Conventional long form: Republic of Korea
Conventional short form: South Korea
Abbreviation: ROK

Capital - Seoul
Seoul is the capital city of Korea, situated in the west central part of the Korean Peninsula. It is a sprawling metropolis measuring 606.52 square kilometers as of the end of 1997, about 0.6 percent of the entire country.

The city has a population of 10,321,449 in 3,459,511 households as of the end of 1999. Men, 5,141,141, slightly outnumber women who total 5,123,119. About one-quarter of the entire Korean population lives in Seoul, making it one of the most densely populated places in the world at 17,157 persons per square kilometer.

The number of foreign residents in Seoul stands at 57,189, or about 0.55 percent of the cityˇ¦s total population, as of the end of 1999. They included 18,763 Americans, 12,283 Chinese, and 6,332 Japanese. People from more than 90 different countries live in Seoul, making it a cosmopolitan city.

National Flag
The Korean flag is called Taegeukgi. Its design symbolizes the principles of yin and yang in Oriental philosophy. The circle in the center of the flag is divided into two equal parts. The upper red section represents the positive cosmic forces of yang. Conversely, the lower blue section represents the negative cosmic forces of yin. The two forces together embody the concepts of continual movement and balance and harmony that characterize the sphere of infinity. The circle is surrounded by four trigrams in each corner. Each trigram symbolizes one of the four universal elements : heaven, earth, fire and water.

Language
The Korean language is classified as an Altaic linguistic family, a group which also includes Mongolian, Hungarian, and Finnish. The Korean Alphabet, "Hangeul", is completely different from and independent of the Chinese and Japanese alpnabets. Hangeul was developed by a group of scholars under the patronage of King Sejong in 1443. It is composed of 10 vowels and 14 consonants. This unique phonetic alphabet is well-known for its scientific syllabic system that allows great freedom of expression. The chart above presents the 24 Hangeul letters and their romanized equivalents. This romanization system is based closely on the McCune-Reischauer(M-R) system and is followed in this publication. M-R romanization differs substantially from that of English and may take a little while for foreigners to get used to. (There are some vowel and consonant sounds that English does not have.)

Geographic Location
The Korean Peninsula extends southward from the northeast part of the Asian continent between 33 degrees and 43 degrees North Latitude and 124 degrees and 132 degrees East Longitude. The standard meridian of the peninsula is 135 degrees.

Geographic Coordinates
37 00 N, 127 30 E

Area
Total: 222,154 sq km

Climate
Geographically, Korea is a transitional zone between the continental landmass of northeast Asia and the island arc rimming the western Pacific Ocean. The western coast, which is open to continental Asia, is vulnerable to the influence of the winter continental climate. The eastern coast, on the other hand, is sheltered from the winter monsoon by the Taebaeksan range, the backbone mountain of the Korean Peninsula. Although Korea has the general characteristics of a temperate monsoon climate, there is geographic diversity, particularly during the cold winter season.

Population
South Korea - 47.3 million (2000)

(North Korea - 22.2 million) (2000)

Currency
South Korean won (KRW)

Time Zone
GMT/UTC plus nine hours

Electricity
110 V or 220 V, Plugs can be three-pronged angled, three-pronged round.