics; branches of the national museums are located in eight other major cities.

South Korea�s economy, traditionally based on agriculture, has, since the early 1960s, undergone an extraordinarily rapid industrialization. With the country�s gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by more than 9 percent yearly between the mid-1960s and the mid-1990s, economic observers often called South Korea one of Asia�s �Four Tigers� (joining Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan). A series of five-year economic plans begun in 1962 have concentrated on the development of manufacturing, much of it oriented toward exports. Economic aid, especially from the United States and Japan, was important to the economic growth of the country, which in the span of a generation grew from one of the world�s poorest to an industrial power. In 1997 annual national budget figures showed revenues of $95.4 billion and expenditures of $83 billion. The GDP in 1999 stood at $406.9 billion.

In 1999 the total labor force was 24 million. Of this figure, some 12 percent were engaged in agriculture, forestry, and fishing; 28 percent in industry; and 60 percent in services. Women make up 41 percent of the labor force. The principal labor organization is the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, with a membership of more than 1.8 million.

Land distribution programs were carried out in the late 1940s, creating in South Korea an agricultural system composed primarily of small, owner-operated farms. The rapid industrialization of South Korea and increasing urbanization is diminishing the importance of farming to the country�s economy, and the number of families dependent on agriculture for their livelihood has steadily declined since the 1970s. With 1.5 million farms, the average cultivated land area for each is 1.3 hectares (3.3 acres). Some 17 percent of the land is under cultivation. The chief crop in the early 2000s was rice, grown on more than one-half of the agricultural land and the country�s principal food crop. In terms of land area devoted to their cultivation, other leading crops are soybeans, red peppers, barley, cabbages, watermelons, garlic, onions, radishes, white potatoes, red beans, maize, and sweet potatoes. An important development has been the great expansion in the output of fruit, notably apples, oranges, grapes, persimmons, pears, and peaches. Other crops include cotton, hemp, and silk. The estimated livestock population in 2000 was 7.9 million pigs, 2.5 million cattle, and 500,000 goats.

The forestry industry is small; roundwood removals in 1999 were 1.8 million cubic meters (64 million cubic feet). Since the late 1960s South Korea has become one of the world�s leading fishing nations, with a modern fleet of more than 600 vessels engaged in distant water fisheries and many more fishing nearby and in coastal waters. The ports of Ulsan and Masan have been developed as deep-sea fishing bases with fish-processing plants. The catch in 1997 was 2.6 million metric tons; principal landings were mollusks, anchovies, mackerel, and hair tails.

South Korea does not have extensive mineral resources. The output of anthracite coal, the country�s leading mineral resource, was 4.2 million metric tons in 1999. The production of coal, as most other minerals, has declined since the mid-1980s. Zinc ore output was 19,664 metric tons, and small amounts of graphite, iron ore, lead, tungsten, gold, silver, and kaolin (a fine clay) were extracted. Limestone mining is increasing, with much of it used in the production of cement.

The division of the Korea Peninsula in 1945 created two unbalanced economic units. The north held most of the natural resources and heavy industries developed during occupation by the Japanese; the south contained most of the agricultural resources and a large labor pool. Industrial development in the south concentrated initially on light manufacturing of export-oriented items, especially in labor-intensive industries such as textiles and apparel, footwear, and foodstuffs. Beginning in the early 1970s, however, emphasis was placed on heavy industry. In the 1980s and 1990s Korean manufacturers branched into high-technology industries, such as computer components and semiconductors. Manufacturing is dominated by chaebol, large conglomerate companies with greatly diversified interests.

In terms of value added by manufacturing (the difference between the price of materials and the price of finished goods), major manufactures in the early 2000s were radio, televisions, communications equipment (particularly televisions, telephones, and videocassette recorders), and transportation equipment (primarily automobiles). Other leading sectors were the manufacture of chemicals, machinery, food products and beverages, basic metals, and textiles.

Thermal facilities, primarily burning imported petroleum, generated 60 percent of South Korea�s electric power in 1998. In the 1970s the country began to build nuclear power plants in an effort to lessen its dependence on imported oil, and in 1998 nuclear plants generated 39 percent of the country�s electricity; another 2 percent came from hydroelectric installations. Annual output of electricity was 250 billion kilowatt-hours.

A well-developed highway system connects the major urban centers. The country has about 86,990 km (about 54,053 mi) of main roads, including 1,550 km (963 mi) of expressway. The state-owned railroad system consists of 3,120 km (1,939 mi) of lines. The country�s chief ports include Pusan, Inch�ŏn, Mokp�o, and Kunsan. Its merchant fleet numbers 2,502 vessels. More ships are owned by South Korean companies but registered in other countries. Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines provide both domestic and foreign service. Air travel is rapidly increasing in South Korea, with domestic passenger travel nearly doubling between 1990 and 1995. Inch�ŏn International Airport opened in April 2001 for international flights. The mammoth new airport is being built in phases on reclaimed tidal lands between two sparsely populated offshore islands 52 km (32 mi) west of downtown Seoul. It is expected to sprawl across 5,600 hectares (13,800 acres) when completed. The airport complex, called Winged City, is to include a convention center, hotels, restaurants, department stores, and sports facilities.

Mass media have assumed large importance since the 1950s. In 1997 there were 348 televisions and 1,039 radios for every 1,000 people in South Korea. Daily newspapers number 60, with about one-third having national circulation.

The unit of currency in South Korea is the won (1,189 won equal U.S.$1; 1999 average). The Bank of Korea is the bank of issue.

Following the disruption of trade during the Korean War (1950-1953) and its aftermath, exports increased at the remarkable annual rate of 27.2 percent from 1965 to 1980 and increased sixfold from 1980 to 1995. The country, with few natural resources and a relatively small domestic market, employed its industrious and well-educated labor force to produce goods for export, thereby fueling its rapid economic growth. Major imports (much of which is used to make goods for export) include industrial machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, electrical equipment, iron and steel, transportation equipment, and chemical products. Leading exports are electrical machinery, fabrics, road vehicles, telecommunication and sound equipment, iron and steel, metal goods, computer components, and apparel. Imports in 1999 were valued at $119.8 billion and exports were worth $144.7 billion. Principal trading partners for exports were the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Germany. Chief partners for imports were the United States, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. South Korea became a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1996.

A new constitution was approved by referendum in October 1987, replacing one that had been in effect since 1980. The new constitution went into effect in February 1988.

Executive power is vested in a president who is directly elected to a single five-year term. The president, whose powers are limited by the 1988 constitution, may not dissolve the legislature or suspend basic legal rights. The president appoints a cabinet, with the consent of the legislature. The cabinet is headed by the prime minister.

Legislative power is vested in the unicameral National Assembly. In the 2000 election, 227 of the assembly�s 273 members were directly elected, and the other 46 were selected from party lists in proportion to the overall vote. All members serve four-year terms.

The highest court in South Korea is the Supreme Court, consisting of 14 justices (including the chief justice). Below the Supreme Court are five appellate courts, located in Kwangju, Pusan, Taegu, Taejŏn, and Seoul. District courts, which are located in the major cities, have jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases of the first instance. South Korea also provides for a Constitutional Court, which passes judgment on the constitutionality of laws (when requested to do so by the courts), impeachment matters, and the dissolution of political parties.

South Korea is divided into nine provinces and seven cities (Inch�ŏn, Kwangju, Pusan, Taegu, Taejŏn, Seoul, and Ulsan) with provincial status. The provincial governors and mayors of the seven cities are elected by the people every four years.

Following April 2000 elections to the National Assembly, the main political parties in South Korea were the Grand National Party (GNP) and the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP). The GNP, formed by the 1997 merger of the New Korea Party (formerly called the Democratic Liberal Party) and the Democratic Party, won 133 of the 273 seats in the National Assembly. The MDP (formerly called the National Congress for New Politics) won 115. Other parties include the United Liberal Democrats and the Democratic People�s Party.

In the mid-1990s South Korea had about 57,200 licensed physicians and about 8,700 licensed doctors of Oriental medicine. The government sponsors no comprehensive social insurance program. A program with a limited number of subscribers, however, provides retirement pensions and medical and industrial accident insurance.

The president is commander in chief of the armed forces. In 1999 total active military forces stood at 683,000. Membership was as follows: army, 560,000; navy, 60,000; and air force, 63,000. Reserve forces total 4.5 million. In the mid-1990s approximately 36,000 U.S. troops were also stationed in the country.

For the history of the Korea Peninsula before it was partitioned into North and South Korea, see Korea.

The Republic of Korea was proclaimed on August 15, 1948. Its first president was Syngman Rhee, who was elected by a legislature formed by popular elections conducted in May of that year by the U.S. occupation authorities and officially observed by United Nations (UN) representatives. Left-wing groups had boycotted these elections, and virtually all the legislators were firm anti-Communists, as was their chosen president.

From the republic�s beginning, the main business of the government was the suppression of leftist groups, some of them independent but many supported by North Korea. The North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung, sought to unify the entire Korea Peninsula under Communist rule. To this end, Kim launched a full-scale military attack in June 1950, which began the Korean War. The war totally disrupted South Korean life and politics, and Rhee began to lose the support of the legislature. Rhee used troops to force the legislature to provide for popular election of the president, and he was then elected to a second term in 1952. Recovery from the war was slow. Rhee was unable to produce any significant economic development despite much U.S. aid. He won reelection handily in 1956 and 1960, but blatant manipulation of the 1960 elections led to a nationwide protest that culminated in Rhee�s forced resignation on April 27, 1960. The moderate government of John M. Chang followed with liberalizing reforms in many areas, but economic development still lagged. Military elements, fearing growing instability and wary of student agitation for talks with the north, staged a coup on May 16, 1961, ending the Second Republic.

The military ruling group, led by Park Chung Hee, governed by decree until October 1963, when Park was narrowly elected president. He launched energetic economic reforms and, despite widespread opposition from students and others, concluded a treaty with Japan in 1965, dropping Korean demands for war reparations in return for economic aid. Japanese capital soon began to flow into Korea. The country also earned foreign exchange by sending troops and contract workers to aid the United States during the Vietnam War (1959-1975). The consequence was a dramatic spurt of industrialization and export growth.

Little was left to chance in Park�s government. Politics were dominated by his Democratic Republican Party, which by its control of funds and patronage easily overwhelmed all opposition groups. In addition, the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), responsible for intelligence and anti-North operations, carried out surveillance and intimidation of domestic dissidents. In 1972 Park declared martial law and introduced the new yushin (�revitalizing�) constitution, allowing him to stay in office indefinitely. In the following months, numerous emergency measures restricted civil liberties and removed political opponents. Under these controls the economy achieved spectacular growth, and South Korea�s exports flooded Western markets. Nevertheless, dissatisfaction with Park�s rule increased.

In 1979 demonstrations in the cities of Pusan and Masan were met with violent suppression. In the midst of this tense situation, Kim Jae Kyu, director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (now known as the Agency for National Security Planning), assassinated Park on October 27, 1979, and plunged the country once more into traumatic political change. Premier Choi Kyu Hah succeeded Park as president, but General Chun Doo Hwan, head of the martial law investigating unit, emerged in a position of dominance. In December 1979 he ousted senior military officers, took control of the army, and subsequently thwarted efforts toward constitutional liberalization. In May 1980 leading opposition politicians were arrested and opposition demonstrations were suppressed with great violence. Chun then eased President Choi aside and secured his own election as president. A new constitution, providing for a single seven-year presidential term but also retaining many of the yushin-type control mechanisms, went into effect in April 1981, creating the Fourth Republic. President Chun�s regime scored a diplomatic coup when the International Olympic Committee designated Seoul as the site for the 1988 Summer Games.

Following a series of mass protest demonstrations in 1987, President Chun promised democratic reforms, including direct presidential elections. Voters adopted a new, democratic constitution in a referendum in October, and Roh Tae Woo, the candidate of Chun�s party, was elected president in December. The new constitution took effect in February 1988. In elections held in April, opposition parties captured a majority of the National Assembly. Later that year, South Korea hosted the Summer Olympics. In March 1991 the first local elections in 30 years were held. Candidates of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party (DLP) won a majority of posts even as antigovernment demonstrations by students intensified. In September 1991 North and South Korea were admitted to the UN as separate countries and three months later the two countries signed a nonaggression pact.

In 1992 Roh stepped down as leader of the Democratic Liberal Party amid allegations that his party had bought votes in the March elections. In the national elections of December 1992, South Korea elected Kim Young Sam, a former dissident who had joined forces with the DLP in 1990. Soon after taking office, Kim launched an anticorruption reform program that included publicizing the assets of politicians, senior civil servants, and some judiciary and military members. Resignations followed from many people whose publicized wealth was clearly disproportionate to their income levels. In December 1993 the government agreed to open the heavily protected Korean rice market to imports. The resulting public outcry, which included violent demonstrations in Seoul, led to the resignation of Prime Minister Hwang In Sung and his cabinet, although the decision to allow rice imports was not reversed.

In late 1995 Kim�s anticorruption campaign resulted in the arrest of his predecessors, Chun and Roh. Both former presidents were subsequently indicted and put on trial for their alleged roles in the 1979 military coup that brought Chun to power and the May 1980 military crackdown in the city of Kwangju, in which several hundred pro-democracy demonstrators were killed. In addition, they were separately put on trial on charges they had each accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes from business interests while they were in office. Dozens of South Korea�s most prominent business leaders also were implicated in the scandal. Chun and Roh were eventually convicted in 1996 of mutiny, sedition, and corruption. Chun received the death sentence while Roh received 22y years in prison. In December, their sentences were reduced to life imprisonment and 17 years, respectively, and in December 1997 they were both pardoned. Meanwhile, Kim denied allegations from the opposition that he had personally received money for his 1992 presidential campaign from Roh�s stash of illegal funds. In December 1995 Kim renamed the DLP the New Korea Party (NKP) in an effort to distance the party from its association with the military regimes of Chun and Roh.

In January 1996 Kim admitted in a televised address to the nation that before he became president he had accepted political donations from business interests; however, he denied the funds were bribes for political favors. In late March 1996 Kim�s former aide of 20 years, Chang Hak Ro, was arrested on bribery charges, casting doubt on Kim�s anticorruption campaign just weeks before the April parliamentary elections. The NKP lost control of the National Assembly in the elections; shortly thereafter, however, it was able to recruit 11 independent legislators to regain its 150-seat majority.

In 1997 the South Korean government was rocked by further scandals, this time involving fraudulent loans, which resulted in a cabinet reshuffle. An economic crisis developed in December when investors lost confidence in the debt-laden Korean economy and the South Korean currency rapidly depreciated. The plummeting currency quickly depleted South Korea�s foreign currency reserves, threatening the capacity of the government, banks, and industries to repay foreign debt. Furthermore, the unemployment rate soared as unstable businesses declared bankruptcy. The government accepted one of the largest aid packages ever arranged with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The agreement required South Korea to implement tough austerity measures, such as reductions in public spending, and tax and interest rate hikes. The economic crisis occurred in the midst of presidential elections in December. Voters turned out the political alliance that had ruled the nation for decades and elected Kim Dae Jung, a longtime opposition leader and pro-democracy advocate.

Relations between North and South Korea, which were tense during the late 1960s and at times during the 1970s and 1980s, continued to be troubled until the late 1990s. Allegations about North Korea�s possible nuclear weapons development program strained relations in 1994. In December 1995 a U.S.-led consortium that included South Korea reached an agreement with North Korea over the suspension of its suspected nuclear weapons program. Under this agreement, South Korea agreed to help finance the replacement of two of North Korea�s nuclear reactors with modern versions designed to produce less weapons-grade plutonium.

Announcing it no longer would abide by the armistice that ended the Korean War, North Korea in early April 1996 sent heavily armed troops into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two countries. In response to the incursions, which lasted for three consecutive days, South Korea and the United States jointly proposed four-party peace negotiations, with China and the United States acting as mediators. In a further bid to open dialogue with a reluctant North Korea, South Korea approved a $19.2-million investment package involving three joint-venture projects in North Korea. South Korea also extended emergency food aid, which was desperately needed in the north after massive summer floods destroyed many of the country�s agricultural crops.