South Korea

South Korea is the nation on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. It was established at the end of World War II after Japan's annexation over the area from 1910-1945. South Korea shares a 238 km border with North Korea along the 38th Parallel, and fought a war against North Korea and China from 1950-1953 where a northern attack was successfully repulsed. The nation is still technically at war with North Korea and reunification is still a touchy issue. Many families are still divided between the democratic south and the hardline Stalinist north.

Fast Facts

Territory

98,480 km²

Population (July 2003):

48,289,037

Age structure: (2003 est.)

0-14 years:	20.6% (male 5,256,451; female 4,703,853)
15-64 years:	71.5% (male 17,527,407; female 16,991,229)
65 years and over:	7.9% (male 1,512,157; female 2,297,940)

Official Language:

Korean

Capital:

Seoul

Currency:

Won (KRW)

Political System:

Republic with President and unicameral National Assembly (Kukhoe) (273 seats; 227 elected by direct popular vote; members serve 4 yr. terms)

Gross Domestic Product (PPP, 2002 est.)

931 Billion US Dollars; per capita $19,400

Official Unemployment Rate (2002)

3.1%

Legal Age of Adulthood:

20 years old

Life Expectancy (2003)

Men: 71.73 years; Women: 79.32 years

Religion:

Christianity	49%
Buddhism	47%
Confucianist	3%
Other religions	1%

Electricity production: 290.7 billion kWh (2001)

Fossil Fuels	62.4%
Nuclear	36.6%
Hydro	0.8%
Other	0.2%

Internet users:

25.6 million (2000)

Time Zone:

GMT+9 (JST)

International Country Code:

+82

Internet top-level domain name:

kr